Weary Naperville North survives
Oswego East’s Senior Day
Busy Huskies take down Wolves 3-2
By Chris R. Walker
OSWEGO– Approximately 14 hours after tying Joliet West at home, Naperville North was back on a field Saturday for another nonconference game as Oswego East’s Senior Day opponent.
While the Wolves surprised sixth-ranked Huskies with an early score, the visitors responded with two quick goals and never trailed again in a 3-2 victory on a chilly and windy morning.
“We went down pretty early, which was not the way we wanted to start it,” Huskies senior Alex Barger said. “But we were able to fight back. We gutted out two goals and then found one in the second half to make it three.”
Barger converted a PK after fellow senior Owen Gaccione had setup sophomore Noah Radeke to tie the game at 1-1.
It was not the response Oswego East, a program that has never beaten Naperville North, was hoping for after jumping ahead right at the start.
“We played well, but it’s been the story of our season, we kind of beat ourselves,” Wolves coach Steve Szymanski said. “The goals they scored were on our mistakes. The corner kick we don’t clean up, they score. Then our defender is out of position so Adam (Tobias) has to make a play on the ball, and it’s a PK and it is what it is. It’s kind of the story of our season.”
Jaxon Stokes, who scored the only goal for the Huskies in their previous ties against St. Charles East and Joliet West, extended Naperville North’s lead to 3-1 late in the second half.
But just as soon as it appeared that the Huskies were going to pull away, the Wolves answered when DuPablo Parodis-Yu beat a defender before sending in a shot inside the far post to make it 3-2.
“I just took a chance because I didn’t know if the defender was faster or slower than me,” he said. “I’ve got to take a chance and see if I can beat them so I did. I took the shot once I could, and it went into the back of the net.”
As someone who was a key part of a regional championship team and had an opportunity to square off against a perennial power like Naperville North, Parodis-Yu, who was named a Chicagoland Soccer Man of the Match, was happy with how the Wolves battled despite not getting the desired result.
“I felt like we hung in there and got a good amount of chances,” he said. “We do need to work on our defending, especially during set pieces, because that’s where Naperville North is usually always dangerous. But I’m glad with how we played.”
Szymanski agreed while sharing his thoughts on aspiring for the kind of program greatness North has achieved.
“When they come in, they know they’re going to win; they’re Naperville North. It says that on the front of their jersey, and they know it,” he said. “We’re still trying to build that mentality where you step on the field it’s got to be the most important thing out there. And for kids that play 100 games a year, playing a couple high school games isn’t always the most important thing.
“We’re trying to find that balance. We’ve got a lot a lot of young guys, too, and they get pumped up for different things. A couple guys are motivated because they play club against these guys, but it’s got to be like that whether you play club against them or whether that’s your friend or not. Against every team you’ve got to play like you want to beat them.”
The Wolves enjoyed their brief lead thanks to an impressive strike from Dylan Drendel who turned and fired from about 25 yards.
“We’ve been talking to him about just shooting the ball when he gets it, and he executed just like he did last Saturday,” Wolves senior Drew Karg said. “Recently he’s been doing that, and it’s really been working out for us.”
Karg, Tobias, Parodis-Yu, his brother, ZeDaniel Parodis-Yu, as well as Israel Torres, Celesmar Herrera and Diego Santiesteban were the Oswego East seniors recognized after the game as part of the Senior Day celebration.
“Last year we had like 18 kids so that was huge, and we had it in the middle of the season so we weren’t even ready for the playoffs,” Karg said. “This was a good team to play right before the playoffs, to see where we are at and really figure out what we need to do in the next two weeks to get to where we’d like to be.”
The Wolves continue to show that they can hang with and even beat some of the state’s best teams, dropping a similar one-goal game against undefeated and 12th-ranked Romeoville and beating seventh-ranked Plainfield North.
“We can win; we can tie; we can lose. I don’t know, but putting in two goals against (Naperville North), the two-seed in our sectional, shows us what we need to do to be at the top,” Karg said. “And playoff soccer is difficult. It’s a whole different game of soccer. It really is.”
The Wolves have gotten huge contributions collectively from their sophomore class this season. They’ve stepped in and made an impact after last year’s team graduated nearly everyone. The Wolves had four sophomores in the starting lineup against the Huskies, including Drendel, Diego Godinez, Josh Lopez and Caleb Pankiewicz while a handful of others are on the roster and contributing minutes off the bench.
“We really have improved over the season, and we’re hoping that we’ve learned from all of our mistakes going into the playoffs,” DuPablo Parodis-Yu said. “I’d hope that we could play our hardest in the playoffs against these hard teams and hopefully win regionals again like last year. We can’t get too overconfident. We need to play like we always do, and we should have a chance.”
Similar to the Wolves, the Huskies may have some tremendously talented veterans like Barger leading them, but they, too, have some newcomers who soon will be making their postseason debuts, including sophomore Connor Hanrahan, who was named the co-Chicagoland Soccer Man of the Match, and freshman Sam Hess.
“I think we’re going into the postseason way better than when we started,” Hanrahan said. “The first three to six games we were very slow, and we didn’t score at all and didn’t have many chances. Now we’re getting a lot more chances, and I think it started in Iowa. We scored 10 goals in those three games and it really got us going.”
Barger complimented the way his new teammates are communicating with each other now in October in comparison to August.
“We’ve got a ton of new faces with freshmen, sophomores, juniors, and I think the first thing we worked on was communication. It’s been a lot better than it was at the beginning of the season,” he said. “The guys are trusting one another and stuff like that and now that chemistry is with us.”
Hess applauded the team’s willingness and ability to stick with a formation change during the season, especially as one of the newcomers trying to fit in, adapt and contribute right away.
“The first few games were a little rough but now were starting to get the hang of it and getting a lot more chances on goal,” he said. “Defensively it’s a harder challenge, but it’s worth it because we have good enough players to organize and lock up on defense.”
The victory over the Wolves was the team’s third game in as many days.
“It was very tiring, especially doing it against three Illinois teams and kind of big games since all three teams were very good,” Hanrahan said. “Our legs are tired, but we got through it and played well.”
Naperville North has gone 4-0-3 over the last 12 days. That's a test for even the deepest and most physically fit teams.
The Huskies (12-3-4) conclude the regular-season with their final DuPage Valley Conference game at Waubonsie Valley on Tuesday before a nonconference battle against Downers Grove South on Thursday. They will take on Plainfield Central at home in a regional semifinal on Oct. 18.
The Wolves (8-6-4) travel to Minooka and will not be making up last Thursday’s conference game against West Aurora, which was canceled due to storms combined with darkness. They will travel to Plainfield North to take on Wheaton Warrenville South in a regional semifinal on Oct. 19.
Starting lineups
Naperville North
GK: Reed Goss
D: Alex Arredondo
D: Ryan Konrad
D: Adam Zielke
D: Aidan McMahon
MF: Hindo Allie
MF: Owen Gaccione
MF: Caden Hill
MF: Noah Radeke
F: Alex Barger
F: Jaxon Stokes
Oswego East
GK: Adam Tobias
D: Drew Karg
D: Diego Godinez
D: Zedaniel Parodis-Yu
D: Celesmar Herrera
MF: Dylan Drendel
MF: Caleb Pankiewicz
MF: Israel Torres
MF: Diego Santiesteban
F: DuPablo Parodis-Yu
F: Josh Lopez
Chicagoland Soccer Men of the Match:
Connor Hanrahan, so., D, Naperville North
DuPablo Parodis-Yu, sr., F, Oswego East
Scoring summary (times unavailable, no scoreboard)
First half
Oswego East – Dylan Drendel (Zedaniel Parodis-Yu)
Naperville North – Noah Radeke (Owen Gaccione)
Naperville North – Alex Barger (PK)
Second half
Naperville North – Jaxon Stokes (unassisted)
Oswego East – DuPablo Parodis-Yu (unassisted)
Oswego East’s Senior Day
Busy Huskies take down Wolves 3-2
By Chris R. Walker
OSWEGO– Approximately 14 hours after tying Joliet West at home, Naperville North was back on a field Saturday for another nonconference game as Oswego East’s Senior Day opponent.
While the Wolves surprised sixth-ranked Huskies with an early score, the visitors responded with two quick goals and never trailed again in a 3-2 victory on a chilly and windy morning.
“We went down pretty early, which was not the way we wanted to start it,” Huskies senior Alex Barger said. “But we were able to fight back. We gutted out two goals and then found one in the second half to make it three.”
Barger converted a PK after fellow senior Owen Gaccione had setup sophomore Noah Radeke to tie the game at 1-1.
It was not the response Oswego East, a program that has never beaten Naperville North, was hoping for after jumping ahead right at the start.
“We played well, but it’s been the story of our season, we kind of beat ourselves,” Wolves coach Steve Szymanski said. “The goals they scored were on our mistakes. The corner kick we don’t clean up, they score. Then our defender is out of position so Adam (Tobias) has to make a play on the ball, and it’s a PK and it is what it is. It’s kind of the story of our season.”
Jaxon Stokes, who scored the only goal for the Huskies in their previous ties against St. Charles East and Joliet West, extended Naperville North’s lead to 3-1 late in the second half.
But just as soon as it appeared that the Huskies were going to pull away, the Wolves answered when DuPablo Parodis-Yu beat a defender before sending in a shot inside the far post to make it 3-2.
“I just took a chance because I didn’t know if the defender was faster or slower than me,” he said. “I’ve got to take a chance and see if I can beat them so I did. I took the shot once I could, and it went into the back of the net.”
As someone who was a key part of a regional championship team and had an opportunity to square off against a perennial power like Naperville North, Parodis-Yu, who was named a Chicagoland Soccer Man of the Match, was happy with how the Wolves battled despite not getting the desired result.
“I felt like we hung in there and got a good amount of chances,” he said. “We do need to work on our defending, especially during set pieces, because that’s where Naperville North is usually always dangerous. But I’m glad with how we played.”
Szymanski agreed while sharing his thoughts on aspiring for the kind of program greatness North has achieved.
“When they come in, they know they’re going to win; they’re Naperville North. It says that on the front of their jersey, and they know it,” he said. “We’re still trying to build that mentality where you step on the field it’s got to be the most important thing out there. And for kids that play 100 games a year, playing a couple high school games isn’t always the most important thing.
“We’re trying to find that balance. We’ve got a lot a lot of young guys, too, and they get pumped up for different things. A couple guys are motivated because they play club against these guys, but it’s got to be like that whether you play club against them or whether that’s your friend or not. Against every team you’ve got to play like you want to beat them.”
The Wolves enjoyed their brief lead thanks to an impressive strike from Dylan Drendel who turned and fired from about 25 yards.
“We’ve been talking to him about just shooting the ball when he gets it, and he executed just like he did last Saturday,” Wolves senior Drew Karg said. “Recently he’s been doing that, and it’s really been working out for us.”
Karg, Tobias, Parodis-Yu, his brother, ZeDaniel Parodis-Yu, as well as Israel Torres, Celesmar Herrera and Diego Santiesteban were the Oswego East seniors recognized after the game as part of the Senior Day celebration.
“Last year we had like 18 kids so that was huge, and we had it in the middle of the season so we weren’t even ready for the playoffs,” Karg said. “This was a good team to play right before the playoffs, to see where we are at and really figure out what we need to do in the next two weeks to get to where we’d like to be.”
The Wolves continue to show that they can hang with and even beat some of the state’s best teams, dropping a similar one-goal game against undefeated and 12th-ranked Romeoville and beating seventh-ranked Plainfield North.
“We can win; we can tie; we can lose. I don’t know, but putting in two goals against (Naperville North), the two-seed in our sectional, shows us what we need to do to be at the top,” Karg said. “And playoff soccer is difficult. It’s a whole different game of soccer. It really is.”
The Wolves have gotten huge contributions collectively from their sophomore class this season. They’ve stepped in and made an impact after last year’s team graduated nearly everyone. The Wolves had four sophomores in the starting lineup against the Huskies, including Drendel, Diego Godinez, Josh Lopez and Caleb Pankiewicz while a handful of others are on the roster and contributing minutes off the bench.
“We really have improved over the season, and we’re hoping that we’ve learned from all of our mistakes going into the playoffs,” DuPablo Parodis-Yu said. “I’d hope that we could play our hardest in the playoffs against these hard teams and hopefully win regionals again like last year. We can’t get too overconfident. We need to play like we always do, and we should have a chance.”
Similar to the Wolves, the Huskies may have some tremendously talented veterans like Barger leading them, but they, too, have some newcomers who soon will be making their postseason debuts, including sophomore Connor Hanrahan, who was named the co-Chicagoland Soccer Man of the Match, and freshman Sam Hess.
“I think we’re going into the postseason way better than when we started,” Hanrahan said. “The first three to six games we were very slow, and we didn’t score at all and didn’t have many chances. Now we’re getting a lot more chances, and I think it started in Iowa. We scored 10 goals in those three games and it really got us going.”
Barger complimented the way his new teammates are communicating with each other now in October in comparison to August.
“We’ve got a ton of new faces with freshmen, sophomores, juniors, and I think the first thing we worked on was communication. It’s been a lot better than it was at the beginning of the season,” he said. “The guys are trusting one another and stuff like that and now that chemistry is with us.”
Hess applauded the team’s willingness and ability to stick with a formation change during the season, especially as one of the newcomers trying to fit in, adapt and contribute right away.
“The first few games were a little rough but now were starting to get the hang of it and getting a lot more chances on goal,” he said. “Defensively it’s a harder challenge, but it’s worth it because we have good enough players to organize and lock up on defense.”
The victory over the Wolves was the team’s third game in as many days.
“It was very tiring, especially doing it against three Illinois teams and kind of big games since all three teams were very good,” Hanrahan said. “Our legs are tired, but we got through it and played well.”
Naperville North has gone 4-0-3 over the last 12 days. That's a test for even the deepest and most physically fit teams.
The Huskies (12-3-4) conclude the regular-season with their final DuPage Valley Conference game at Waubonsie Valley on Tuesday before a nonconference battle against Downers Grove South on Thursday. They will take on Plainfield Central at home in a regional semifinal on Oct. 18.
The Wolves (8-6-4) travel to Minooka and will not be making up last Thursday’s conference game against West Aurora, which was canceled due to storms combined with darkness. They will travel to Plainfield North to take on Wheaton Warrenville South in a regional semifinal on Oct. 19.
Starting lineups
Naperville North
GK: Reed Goss
D: Alex Arredondo
D: Ryan Konrad
D: Adam Zielke
D: Aidan McMahon
MF: Hindo Allie
MF: Owen Gaccione
MF: Caden Hill
MF: Noah Radeke
F: Alex Barger
F: Jaxon Stokes
Oswego East
GK: Adam Tobias
D: Drew Karg
D: Diego Godinez
D: Zedaniel Parodis-Yu
D: Celesmar Herrera
MF: Dylan Drendel
MF: Caleb Pankiewicz
MF: Israel Torres
MF: Diego Santiesteban
F: DuPablo Parodis-Yu
F: Josh Lopez
Chicagoland Soccer Men of the Match:
Connor Hanrahan, so., D, Naperville North
DuPablo Parodis-Yu, sr., F, Oswego East
Scoring summary (times unavailable, no scoreboard)
First half
Oswego East – Dylan Drendel (Zedaniel Parodis-Yu)
Naperville North – Noah Radeke (Owen Gaccione)
Naperville North – Alex Barger (PK)
Second half
Naperville North – Jaxon Stokes (unassisted)
Oswego East – DuPablo Parodis-Yu (unassisted)