Oswego East 'has' big night vs. DGN
A number of 1sts lead Wolves to 3-2 victory in Plainfield Classic
By Chris Walker
PLAINFIELD – Oswego East hadn’t come back and won after trailing in a game this season.
Oswego East hadn’t won on the road or at a neutral site.
Oswego East hadn’t won a game in the Plainfield Classic tournament this week.
Oswego East sophomore Carter Boberg hadn’t ever scored a goal before.
Oswego East really didn’t have much to be excited about other than not having to wake up early to go to school Friday because there were no classes due to a teacher institute day.
Before they could get excited and plan a Ferris Bueller-esque day for Friday, the Wolves changed their fortunes.
Now, after rallying for a thrilling 3-2 victory over Downers Grove North on Thursday night at Plainfield Central on Thursday night, Oswego East has:
“I don’t know if they’ve played harder than this (this season), but I know we combined passes tonight a lot better,” Oswego East coach Steve Szymanski said. “That’s been a struggle for us. It’s usually one or two passes and then we take a bad touch.
“The other difference is we weren’t getting on guys like we usually do. We just moved onto the next play instead of getting on each other. For whatever reason we trusted each other and came out and jelled a lot more.”
They did that despite falling behind 2-0 early, which could’ve spelled doom, especially with the way things have been going this fall for the Wolves.
“Our better attitude seems kind of new,” Wolves sophomore forward Ythan Houston said. “The attitude after we go down a goal used to be bad, and we’d get mad at each other and yell for making a mistake. Recently it’s getting better, and we’re working better as a team. We’re more calm now when we get scored on, and we just work harder to get a goal back.”
The Wolves lost 2-1 to St. Francis on Saturday after yielding the go-ahead goal with less than 10 minutes remaining.
On Monday they appeared destined for a 0-0 draw, but surrendered the winning goal in the 78th minute against East Aurora.
The way things were going lately, a rally from two goals down seemed extremely unlikely, but that’s exactly what the Wolves were able to pull off. And no offense to the Trojans, but aren’t these kind of thrilling rallies and come-from-behind victories the reason why so many kids continue be active in sports?
“I was surprised, because we didn’t have the best practice, and we didn’t really finish it well,” Szymanski said. “I give the guys credit. They bought in, and we’ve been preaching to them all year about the reason you started playing when you were five was because it was fun and you need to remember that feeling and bring that every single day.”
Downers Grove North (4-5-0) rallied from a 2-0 deficit against St. Francis in the tournament on Monday to win 3-2. On Thursday the Trojans were on the other end of such a game.
“Leading up to this we had a really good run in the tournament,” Trojans coach Michael Schmitt said. “The first half we came out with some energy and got a couple goals, and I think we kind of rested on that and thought that was enough. A 2-0 score is such a dangerous score. We were on the opposite end of that on Monday and won 3-2. That third goal is so important, and we didn’t get it.”
Alessandro Caro scored off of a corner kick from Eddie Ursulica to give the Trojans a 1-0 advantage with 29:22 left in the opening half. They extended their lead with 19:22 remaining before halftime when Sam Bull got on the other end of Peter Bednar’s corner kick to make it 2-0.
“We weren’t thinking too much about being down,” Wolves senior midfielder Dacarlos Parodis-Yu said. “We were just thinking that we have nothing to lose. We got down 2-0 on two set pieces, but we were playing well. So we kept playing hard and luckily we managed to get the win.”
Houston said giving up two goals off set pieces didn’t feel as bad as if they were in the run of play, despite both counting the same on the scoreboard.
“When we were down 2-0, I felt like we were controlling most of the game anyway,” he said. “I thought their goals were lucky, and off set pieces, so I thought we could come back.”
Parodis-Yu set up sophomore Carter Boberg for his first high school goal to pull the Wolves to within 2-1 with 14:37 left before halftime.
“I heard Mo (assistant coach Patrick Molinari) yell to make the run so I just played a through-ball and sprinted as hard as I could to support the guys,” Boberg said. “When I saw it was coming to me, I just placed it in the back of the net.”
Boberg said the Wolves really bought in to Szymanski telling them that they have to outwork teams to have a chance to get a desired result.
“Every game our coach says we have to play harder than the other team to win,” he said. “We’re not going to be able to just show up and play. We’re going to have to outwork them. When we got down I kept hearing the guys saying to keep our heads up and stay positive, and we kept on battling hard.”
Parodis-Yu then scored after he followed in his shot, which was rejected by Downers Grove North goalkeeper Gavin Crowson. First he received a beautiful cross from Houston after a long pass from Dimitri Huitron.
“Ythan (Houston) was on the left side, and I saw him running and then he crossed me the ball and I one-timed it,” Parodis-Yu said. “Unfortunately it hit the goalkeeper, but it came back to me so I sent it in. That was really exciting.”
What appeared possibly heading toward a rout suddenly became interesting with the two teams deadlocked at 2-2 with a full half to go as well as the remaining nine minutes of the first half.
Downers Grove North nearly pulled ahead with 2:55 left in the first half when junior midfielder Andrew M. Janowiak got in close and sent a missile toward the goal, but Oswego goalkeeper Owen Kiilsgaard was able to come up with a big save.
Junior midfielder Trygve Hansen also had a chance in the final minute before the break, but again Kiilsgaard was there to keep the teams even.
“We struggled getting ourselves back in the game,” Schmitt said. “We didn’t give up by any means, and we were unlucky we couldn’t. But we didn’t convert any of the chances we had and as more of the game went on we mentally checked out a bit.”
Opportunities were available for the Trojans, but they ultimately ended up getting shutout over the course of the final 60 minutes.
“We had one of those moments where we needed to pull something together and couldn’t get it,” Schmitt said. “Unfortunately the momentum swing in high school soccer is so important. It’s a real thing and once you’re on the wrong side of it, it’s really tough to battle through it. It seems like no matter what you do, everything is going the other way for you.”
Karrow, Bull, Janowiak and Alexander Dilkovski all had decent scoring chances early in the second half for the Trojans, but it would be the man of the evening, the Chicagoland Soccer Man of the Match, who would break the tie. Boberg scored off a ball from senior midfielder Ethan Klosterman with 27:59 left. And it would hold up for the Wolves to earn the upset victory.
“I just placed it into the net where the keeper wasn’t,” Boberg said. “That’s when the adrenalin kicked in, and everyone started coming alive.”
Boberg went from zero high school goals to two just like that.
“He played well,” Szymanski said. “He’s kind of our little spark plug. He comes in, and he’s super coachable. He ended up being in the right place by doing what he was supposed to be doing.”
Houston agreed.
“He played great tonight,” he said. “He deserves them for sure. He was working hard the whole game.”
The Trojans had to wonder what just happened, despite experiencing the same thing, albeit on the other side, just a few days earlier.
“We got the perspective of what St. Francis got (Monday), and it’s really hard to come back once the momentum swings,” Bull said. “I think we saw them as 0-2 in this tournament and think we kind of looked over them. It feels great to be the underdog and win, and it really (stinks) to be the big guy and lose.”
As one of the Trojans captains, Bull complimented his counterparts and especially the play of Huitron in patrolling the midfield. Huitron is one of those players that does so much for his team, but you rarely see his name on scoring plays.
“They were a highly motivated team. I think a lot of teams, just like us against St. Francis, when you get that first goal the second and third seemed to follow right after,” Bull said. “Dimitri is a great player and their team kind of revolves around him. I just thought that even though he’s their best player, they’re getting other guys goals and their whole team is cohesive. I think them all working together really motivated them so hat’s off to them.”
Senior forward Andre Casas and freshman Ben Paranidharam were two other players for the Wolves who were quite active. The newcomer is a recent call-up and displayed a strong shot and athleticism while barely missing a few opportunities.
“Dimitri doesn’t have the stats line, but he makes things happen, setting the table for the goals and assists,” Szymanski said. “Andre (Casas) also did well today in the center mid. And I think he helped settle us down.”
The loss denied the Trojans an opportunity to play in the Saturday morning semifinals. They finished 2-1-0 as did East Aurora in Group 4, and they even beat the Tomcats in head-to-head competition, but the Tomcats outscored them, 8-7, in tournament group points. Teams were awarded three points per victory and an additional point for any shutouts. The Tomcats blanked their opponent in each win.
“We’ve got to have more leadership, and that starts with me and the other captains,” Bull said. “The whole season is difficult in terms of fitness and stuff and tournament weeks, especially all the games all stacked on top of each other and the games in between are hard on the legs and everything, but it’s like that for everyone. It comes down to that extra push, and I think that starts with leadership.”
The Trojans (4-5-0) may have been 2-0-0 in the tournament prior to Thursday, but what definitely should not be lost is the fact that they were coming off a 4-0 West Suburban Conference Silver Division loss to Glenbard West on Tuesday. While it’s true they were aiming to finish pool play undefeated, the Trojans are a team that has been up-and-down so far this fall.
“This was a good learning lesson for us,” Schmitt said. “It’s the turning point of the season. Are we going to continue going the negative route or are we are going to try to put more work in and capitalize on opportunities?”
And it was a good learning lesson for the victorious Wolves who will see if this can help them go on a good run.
“We feel great tonight after winning,” Houston said. “I felt like we were really working for this one and really earned it. Now we need to keep it going.”
Starting lineups
Downers Grove North
GK Gavin Crowson
D Brian Benton
D Owen Lesley
D Devon Pounds
MF Peter Bednar
MF Trygve Hansen
MF Alessandro Karrow
F Samuel Bull
F Aidan Flores
F Mason Roberts
F Eddie Ursulica
Oswego East
GK Owen Kiilsgaard
D Nathan Czepiel
D Cael Cummings
D Zach Seidel
MF Grant Glorioso
MF Dimitri Huitron
MF Ethan Klosterman
MF Kellen Klosterman
MF Sahil Sethi
F Andre Casas
F Ythan Houston
Chicagoland Soccer Man of the Match: Carter Boberg, so., MF, Oswego East
Scoring summary
Oswego East 3, Downers Grove North 2
Oswego East 2 1 – 3
Downers Grove North 2 0 - 2
First half
Downers Grove North – Alessandro Karrow (Eddie Ursulica) 29:22
Downers Grove North – Sam Bull (Peter Bednar) 19:31
Oswego East – Carter Boberg (Dacarlos Parodis-Yu) 14:37
Oswego East – Dacarlos Parodis-Yu (Ythan Houston) 8:55
Second half
Oswego East – Carter Boberg (Ethan Klosterman) 27:59
A number of 1sts lead Wolves to 3-2 victory in Plainfield Classic
By Chris Walker
PLAINFIELD – Oswego East hadn’t come back and won after trailing in a game this season.
Oswego East hadn’t won on the road or at a neutral site.
Oswego East hadn’t won a game in the Plainfield Classic tournament this week.
Oswego East sophomore Carter Boberg hadn’t ever scored a goal before.
Oswego East really didn’t have much to be excited about other than not having to wake up early to go to school Friday because there were no classes due to a teacher institute day.
Before they could get excited and plan a Ferris Bueller-esque day for Friday, the Wolves changed their fortunes.
Now, after rallying for a thrilling 3-2 victory over Downers Grove North on Thursday night at Plainfield Central on Thursday night, Oswego East has:
- Trailed in a game and won
- Won at a neutral site
- Been victorious in the Plainfield Classic
- Gotten two goals from Boberg
- no school on Friday still!
“I don’t know if they’ve played harder than this (this season), but I know we combined passes tonight a lot better,” Oswego East coach Steve Szymanski said. “That’s been a struggle for us. It’s usually one or two passes and then we take a bad touch.
“The other difference is we weren’t getting on guys like we usually do. We just moved onto the next play instead of getting on each other. For whatever reason we trusted each other and came out and jelled a lot more.”
They did that despite falling behind 2-0 early, which could’ve spelled doom, especially with the way things have been going this fall for the Wolves.
“Our better attitude seems kind of new,” Wolves sophomore forward Ythan Houston said. “The attitude after we go down a goal used to be bad, and we’d get mad at each other and yell for making a mistake. Recently it’s getting better, and we’re working better as a team. We’re more calm now when we get scored on, and we just work harder to get a goal back.”
The Wolves lost 2-1 to St. Francis on Saturday after yielding the go-ahead goal with less than 10 minutes remaining.
On Monday they appeared destined for a 0-0 draw, but surrendered the winning goal in the 78th minute against East Aurora.
The way things were going lately, a rally from two goals down seemed extremely unlikely, but that’s exactly what the Wolves were able to pull off. And no offense to the Trojans, but aren’t these kind of thrilling rallies and come-from-behind victories the reason why so many kids continue be active in sports?
“I was surprised, because we didn’t have the best practice, and we didn’t really finish it well,” Szymanski said. “I give the guys credit. They bought in, and we’ve been preaching to them all year about the reason you started playing when you were five was because it was fun and you need to remember that feeling and bring that every single day.”
Downers Grove North (4-5-0) rallied from a 2-0 deficit against St. Francis in the tournament on Monday to win 3-2. On Thursday the Trojans were on the other end of such a game.
“Leading up to this we had a really good run in the tournament,” Trojans coach Michael Schmitt said. “The first half we came out with some energy and got a couple goals, and I think we kind of rested on that and thought that was enough. A 2-0 score is such a dangerous score. We were on the opposite end of that on Monday and won 3-2. That third goal is so important, and we didn’t get it.”
Alessandro Caro scored off of a corner kick from Eddie Ursulica to give the Trojans a 1-0 advantage with 29:22 left in the opening half. They extended their lead with 19:22 remaining before halftime when Sam Bull got on the other end of Peter Bednar’s corner kick to make it 2-0.
“We weren’t thinking too much about being down,” Wolves senior midfielder Dacarlos Parodis-Yu said. “We were just thinking that we have nothing to lose. We got down 2-0 on two set pieces, but we were playing well. So we kept playing hard and luckily we managed to get the win.”
Houston said giving up two goals off set pieces didn’t feel as bad as if they were in the run of play, despite both counting the same on the scoreboard.
“When we were down 2-0, I felt like we were controlling most of the game anyway,” he said. “I thought their goals were lucky, and off set pieces, so I thought we could come back.”
Parodis-Yu set up sophomore Carter Boberg for his first high school goal to pull the Wolves to within 2-1 with 14:37 left before halftime.
“I heard Mo (assistant coach Patrick Molinari) yell to make the run so I just played a through-ball and sprinted as hard as I could to support the guys,” Boberg said. “When I saw it was coming to me, I just placed it in the back of the net.”
Boberg said the Wolves really bought in to Szymanski telling them that they have to outwork teams to have a chance to get a desired result.
“Every game our coach says we have to play harder than the other team to win,” he said. “We’re not going to be able to just show up and play. We’re going to have to outwork them. When we got down I kept hearing the guys saying to keep our heads up and stay positive, and we kept on battling hard.”
Parodis-Yu then scored after he followed in his shot, which was rejected by Downers Grove North goalkeeper Gavin Crowson. First he received a beautiful cross from Houston after a long pass from Dimitri Huitron.
“Ythan (Houston) was on the left side, and I saw him running and then he crossed me the ball and I one-timed it,” Parodis-Yu said. “Unfortunately it hit the goalkeeper, but it came back to me so I sent it in. That was really exciting.”
What appeared possibly heading toward a rout suddenly became interesting with the two teams deadlocked at 2-2 with a full half to go as well as the remaining nine minutes of the first half.
Downers Grove North nearly pulled ahead with 2:55 left in the first half when junior midfielder Andrew M. Janowiak got in close and sent a missile toward the goal, but Oswego goalkeeper Owen Kiilsgaard was able to come up with a big save.
Junior midfielder Trygve Hansen also had a chance in the final minute before the break, but again Kiilsgaard was there to keep the teams even.
“We struggled getting ourselves back in the game,” Schmitt said. “We didn’t give up by any means, and we were unlucky we couldn’t. But we didn’t convert any of the chances we had and as more of the game went on we mentally checked out a bit.”
Opportunities were available for the Trojans, but they ultimately ended up getting shutout over the course of the final 60 minutes.
“We had one of those moments where we needed to pull something together and couldn’t get it,” Schmitt said. “Unfortunately the momentum swing in high school soccer is so important. It’s a real thing and once you’re on the wrong side of it, it’s really tough to battle through it. It seems like no matter what you do, everything is going the other way for you.”
Karrow, Bull, Janowiak and Alexander Dilkovski all had decent scoring chances early in the second half for the Trojans, but it would be the man of the evening, the Chicagoland Soccer Man of the Match, who would break the tie. Boberg scored off a ball from senior midfielder Ethan Klosterman with 27:59 left. And it would hold up for the Wolves to earn the upset victory.
“I just placed it into the net where the keeper wasn’t,” Boberg said. “That’s when the adrenalin kicked in, and everyone started coming alive.”
Boberg went from zero high school goals to two just like that.
“He played well,” Szymanski said. “He’s kind of our little spark plug. He comes in, and he’s super coachable. He ended up being in the right place by doing what he was supposed to be doing.”
Houston agreed.
“He played great tonight,” he said. “He deserves them for sure. He was working hard the whole game.”
The Trojans had to wonder what just happened, despite experiencing the same thing, albeit on the other side, just a few days earlier.
“We got the perspective of what St. Francis got (Monday), and it’s really hard to come back once the momentum swings,” Bull said. “I think we saw them as 0-2 in this tournament and think we kind of looked over them. It feels great to be the underdog and win, and it really (stinks) to be the big guy and lose.”
As one of the Trojans captains, Bull complimented his counterparts and especially the play of Huitron in patrolling the midfield. Huitron is one of those players that does so much for his team, but you rarely see his name on scoring plays.
“They were a highly motivated team. I think a lot of teams, just like us against St. Francis, when you get that first goal the second and third seemed to follow right after,” Bull said. “Dimitri is a great player and their team kind of revolves around him. I just thought that even though he’s their best player, they’re getting other guys goals and their whole team is cohesive. I think them all working together really motivated them so hat’s off to them.”
Senior forward Andre Casas and freshman Ben Paranidharam were two other players for the Wolves who were quite active. The newcomer is a recent call-up and displayed a strong shot and athleticism while barely missing a few opportunities.
“Dimitri doesn’t have the stats line, but he makes things happen, setting the table for the goals and assists,” Szymanski said. “Andre (Casas) also did well today in the center mid. And I think he helped settle us down.”
The loss denied the Trojans an opportunity to play in the Saturday morning semifinals. They finished 2-1-0 as did East Aurora in Group 4, and they even beat the Tomcats in head-to-head competition, but the Tomcats outscored them, 8-7, in tournament group points. Teams were awarded three points per victory and an additional point for any shutouts. The Tomcats blanked their opponent in each win.
“We’ve got to have more leadership, and that starts with me and the other captains,” Bull said. “The whole season is difficult in terms of fitness and stuff and tournament weeks, especially all the games all stacked on top of each other and the games in between are hard on the legs and everything, but it’s like that for everyone. It comes down to that extra push, and I think that starts with leadership.”
The Trojans (4-5-0) may have been 2-0-0 in the tournament prior to Thursday, but what definitely should not be lost is the fact that they were coming off a 4-0 West Suburban Conference Silver Division loss to Glenbard West on Tuesday. While it’s true they were aiming to finish pool play undefeated, the Trojans are a team that has been up-and-down so far this fall.
“This was a good learning lesson for us,” Schmitt said. “It’s the turning point of the season. Are we going to continue going the negative route or are we are going to try to put more work in and capitalize on opportunities?”
And it was a good learning lesson for the victorious Wolves who will see if this can help them go on a good run.
“We feel great tonight after winning,” Houston said. “I felt like we were really working for this one and really earned it. Now we need to keep it going.”
Starting lineups
Downers Grove North
GK Gavin Crowson
D Brian Benton
D Owen Lesley
D Devon Pounds
MF Peter Bednar
MF Trygve Hansen
MF Alessandro Karrow
F Samuel Bull
F Aidan Flores
F Mason Roberts
F Eddie Ursulica
Oswego East
GK Owen Kiilsgaard
D Nathan Czepiel
D Cael Cummings
D Zach Seidel
MF Grant Glorioso
MF Dimitri Huitron
MF Ethan Klosterman
MF Kellen Klosterman
MF Sahil Sethi
F Andre Casas
F Ythan Houston
Chicagoland Soccer Man of the Match: Carter Boberg, so., MF, Oswego East
Scoring summary
Oswego East 3, Downers Grove North 2
Oswego East 2 1 – 3
Downers Grove North 2 0 - 2
First half
Downers Grove North – Alessandro Karrow (Eddie Ursulica) 29:22
Downers Grove North – Sam Bull (Peter Bednar) 19:31
Oswego East – Carter Boberg (Dacarlos Parodis-Yu) 14:37
Oswego East – Dacarlos Parodis-Yu (Ythan Houston) 8:55
Second half
Oswego East – Carter Boberg (Ethan Klosterman) 27:59