New Trier's 80th-minute strike stuns York
Weaver goal rallies Trevians to 3-2 road win
By Dave Owen
ELMHURST – The season is only two matches old, and New Trier likely already has its Goal of the Year-winner come postseason banquet time.
Logan Weaver’s high-speed sprint up the middle and drive inside the left corner of the net with just 32 seconds left broke a 2-2 tie Thursday at York, earning the Trevians (2-0-0) a 3-2 win over the Dukes.
The stunning strike punctuated a wild final 12 minutes of play. York took a 2-1 lead with 11:14 left, but the Trevians, ranked no. 12 in the Chicagoland Soccer preseason poll, drew even just 96 seconds later and produced final-minute magic that began with Ben Axelrod’s win of a long York punt.
“It all started with our left center back Ben Axelrod,” Weaver said. “He won the ball in the middle and started the play, and I just saw the gap and shot it.”
Weaver’s speed did much of the work to create the chance. He sped past two York defenders up the middle while controlling his dribble, sidestepped York goalkeeper Sam Kritikos and angled the winning goal into the lower far corner of the net.
“What Logan has is an ability to accelerate with the ball that’s pretty special,” New Trier coach Matt Ravenscraft said.
“Our center back Ben Axelrod headed it, and then Logan took it up. And he keeps the ball pretty tight. He was able to get around the keeper, and once he did that you knew it was going in.”
The goal capped a one-minute sequence in which New Trier created two attacks deep into the York zone, and the Dukes had one of their own (initiated on an interception and long send by Jack Musial).
“I think it (Weaver’s rush) caught York off guard,” Ravenscraft said. “Their shape was pretty flat and high, and it’s early in the season so teams are getting fitness. It could have been that or just a mental breakdown, and the back and forth (end to end play) led to some of that.”
Weaver’s strike put an understandably painful final twist to an excellent peformance by the Dukes.
“Lots of positives, but that doesn’t make it sting any less,” York coach Lukas Majewski said. “When you have a team like that on the ropes (up 2-1 late), you have to put it away. I hope we learn from it as a team.
“I think we have a great group of kids. And if we can figure out how to mesh them together, if we get all those guys on the same page, I think we can be dangerous.”
Ryan Krueger had scored New Trier’s tying goal with 9:38 left and was a close-up witness to Weaver’s fantastic finish.
“It was surreal,” Krueger said. “I was actually turned around and all I saw was the ball drop to Logan Weaver’s feet, and he’s darting towards the goal.
“I ran with him and just shut up because I have a knack for calling for the ball. I shut up and let him do his thing. He slotted it home, and we celebrated. It was awesome.”
Also starring for New Trier all night was senior forward Will Felitto. Strong on throw-ins throughout the match, Felitto made an early impact with a back post header goal off a Weaver corner kick in the 13th minute to put the Trevians ahead 1-0.
“Will Felitto – I can’t speak enough about his ability to be a target (at 6-foot-2). Especially early when things weren’t going our way and we started slow,” Ravenscraft said.
“And then late I thought our center backs Riles Walsh and Ben Axelrod along with JoJo Farina sat in and dealt with their two center forwards and their wingers and just absorbed a lot. That was really impressive. Good senior leader performances from those three.”
Strong play was needed to battle past a York team that had the game’s best early chance and had victory in its grasp until late.
The Dukes nearly struck with 34:30 left in the first half, when Nathan Brown’s nice send sprung Parker Gawne for a 1-on-1 attack that ended with a 6-yard flick of a bouncing ball that went just wide of the open left post.
Then after New Trier went up 1-0, a Gawne-to-Joe Meade-to Jakub Knurek passing connection in the 16th minute led to Knurek’s 15-yard left side drive that was denied on a nice save by New Trier goalkeeper Sam Warden.
“We know we have talent on this team, guys who can handle the ball and dribble it and pass,” York captain Joe Reinhofer said. “And guys who can step up to the moment – that’s something we didn’t have before.”
After the York defense withstood dangerous shots inside 15 yards just wide of the net by Krueger (24th minute) and Weaver (32nd minute), the Dukes surged into the halftime break.
Off a Musial steal, Reinhofer’s low 12-yard drive was denied on a nice save by Warden 4:10 before halftime. Edwardo Del Carmen followed 50 seconds later with a 6-yard shot that was blocked near the goal line.
Then off a high send from the right sideline by Musial with 1:30 left in the half, Del Carmen’s deflection eluded the New Trier defense to Ethan Oder at the left post. His putaway tied the game 1-1 at halftime and punctuated a strong run of play for the Dukes.
“York is a great team,” Ravenscraft said. “I think they’re going to cause a lot of problems in the West Suburban and throughout their schedule.
“They showed that they have a grittiness and a couple of speedy guys, and they caused us some issues – especially in the first half.
“We had to change some things at halftime to make sure we were better equipped to deal with what they were throwing forward. It was very direct, and quick, and it put us on our back foot.”
The teams traded quality chances in the first 15 minutes of the half – a Felitto 8-yard header just wide of the net off an Alex Boudos cross with 30:50 left for New Trier, then a strong Gawne attack setting up a Joe Meade one-timer just over the net with 25:10 to go.
Then the two goalkeepers kept the 1-1 tie with matching brilliance.
York’s Kritikos made a great foot-first sliding block to deny an excellent Felitto shot with 19:20 to play. Kritikos followed with another diving stop five minutes later to thwart a Weaver 10-yard straight-on drive off a strong Felitto throw-in. The keeper then dove to deflect a 22-yard Krueger free kick just wide with 13:50 left.
New Trier goalkeeper Warden’s biggest save came with 11:46 left, after an improbable York counterattack. John Gratzianna’s strong clear of a corner kick by the Trevians’ Weaver sprung Reinhofer on a 1-v.-1 attack that ended with him being tripped in the box for a penalty kick.
What followed was a tribute to Warden, then York’s perseverance.
Warden made the initial diving save on R.J. Meade’s PK with 11:46 left, then endured Oder’s rebound shot that hit the crossbar.
Shaking off those two near misses, York fought on and finished the possession in style. Josh Borzello’s low cross from the end line right of the goal squirted across the crease to Reinhofer, whose putaway inside the left post made it 2-1 York in the 69th minute.
“I have to give all the credit to Josh Borzello,” Reinhofer said. “There was a play in the corner, some nice small-sided play, and he managed to make a guy dive in and slotted it beautifully across.
“I recognized the goalie wasn’t going to get down in time, so it was just a matter of right place and knowing who your teammate is and what he likes to do with the ball.”
Suddenly down 2-1 on the road, New Trier found its footing.
“We just kind of regrouped at the top of the box (after the York goal) and said ‘Hey, calm down. This is our game; we’re better than these guys technically,’” Krueger said.
“The only thing lacking we felt in the second half was the heart, then we got one quick goal, and then it was just do what we do in practice with quick turnarounds and making sure we get our chances and the build-up of play is how we need to play.
“We felt they were controlling most of the game and forcing how we didn’t want to play,” Krueger added. “So we calmed down, played the way we’re supposed to play and the rest of the game went our way after that.”
After Weaver’s well-contested header went just wide with 10:05 left, the Trevians won the ensuing battle for the punt near midfield and countered. Felitto’s pass sprung Krueger up the right side, and he angled a 15-yarder inside the left post to tie the game 2-2 with 9:38 to go.
“I consider that my pocket space right there, right side top of the box,” Krueger said. “I’ve practiced it so many times. Just cut in, find the right side of the goalkeeper and put it away.”
Weaver would be the hero in the final minute, but recognized what set up his big moment.
“Thank God my teammates had my back the whole game,” he said. “We worked hard, we stayed in the game, our keeper made a great save on the penalty. That’s what we try to do, just make it to the end and get in a position to win the game.
“I was so proud of all our players. We played for each other, we’re brothers – I love these guys.”
York’s development into a cohesive team is also showing progress.
“It’s hard in the beginning of the season – we’re still trying to find out what team we are,” Reinhofer said. “When you have individuals who are all putting in that work on a team, I think that’s kind of an individual thing that becomes collective. And once you see one guy busting his behind, you can rally behind that. It’s a domino effect from there.”
The hearts of York players and fans fell like dominos after Weaver’s goal. But Reinhofer kept the heartbreak in perspective.
“Could be tired legs or the defense still getting used to each other,” he said. “But it’s also a game (early in the season) where we’re still establishing communication and things like that.”
Said Majewski: “This was a nice test at the beginning of the season to see where we are and how far we have to go. Obviously we’re heading in the right direction, but we’re not there.”
The talents of Reinhofer and a deep roster bode well for the Dukes’ 2017 hopes.
“Joe Reinhofer’s obviously our go-to guy on top,” Majewski said. “He’s going to see double and triple coverage at times, but we have other kids that can play off him.
“We have soccer players that can read the game. It’s a work in progress, but we’ll get there. And hopefully we’re dangerous sooner than later, so we can climb up the ratings for sectionals.”
York showed its potential to be dangerous Thursday, even if late events turned against them.
“Obviously New Trier’s a great team, on par or better than some of the top teams in our conference,” Majewski said. “You have a team on the ropes and in a matter of five minutes the whole game is upside down. I’m still kind of in disbelief, and most of the boys are in disbelief that happened.
“And give us five more minutes and I have no doubt we would have pressed and looked for opportunities and it could have gone the other way.”
Instead, the Trevians have a dramatic win and strong second half finish to build on.
“We talked (at the half) about our team shape, and that we had to dig a little deeper,” Ravenscraft said. “Half of it was tactics, half of it was heart.
“And I think they showed a lot of heart and poise. This is a team with a lot of varsity experience, and I think we showed that tonight, that grittiness and ability to dig deep when things aren’t going your way.”
Said Weaver: “It’s huge for confidence. Of course we don’t want to get too high or too low. We know how we can play and how good we can be, and right now we’re just trying to improve every day.”
And as for his last-second dash and finish?
“That might be no. 1 in terms of goals I’ve ever scored,” Weaver said. “That one will stay in my memory forever.”
Starting lineups
New Trier
GK Sam Warden
D Daniel Gunther
D Alex Boudos
D Ben Axelrod
D Riles Walsh
M Mateo Blair
M JoJo Farina
M Logan Weaver
M Will Felitto
F Alex Donnelly-Maine
F Ryan Krueger
York
G Sam Kritikos
D R.J. Meade
D Josh Borzello
D John Milani
D Nathan Brown
M Jakub Knurek
M Joe Meade
M Paolo Favuzzi
M Michael Achepohl
F Joe Reinhofer
F Parker Gawne
Chicagoland Soccer Man of the Match: Logan Weaver, jr. MF, New Trier
Weaver goal rallies Trevians to 3-2 road win
By Dave Owen
ELMHURST – The season is only two matches old, and New Trier likely already has its Goal of the Year-winner come postseason banquet time.
Logan Weaver’s high-speed sprint up the middle and drive inside the left corner of the net with just 32 seconds left broke a 2-2 tie Thursday at York, earning the Trevians (2-0-0) a 3-2 win over the Dukes.
The stunning strike punctuated a wild final 12 minutes of play. York took a 2-1 lead with 11:14 left, but the Trevians, ranked no. 12 in the Chicagoland Soccer preseason poll, drew even just 96 seconds later and produced final-minute magic that began with Ben Axelrod’s win of a long York punt.
“It all started with our left center back Ben Axelrod,” Weaver said. “He won the ball in the middle and started the play, and I just saw the gap and shot it.”
Weaver’s speed did much of the work to create the chance. He sped past two York defenders up the middle while controlling his dribble, sidestepped York goalkeeper Sam Kritikos and angled the winning goal into the lower far corner of the net.
“What Logan has is an ability to accelerate with the ball that’s pretty special,” New Trier coach Matt Ravenscraft said.
“Our center back Ben Axelrod headed it, and then Logan took it up. And he keeps the ball pretty tight. He was able to get around the keeper, and once he did that you knew it was going in.”
The goal capped a one-minute sequence in which New Trier created two attacks deep into the York zone, and the Dukes had one of their own (initiated on an interception and long send by Jack Musial).
“I think it (Weaver’s rush) caught York off guard,” Ravenscraft said. “Their shape was pretty flat and high, and it’s early in the season so teams are getting fitness. It could have been that or just a mental breakdown, and the back and forth (end to end play) led to some of that.”
Weaver’s strike put an understandably painful final twist to an excellent peformance by the Dukes.
“Lots of positives, but that doesn’t make it sting any less,” York coach Lukas Majewski said. “When you have a team like that on the ropes (up 2-1 late), you have to put it away. I hope we learn from it as a team.
“I think we have a great group of kids. And if we can figure out how to mesh them together, if we get all those guys on the same page, I think we can be dangerous.”
Ryan Krueger had scored New Trier’s tying goal with 9:38 left and was a close-up witness to Weaver’s fantastic finish.
“It was surreal,” Krueger said. “I was actually turned around and all I saw was the ball drop to Logan Weaver’s feet, and he’s darting towards the goal.
“I ran with him and just shut up because I have a knack for calling for the ball. I shut up and let him do his thing. He slotted it home, and we celebrated. It was awesome.”
Also starring for New Trier all night was senior forward Will Felitto. Strong on throw-ins throughout the match, Felitto made an early impact with a back post header goal off a Weaver corner kick in the 13th minute to put the Trevians ahead 1-0.
“Will Felitto – I can’t speak enough about his ability to be a target (at 6-foot-2). Especially early when things weren’t going our way and we started slow,” Ravenscraft said.
“And then late I thought our center backs Riles Walsh and Ben Axelrod along with JoJo Farina sat in and dealt with their two center forwards and their wingers and just absorbed a lot. That was really impressive. Good senior leader performances from those three.”
Strong play was needed to battle past a York team that had the game’s best early chance and had victory in its grasp until late.
The Dukes nearly struck with 34:30 left in the first half, when Nathan Brown’s nice send sprung Parker Gawne for a 1-on-1 attack that ended with a 6-yard flick of a bouncing ball that went just wide of the open left post.
Then after New Trier went up 1-0, a Gawne-to-Joe Meade-to Jakub Knurek passing connection in the 16th minute led to Knurek’s 15-yard left side drive that was denied on a nice save by New Trier goalkeeper Sam Warden.
“We know we have talent on this team, guys who can handle the ball and dribble it and pass,” York captain Joe Reinhofer said. “And guys who can step up to the moment – that’s something we didn’t have before.”
After the York defense withstood dangerous shots inside 15 yards just wide of the net by Krueger (24th minute) and Weaver (32nd minute), the Dukes surged into the halftime break.
Off a Musial steal, Reinhofer’s low 12-yard drive was denied on a nice save by Warden 4:10 before halftime. Edwardo Del Carmen followed 50 seconds later with a 6-yard shot that was blocked near the goal line.
Then off a high send from the right sideline by Musial with 1:30 left in the half, Del Carmen’s deflection eluded the New Trier defense to Ethan Oder at the left post. His putaway tied the game 1-1 at halftime and punctuated a strong run of play for the Dukes.
“York is a great team,” Ravenscraft said. “I think they’re going to cause a lot of problems in the West Suburban and throughout their schedule.
“They showed that they have a grittiness and a couple of speedy guys, and they caused us some issues – especially in the first half.
“We had to change some things at halftime to make sure we were better equipped to deal with what they were throwing forward. It was very direct, and quick, and it put us on our back foot.”
The teams traded quality chances in the first 15 minutes of the half – a Felitto 8-yard header just wide of the net off an Alex Boudos cross with 30:50 left for New Trier, then a strong Gawne attack setting up a Joe Meade one-timer just over the net with 25:10 to go.
Then the two goalkeepers kept the 1-1 tie with matching brilliance.
York’s Kritikos made a great foot-first sliding block to deny an excellent Felitto shot with 19:20 to play. Kritikos followed with another diving stop five minutes later to thwart a Weaver 10-yard straight-on drive off a strong Felitto throw-in. The keeper then dove to deflect a 22-yard Krueger free kick just wide with 13:50 left.
New Trier goalkeeper Warden’s biggest save came with 11:46 left, after an improbable York counterattack. John Gratzianna’s strong clear of a corner kick by the Trevians’ Weaver sprung Reinhofer on a 1-v.-1 attack that ended with him being tripped in the box for a penalty kick.
What followed was a tribute to Warden, then York’s perseverance.
Warden made the initial diving save on R.J. Meade’s PK with 11:46 left, then endured Oder’s rebound shot that hit the crossbar.
Shaking off those two near misses, York fought on and finished the possession in style. Josh Borzello’s low cross from the end line right of the goal squirted across the crease to Reinhofer, whose putaway inside the left post made it 2-1 York in the 69th minute.
“I have to give all the credit to Josh Borzello,” Reinhofer said. “There was a play in the corner, some nice small-sided play, and he managed to make a guy dive in and slotted it beautifully across.
“I recognized the goalie wasn’t going to get down in time, so it was just a matter of right place and knowing who your teammate is and what he likes to do with the ball.”
Suddenly down 2-1 on the road, New Trier found its footing.
“We just kind of regrouped at the top of the box (after the York goal) and said ‘Hey, calm down. This is our game; we’re better than these guys technically,’” Krueger said.
“The only thing lacking we felt in the second half was the heart, then we got one quick goal, and then it was just do what we do in practice with quick turnarounds and making sure we get our chances and the build-up of play is how we need to play.
“We felt they were controlling most of the game and forcing how we didn’t want to play,” Krueger added. “So we calmed down, played the way we’re supposed to play and the rest of the game went our way after that.”
After Weaver’s well-contested header went just wide with 10:05 left, the Trevians won the ensuing battle for the punt near midfield and countered. Felitto’s pass sprung Krueger up the right side, and he angled a 15-yarder inside the left post to tie the game 2-2 with 9:38 to go.
“I consider that my pocket space right there, right side top of the box,” Krueger said. “I’ve practiced it so many times. Just cut in, find the right side of the goalkeeper and put it away.”
Weaver would be the hero in the final minute, but recognized what set up his big moment.
“Thank God my teammates had my back the whole game,” he said. “We worked hard, we stayed in the game, our keeper made a great save on the penalty. That’s what we try to do, just make it to the end and get in a position to win the game.
“I was so proud of all our players. We played for each other, we’re brothers – I love these guys.”
York’s development into a cohesive team is also showing progress.
“It’s hard in the beginning of the season – we’re still trying to find out what team we are,” Reinhofer said. “When you have individuals who are all putting in that work on a team, I think that’s kind of an individual thing that becomes collective. And once you see one guy busting his behind, you can rally behind that. It’s a domino effect from there.”
The hearts of York players and fans fell like dominos after Weaver’s goal. But Reinhofer kept the heartbreak in perspective.
“Could be tired legs or the defense still getting used to each other,” he said. “But it’s also a game (early in the season) where we’re still establishing communication and things like that.”
Said Majewski: “This was a nice test at the beginning of the season to see where we are and how far we have to go. Obviously we’re heading in the right direction, but we’re not there.”
The talents of Reinhofer and a deep roster bode well for the Dukes’ 2017 hopes.
“Joe Reinhofer’s obviously our go-to guy on top,” Majewski said. “He’s going to see double and triple coverage at times, but we have other kids that can play off him.
“We have soccer players that can read the game. It’s a work in progress, but we’ll get there. And hopefully we’re dangerous sooner than later, so we can climb up the ratings for sectionals.”
York showed its potential to be dangerous Thursday, even if late events turned against them.
“Obviously New Trier’s a great team, on par or better than some of the top teams in our conference,” Majewski said. “You have a team on the ropes and in a matter of five minutes the whole game is upside down. I’m still kind of in disbelief, and most of the boys are in disbelief that happened.
“And give us five more minutes and I have no doubt we would have pressed and looked for opportunities and it could have gone the other way.”
Instead, the Trevians have a dramatic win and strong second half finish to build on.
“We talked (at the half) about our team shape, and that we had to dig a little deeper,” Ravenscraft said. “Half of it was tactics, half of it was heart.
“And I think they showed a lot of heart and poise. This is a team with a lot of varsity experience, and I think we showed that tonight, that grittiness and ability to dig deep when things aren’t going your way.”
Said Weaver: “It’s huge for confidence. Of course we don’t want to get too high or too low. We know how we can play and how good we can be, and right now we’re just trying to improve every day.”
And as for his last-second dash and finish?
“That might be no. 1 in terms of goals I’ve ever scored,” Weaver said. “That one will stay in my memory forever.”
Starting lineups
New Trier
GK Sam Warden
D Daniel Gunther
D Alex Boudos
D Ben Axelrod
D Riles Walsh
M Mateo Blair
M JoJo Farina
M Logan Weaver
M Will Felitto
F Alex Donnelly-Maine
F Ryan Krueger
York
G Sam Kritikos
D R.J. Meade
D Josh Borzello
D John Milani
D Nathan Brown
M Jakub Knurek
M Joe Meade
M Paolo Favuzzi
M Michael Achepohl
F Joe Reinhofer
F Parker Gawne
Chicagoland Soccer Man of the Match: Logan Weaver, jr. MF, New Trier