Oswego East's Hoffman finds
happiness at Waubonsie Valley
Wolves take physical battle 3-2
By Chris R. Walker
AURORA – While Oswego East was making program history last fall its freshmen squad was making its opponents look silly.
On Thursday, four of those former freshmen were among the Wolves starters during a nonconference game at Waubonsie Valley. A fifth came off the bench and scored a gorgeous goal in the second half that broke a tie and lifted the Wolves to their first victory of the young season by a 3-2 decision.
“We kept all our freshmen together (last year) and they went like 18-3 as a team,” Wolves coach Steve Szymanski said. “They were very good. They won the Metea Valley tournament. I think the biggest thing for them is the pace of play and the physicality. One of the kids said it’s a lot rougher than freshman, and I told him ... every ball means something.”
Sophomore M.J. Hoffman's big night included an assist. He netted the game winner with 18:25 left to play after receiving the ball at the top of the penalty area and slicing a shot inside the right post. He was named the Chicagoland Soccer Man of the Match for his night of work.
“It feels good,” he said. “I felt like I worked pretty hard to make it happen. The pass (from senior Israel Torres) helped me.”
Last year Hoffman served as a ball boy for one of the varsity games and made note of the differences in the varsity game. Adjusting to the speed is something he’s striving for to make an immediate impact. He’s one of the nine sophomores on this year’s roster that starred on the freshmen team last year.
“As a ball boy for one of the games I saw the speed and how intense it could be," he said. "I’m going to try my best here. I’m going to keep putting in the work to help the team.”
Oswego East (1-0-1) showed its inexperience when it squandered an early 2-0 lead.
Senior Dupablo Parodis-Yu took a ball from sophomore Josh Lopez, and after a little dribbling deep into the left side of the penalty area he buried his shot for a 1-0 lead in the eighth minute.
Torres extended the lead just under 10 minutes later when he maintained possession in front of the net before sending his shot where Waubonsie Valley goalkeeper Abrahm Tiburcio had no chance of getting it.
While he’s one of few seniors on the squad, Torres is new to the school. He transferred from Barca Academy in Arizona and has hinted at the huge impact he can make.
“He’s a nice addition and is fitting in well,” Szymanski said. “He’s very humble. He’s lived in this area so he knows some of the guys. He’s young as a senior, because he skipped a grade when he was younger.”
Torres praised his team’s effort, directing a lot of it toward his sophomore teammates
“We have a lot of young players who are hustling and playing hard,” he said. “When we play as a group collectively and we play well, we come out with the win. This was a good game.”
Waubonsie Valley (0-2-0) got on the board with 13:47 left in the first half as sophomore Amiel Nichani got fouled and senior Angel Gallegos punished the Wolves with the ensuing penalty kick to make it 2-1.
That gave the Warriors a much-needed spark and broke a streak of seven-straight goals allowed. Waubonsie Valley lost 5-0 in its season-opener to Benet, which is ranked 16th in the Chicagoland Soccer First 50 poll.
The tally set the stage for the always dangerous Gean Ribeiro Scarpelli, who drew the Warriors even at 2-2 with a header amongst a crowd midway through the second half.
“I saw the ball and said I’m going to just jump as high as I can to get a head on it,” he said. “It was a great goal and I think it got the team motivated, but we still conceded after that. But I’m proud of my team, my teammates. Going forward I think this is going to be a good season. We’ve got a hardworking team, and we’re going to be ready to play.”
Scapelli feels his team is moving forward.
“We were really frustrated in losing 5-0,” Scarpelli said. “That was not the start of the season we wanted. Today I saw a team coming together. In the first game we were down on each other. Today we worked as a team. We’ve got a good group. It might be the best group I’ve played with. Since it’s my senior year, I’m excited to see far we can go this season.”
With high energy extended from both sides, the game was extremely physical. With the adrenalin pumping, players jawed at each other and the officials saw the need on numerous occasions to hand our cards. Waubonsie Valley was forced to play shorthanded but did not allow a goal during that time.
“These boys today were playing a man down for 20 minutes, and they didn’t allow them to score,” Warriors coach Jose Garcia said. “That shows the tenacity these boys are playing with and the high energy that I’m looking for.
"The camaraderie here is near the top. I don’t know if I’ve ever seen it this high. So I’m really happy with our players and how they played today. Hopefully we can continue with some of this momentum.”
Sophomore Lachlan Ladd is one of the hard-nosed kids who helps motivate Garcia's club. He showed a high work rates as disrupted the Oswego East attack and helped set up his teammates on offense.
“We’re a bunch of hardworking guys, all technical, and we have the opportunity to be a very good team if we put the pieces together and start working on just moving the ball and capitalizing on our chances,” he said. “We started out slow, but then we started figuring it out. We played hard. There were some unlucky calls that should’ve gone the other way, probably, but I’m proud of our team for fighting hard and giving it our all.”
Starting lineups
Oswego East
GK: Adam Tobias
D: Drew Karg
D: Diego Godinez
D: Celesmar Herrera
D: ZeDaniel Parodis-Yu
MF: Dylan Drendel
MF: Landon Kangas
MF: Caleb Pankiewicz
MF: Israel Torres
F: Josh Lopez
F: Dupablo Parodis-Yu
Waubonsie Valley
GK: Abrahm Tiburcio
FP: Michael Cullen
FP: Beckett Stotlar
FP: Cade Valek
FP: Tate Deasy
FP: Lachlan Ladd
FP: Gean Ribeiro Scarpelli
FP: Yahir Rodriguez
FP: Amiel Nichani
FP: Angel Gallegos
FP: Matthew Garcia
Chicagoland Soccer Man of the Match: M.J. Hoffman, so., F, Oswego East
Scoring summary
First half
OE: Dupablo Parodis-Yu (Josh Lopez), 8:49
OE: Israel Torres (MJ Hoffman), 18:44
WV: Angel Gallegos PK, 26:13
Second half
WV: Gean Riberio Scarpell (Tate Deasy), 59:53
OE: M.J. Hoffman (Israel Torres), 61:35
happiness at Waubonsie Valley
Wolves take physical battle 3-2
By Chris R. Walker
AURORA – While Oswego East was making program history last fall its freshmen squad was making its opponents look silly.
On Thursday, four of those former freshmen were among the Wolves starters during a nonconference game at Waubonsie Valley. A fifth came off the bench and scored a gorgeous goal in the second half that broke a tie and lifted the Wolves to their first victory of the young season by a 3-2 decision.
“We kept all our freshmen together (last year) and they went like 18-3 as a team,” Wolves coach Steve Szymanski said. “They were very good. They won the Metea Valley tournament. I think the biggest thing for them is the pace of play and the physicality. One of the kids said it’s a lot rougher than freshman, and I told him ... every ball means something.”
Sophomore M.J. Hoffman's big night included an assist. He netted the game winner with 18:25 left to play after receiving the ball at the top of the penalty area and slicing a shot inside the right post. He was named the Chicagoland Soccer Man of the Match for his night of work.
“It feels good,” he said. “I felt like I worked pretty hard to make it happen. The pass (from senior Israel Torres) helped me.”
Last year Hoffman served as a ball boy for one of the varsity games and made note of the differences in the varsity game. Adjusting to the speed is something he’s striving for to make an immediate impact. He’s one of the nine sophomores on this year’s roster that starred on the freshmen team last year.
“As a ball boy for one of the games I saw the speed and how intense it could be," he said. "I’m going to try my best here. I’m going to keep putting in the work to help the team.”
Oswego East (1-0-1) showed its inexperience when it squandered an early 2-0 lead.
Senior Dupablo Parodis-Yu took a ball from sophomore Josh Lopez, and after a little dribbling deep into the left side of the penalty area he buried his shot for a 1-0 lead in the eighth minute.
Torres extended the lead just under 10 minutes later when he maintained possession in front of the net before sending his shot where Waubonsie Valley goalkeeper Abrahm Tiburcio had no chance of getting it.
While he’s one of few seniors on the squad, Torres is new to the school. He transferred from Barca Academy in Arizona and has hinted at the huge impact he can make.
“He’s a nice addition and is fitting in well,” Szymanski said. “He’s very humble. He’s lived in this area so he knows some of the guys. He’s young as a senior, because he skipped a grade when he was younger.”
Torres praised his team’s effort, directing a lot of it toward his sophomore teammates
“We have a lot of young players who are hustling and playing hard,” he said. “When we play as a group collectively and we play well, we come out with the win. This was a good game.”
Waubonsie Valley (0-2-0) got on the board with 13:47 left in the first half as sophomore Amiel Nichani got fouled and senior Angel Gallegos punished the Wolves with the ensuing penalty kick to make it 2-1.
That gave the Warriors a much-needed spark and broke a streak of seven-straight goals allowed. Waubonsie Valley lost 5-0 in its season-opener to Benet, which is ranked 16th in the Chicagoland Soccer First 50 poll.
The tally set the stage for the always dangerous Gean Ribeiro Scarpelli, who drew the Warriors even at 2-2 with a header amongst a crowd midway through the second half.
“I saw the ball and said I’m going to just jump as high as I can to get a head on it,” he said. “It was a great goal and I think it got the team motivated, but we still conceded after that. But I’m proud of my team, my teammates. Going forward I think this is going to be a good season. We’ve got a hardworking team, and we’re going to be ready to play.”
Scapelli feels his team is moving forward.
“We were really frustrated in losing 5-0,” Scarpelli said. “That was not the start of the season we wanted. Today I saw a team coming together. In the first game we were down on each other. Today we worked as a team. We’ve got a good group. It might be the best group I’ve played with. Since it’s my senior year, I’m excited to see far we can go this season.”
With high energy extended from both sides, the game was extremely physical. With the adrenalin pumping, players jawed at each other and the officials saw the need on numerous occasions to hand our cards. Waubonsie Valley was forced to play shorthanded but did not allow a goal during that time.
“These boys today were playing a man down for 20 minutes, and they didn’t allow them to score,” Warriors coach Jose Garcia said. “That shows the tenacity these boys are playing with and the high energy that I’m looking for.
"The camaraderie here is near the top. I don’t know if I’ve ever seen it this high. So I’m really happy with our players and how they played today. Hopefully we can continue with some of this momentum.”
Sophomore Lachlan Ladd is one of the hard-nosed kids who helps motivate Garcia's club. He showed a high work rates as disrupted the Oswego East attack and helped set up his teammates on offense.
“We’re a bunch of hardworking guys, all technical, and we have the opportunity to be a very good team if we put the pieces together and start working on just moving the ball and capitalizing on our chances,” he said. “We started out slow, but then we started figuring it out. We played hard. There were some unlucky calls that should’ve gone the other way, probably, but I’m proud of our team for fighting hard and giving it our all.”
Starting lineups
Oswego East
GK: Adam Tobias
D: Drew Karg
D: Diego Godinez
D: Celesmar Herrera
D: ZeDaniel Parodis-Yu
MF: Dylan Drendel
MF: Landon Kangas
MF: Caleb Pankiewicz
MF: Israel Torres
F: Josh Lopez
F: Dupablo Parodis-Yu
Waubonsie Valley
GK: Abrahm Tiburcio
FP: Michael Cullen
FP: Beckett Stotlar
FP: Cade Valek
FP: Tate Deasy
FP: Lachlan Ladd
FP: Gean Ribeiro Scarpelli
FP: Yahir Rodriguez
FP: Amiel Nichani
FP: Angel Gallegos
FP: Matthew Garcia
Chicagoland Soccer Man of the Match: M.J. Hoffman, so., F, Oswego East
Scoring summary
First half
OE: Dupablo Parodis-Yu (Josh Lopez), 8:49
OE: Israel Torres (MJ Hoffman), 18:44
WV: Angel Gallegos PK, 26:13
Second half
WV: Gean Riberio Scarpell (Tate Deasy), 59:53
OE: M.J. Hoffman (Israel Torres), 61:35