Naperville Central sets down Oswego East
Redhawks take own regional 2-0 on set piece scores
By Matt Le Cren
NAPERVILLE – Ryan Coleman saw something nobody else did.
As he teed up a 20-yard free kick early in Saturday’s Class 3A Naperville Central Regional final, the Redhawks' senior noticed an opening in the Oswego East defense.
Coleman exploited that, curving his shot around the wall and just inside the right post for what turned out to be the game-winning goal.
The second-seeded Redhawks later added a goal from junior Rohan Bhargava and went on to beat the seventh-seeded Wolves 2-0 at Memorial Stadium.
Naperville Central advances to play third seed Plainfield Central in Tuesday’s Naperville North Sectional semifinals, while Oswego East’s best season ever is over.
“I just saw that there was space on the near post and the goalie didn’t seem like he was up to (closing it off), so I just hit it near post,” Coleman said. “I bent it around the wall.
“That was probably one of my most memorable (goals).”
No doubt it was the most important. Coleman’s goal, which came on the first shot of the game at the 33:20 mark of the first quarter, gave the Redhawks a huge shot of confidence against a team that was attempting to win its first regional title.
“I think it gave us a great lift because they were physical and came out hard just like we did,” Coleman said. “It gave us a push over them.”
The Wolves (16-6-2), who set the school record for wins this fall, were no pushover. They actually held an 8-7 shot advantage after the evenly played first half, yet trailed 2-0.
“(The early lead) was really important because it’s playoffs,” Bhargava said. “As the game goes on the underdog team usually gains confidence. So we capitalized early, and we finished the game.”
Bhargava finished another set piece when he scored on a corner kick with 9:48 to go. His service from the left corner went into the net as Oswego East goalkeeper Nathan Huerter hit the deck after a collision.
“I was just trying to put it in the same spot, and my guys are really good at pressuring the goalie and making runs,” Bhargava said. “Luckily the ball just went in.”
Huerter protested that he was fouled on the play but to no avail.
At any rate, Naperville Central's dead-ball strikes proved deadly to the Wolves.
“I think in the second half they outplayed us,” Oswego East coach Steve Szymanski said. “In the first half I felt it was pretty even; we played well.
“(On the free kick) I don’t know if our wall was (set) correct or not because if the wall is set I think that’s a pretty unbelievable shot. And the second one we’ll disagree with the refs.
“I thought our keeper got taken down. He went to go jump for the ball, and it looked like he got clipped.”
In the end, the Wolves’ hopes were shut down by an impenetrable Naperville Central defense that pitched its fourth-consecutive shutout. The Redhawks allowed only three shots in the second half after goalkeeper Ethan Conners made four of his five saves before intermission, including a diving stop on Tristan Stewart’s 31-yard free kick with 1:45 remaining.
The rebound of Stewart’s shot barely eluded the foot of senior Ryan Aten, a play which epitomized the end of Oswego East’s historic season.
“Our effort wasn’t exactly there the first half,” Oswego East junior forward Ford Frazer said. “We were all kind of timid, but we fought through and tried our best. But at the end of the day, they had a good team. They knew how to put it in the back of the net.
“We knew the only way they could beat us was through those set pieces, and that’s what happened. It was a corner, and it was a free kick. We let up when we shouldn’t have.”
This was the second-straight year and fourth season overall that the Wolves reached a regional final. The Redhawks have knocked them out twice.
“All things considered, I don’t think we had our best game today, but we had a good year,” Szymanski said. “You can’t judge a season by one game.
“One thing with Oswego East with all our sports is taking that next step. There’s one regional championship for boys teams in our school’s history, boys basketball in 2010, in 13 years.
“We’re getting to the level we need to but taking the next step is sometimes the hardest step to take, and that’s where we want to get to.”
Bhargava can empathize with the Wolves, but only up to a point. He was on the Naperville Central team that lost in the regional semifinals last year.
“(This victory) means a lot,” Bhargava said. “Winning a regional championship isn’t always easy.
“Lots of teams really want that. I know Oswego East, it would have been a huge achievement for their program, so it was really nice to get the win today.”
Now the Redhawks face another rising program in Plainfield Central, which broke through to win its first regional last year and will be trying to advance to the sectional final for the first time.
Coleman is grateful for the chance to play in a sectional in his final year.
“I feel great,” Coleman said. “It’s not just me. I think it’s the whole team effort.
“We’ve been working on the mental focus part, and 2-0 I think was a great score. I think the team was great today.”
Coleman said the Redhawks can beat Plainfield Central if they stay composed and keep their mental focus. They succeeded in both areas against the Wolves, especially defensively.
“I thought they were really physical, really tough in the midfield and luckily our defense was really good today so we kind of limited their chances,” Bhargava said. “I think we were really tough, and we stayed mentally locked in the whole game.”
The Wolves played the game without one of their top players, senior Michael Waclaw, who was out of town. It was the latest in a string of adverse events which included a raft of injuries to key players as well as Szymanski, who returned to the sidelines on crutches Saturday after missing a month following surgery on a torn hamstring.
“This season has probably been one of the craziest with all of the injuries, but everyone has stepped up. And that’s the good thing about what’s going to happen to this program -- all the kids that had to step up were juniors and underclassmen,” Frazer said. “So now they know how it feels to play on a varsity team. They are going to help us come back here and probably win this thing next year.”
Starting lineups
Oswego East
GK Nathan Huerter
D Mitch Hlavacek
D Joseph Bavol
D Juan Vega
M Kyle Blasingame
M Zachary Lass
M Dawson Johnson
M Tristan Stewart
F Ford Frazer
F Manuel Magana
F Ryan Aten
Naperville Central
GK Ethan Conners
D Rokas Stadalninkas
D Tanner Greenhagen
D Cameron Strang
M Rohan Bhargava
M Owen Jarrell
M Nico Couropmitree
M Nate Zain
F Zack Kokes
F Jimmy Kalkofen
F Ryan Coleman
Chicagoland Soccer Man of the Match – Ryan Coleman, F, Naperville Central
Scoring summary
1st Half
Naperville Central – Ryan Coleman 33:20
Naperville Central – Rohan Bhargava 9:48
Redhawks take own regional 2-0 on set piece scores
By Matt Le Cren
NAPERVILLE – Ryan Coleman saw something nobody else did.
As he teed up a 20-yard free kick early in Saturday’s Class 3A Naperville Central Regional final, the Redhawks' senior noticed an opening in the Oswego East defense.
Coleman exploited that, curving his shot around the wall and just inside the right post for what turned out to be the game-winning goal.
The second-seeded Redhawks later added a goal from junior Rohan Bhargava and went on to beat the seventh-seeded Wolves 2-0 at Memorial Stadium.
Naperville Central advances to play third seed Plainfield Central in Tuesday’s Naperville North Sectional semifinals, while Oswego East’s best season ever is over.
“I just saw that there was space on the near post and the goalie didn’t seem like he was up to (closing it off), so I just hit it near post,” Coleman said. “I bent it around the wall.
“That was probably one of my most memorable (goals).”
No doubt it was the most important. Coleman’s goal, which came on the first shot of the game at the 33:20 mark of the first quarter, gave the Redhawks a huge shot of confidence against a team that was attempting to win its first regional title.
“I think it gave us a great lift because they were physical and came out hard just like we did,” Coleman said. “It gave us a push over them.”
The Wolves (16-6-2), who set the school record for wins this fall, were no pushover. They actually held an 8-7 shot advantage after the evenly played first half, yet trailed 2-0.
“(The early lead) was really important because it’s playoffs,” Bhargava said. “As the game goes on the underdog team usually gains confidence. So we capitalized early, and we finished the game.”
Bhargava finished another set piece when he scored on a corner kick with 9:48 to go. His service from the left corner went into the net as Oswego East goalkeeper Nathan Huerter hit the deck after a collision.
“I was just trying to put it in the same spot, and my guys are really good at pressuring the goalie and making runs,” Bhargava said. “Luckily the ball just went in.”
Huerter protested that he was fouled on the play but to no avail.
At any rate, Naperville Central's dead-ball strikes proved deadly to the Wolves.
“I think in the second half they outplayed us,” Oswego East coach Steve Szymanski said. “In the first half I felt it was pretty even; we played well.
“(On the free kick) I don’t know if our wall was (set) correct or not because if the wall is set I think that’s a pretty unbelievable shot. And the second one we’ll disagree with the refs.
“I thought our keeper got taken down. He went to go jump for the ball, and it looked like he got clipped.”
In the end, the Wolves’ hopes were shut down by an impenetrable Naperville Central defense that pitched its fourth-consecutive shutout. The Redhawks allowed only three shots in the second half after goalkeeper Ethan Conners made four of his five saves before intermission, including a diving stop on Tristan Stewart’s 31-yard free kick with 1:45 remaining.
The rebound of Stewart’s shot barely eluded the foot of senior Ryan Aten, a play which epitomized the end of Oswego East’s historic season.
“Our effort wasn’t exactly there the first half,” Oswego East junior forward Ford Frazer said. “We were all kind of timid, but we fought through and tried our best. But at the end of the day, they had a good team. They knew how to put it in the back of the net.
“We knew the only way they could beat us was through those set pieces, and that’s what happened. It was a corner, and it was a free kick. We let up when we shouldn’t have.”
This was the second-straight year and fourth season overall that the Wolves reached a regional final. The Redhawks have knocked them out twice.
“All things considered, I don’t think we had our best game today, but we had a good year,” Szymanski said. “You can’t judge a season by one game.
“One thing with Oswego East with all our sports is taking that next step. There’s one regional championship for boys teams in our school’s history, boys basketball in 2010, in 13 years.
“We’re getting to the level we need to but taking the next step is sometimes the hardest step to take, and that’s where we want to get to.”
Bhargava can empathize with the Wolves, but only up to a point. He was on the Naperville Central team that lost in the regional semifinals last year.
“(This victory) means a lot,” Bhargava said. “Winning a regional championship isn’t always easy.
“Lots of teams really want that. I know Oswego East, it would have been a huge achievement for their program, so it was really nice to get the win today.”
Now the Redhawks face another rising program in Plainfield Central, which broke through to win its first regional last year and will be trying to advance to the sectional final for the first time.
Coleman is grateful for the chance to play in a sectional in his final year.
“I feel great,” Coleman said. “It’s not just me. I think it’s the whole team effort.
“We’ve been working on the mental focus part, and 2-0 I think was a great score. I think the team was great today.”
Coleman said the Redhawks can beat Plainfield Central if they stay composed and keep their mental focus. They succeeded in both areas against the Wolves, especially defensively.
“I thought they were really physical, really tough in the midfield and luckily our defense was really good today so we kind of limited their chances,” Bhargava said. “I think we were really tough, and we stayed mentally locked in the whole game.”
The Wolves played the game without one of their top players, senior Michael Waclaw, who was out of town. It was the latest in a string of adverse events which included a raft of injuries to key players as well as Szymanski, who returned to the sidelines on crutches Saturday after missing a month following surgery on a torn hamstring.
“This season has probably been one of the craziest with all of the injuries, but everyone has stepped up. And that’s the good thing about what’s going to happen to this program -- all the kids that had to step up were juniors and underclassmen,” Frazer said. “So now they know how it feels to play on a varsity team. They are going to help us come back here and probably win this thing next year.”
Starting lineups
Oswego East
GK Nathan Huerter
D Mitch Hlavacek
D Joseph Bavol
D Juan Vega
M Kyle Blasingame
M Zachary Lass
M Dawson Johnson
M Tristan Stewart
F Ford Frazer
F Manuel Magana
F Ryan Aten
Naperville Central
GK Ethan Conners
D Rokas Stadalninkas
D Tanner Greenhagen
D Cameron Strang
M Rohan Bhargava
M Owen Jarrell
M Nico Couropmitree
M Nate Zain
F Zack Kokes
F Jimmy Kalkofen
F Ryan Coleman
Chicagoland Soccer Man of the Match – Ryan Coleman, F, Naperville Central
Scoring summary
1st Half
Naperville Central – Ryan Coleman 33:20
Naperville Central – Rohan Bhargava 9:48