St. Charles East enjoys big Labor Day
2nd helping vs. Plainvield Central
Saints score 5 after the break in in 6-1 victory
By Chris Walker
ST. CHARLES – St. Charles East came alive in the second half to rally past Plainfield Central on Monday morning in both team’s opening game in the second annual St. Charles Invitational.
The Saints, who are ranked no. 20 in the Chicagoland Soccer Top 25, scored six unanswered goals, including five in the second half, to win 6-1.
“I think we just played quicker and were more decisive on the ball,” Saints coach Vince DiNuzzo said. “That extra touch killed us in the first half. They (Plainfield Central) weren’t quick to pressure, but they were quick enough where we couldn’t take three or four touches.
“Once we kind of realized it, it kind of opened things up. When we get our front three one-on-one or behind the back four that many times it’s just a matter of time where we start putting them away. It’s a credit to (Plainfield Central). They played great in that first half and were very difficult to break down.”
Breaking the Wildcats down no longer was a problem in the second half, and it’s something that has plagued Plainfield Central this young season -- the Wildcats have been inconsistent for a full 80 minutes.
“That’s what has happened to us at this point of the season,” Wildcats coach Kevin Fitzgerald said. “We’ve played a good half in each of our games, and with the teams we’re playing this is the result. We need our guys to get a little more fit, and honestly, we’ve got to make sure we’re playing hard. We can’t let up, and I think we let up and let the penalty kick calls bother us, which is understandable to an extent, but we’ve got to respond the right way too. We didn’t do that. “
The Wildcats are a young squad with defender and co-captain Noah Selefski as the only senior starter and one of only five seniors on the roster.
“Some of our guys are still learning what it takes to compete at this level,” Fitzgerald said. “And it’s not just varsity soccer, but against the teams we’ve got too. That’s our big challenge, because it doesn’t get any easier.”
St. Charles East junior forward Jake Maslowski, seeing his first playing time of the year, gave the Saints their first lead of the game just 3:20 into second half play while junior forward Sam Wade, who assisted on Maslowski’s goal, increased the Saints lead to 3-1 with 30:32 remaining after he converted a penalty kick.
Perhaps the trail mix bar and banana that Maslowski enjoyed as a quick breakfast provided the nutritious spark he needed to score and help his team rally for victory.
‘We just realized we have to wake up,” he said. “We kind of overthought it. We came in slow to the game and then picked it up as you can see by the final (score). We just kept the pressure on them.”
Maslowski praised senior forward Renato Avendano for confusing the Wildcats to help set up his goal.
“He faked it out, and I just controlled it kind of poorly,” Maslowski said. “I just had to slide it forward with my left foot.
“It was the first time we were losing (this season). I’m proud of the team and how we responded,” he said. We just continued to play our game.”
St. Charles East sophomore Sebastian Carranza, who was named Chicagoland Soccer's Man of the Match, sent a soft pass to sophomore Connor King who buried his ensuing shot with 12:17 left to make it a 4-1 game.
“We’ve been playing together since Campton,” King said. “You want him to see success, and he wants to do the same.”
Carranza and King acknowledged that they skipped breakfast, save for a little water to drink, although King explained that he had a heavy dinner the night before. They certainly built up an appetite with the Saints offensive show in the second half while having fun teaming up for a tally.
“It’s nice to get an assist with one of my best friends from when I was younger,” Carranza said.
Carranza then netted his second goal of the game with 9:13 remaining to make it 5-1.
“We came out slow in the first half and really didn’t take them seriously after watching their film,” Carranza said. “We just had to pick it up. We knew we had to do that in the second half or we wouldn’t get the result we wanted.
"So we got our energy back and scored that first goal right away, and that brought us up and then we didn’t want to stop.”
It was as if the Saints had entered an electric scoring zone in the second half where they were as quick and dangerous with the ball as a pinball wizard.
“I think we came in here thinking this wasn’t going to be too competitive of a game and then saw them score a really nice goal and put it to us in the first half and then we started playing our game and things happened,” King said. “Coach kept reiterating, ‘Is this the team you want to be? What identity do we want to have this year?’ And I feel like last year we might’ve conceded that 1-0 loss and nagged on each other, but the energy we brought with all the goals scored you never knew when we were going to put another one in.”
Carranza earned his hat-trick with 7:46 remaining, burying a pass from sophomore Luca Avendano.
Plainfield Central junior midfielder and co-captain Berto Centento put the Wildcats on top early, scoring off the crumbs of a corner kick that St. Charles East senior midfielder Brendan Adams initially headed, but that Centento was able to recover and quickly redirect, winding around to place it beautifully in the back of the net with 25:11 left in the first half for a 1-0 lead.
“We failed to stayed engaged on the second ball after defending the first ball on a set piece,” DiNuzzo said. “That’s huge. We win the first header (Adams), but they were able to get on the second one and create another chance.”
The Saints drew even with 11:34 remaining before halftime when Carranza converted a penalty kick after senior defender Zach Gamster was taken down in the box.
The Wildcats missed a great opportunity to take a 2-1 lead into the break when sophomore forward Moses Mata displayed some fantastic dribbling moves to elude a handful of Saints defenders. He created a 1-v.-1 opportunity, but Saints goalkeeper Zach Doerr rose to the occasion, pursuing Mata head-on to deny his scoring chance with 2:30 on the clock.
Doerr got the start for Jack Settle, who was unavailable but expected back for Wednesday’s game.
“He didn’t know he was getting the start until 20 minutes before the game,” DiNuzzo said. “He came up big for us.”
Mata’s chance was one of the final solid opportunities for the Wildcats as the Saints took over in the second half, not only scoring five times but creating numerous other chances including a few that were denied by the strong play of Plainfield Central goalkeeper Andres Mendoza.
“Andres was very good,” Fitzgerald said. “Obviously goals are the hardest thing to do so if we get one it changes things, but that’s a lot of coulda, woulda, shoulda.
“We gave up a goal in the first five minutes of the second half, and we’ve just got to be better. And honestly I think we’ve got to be tougher. That’s our biggest challenge. To beat a St. Charles team at their place in their tournament, we have to be tough for every bit of 80 minutes. We’ve got to be tougher.”
Starting lineups
Plainfield Central
GK Andres Mendoza
D Tanner Rains
D Carlos Rosales
D Noah Selefski
D Jerek Witkowski
MF Berto Centento
MF Joe Finder
MF Humberto Jaimes
F Anthony Finder
F Alex Ruiz
F Moses Mata
St. Charles East
GK Zach Doerr
D Ryan Champine
D Zach Gamster
D Geoff Unterberg
MF Brendan Adams
MF Renato Avendano
MF Alex Mancera
MF Tyler Filbert
MF Sam Wade
F Sebastian Carranza
F Jake Maslowski
Chicagoland Soccer Man of the Match: Sebastian Carranza, so., F, St. Charles East
Scoring summary
St. Charles East 6, Plainfield Central 1
St. Charles East 1 5 – 6
Plainfield Central 1 0 - 1
First half
Plainfield Central – Berto Centento (Carlos Rosales) 25:11
St. Charles East – Sebastian Carranza PK 11:34
Second half
St. Charles East – Jake Maslowski (Sam Wade), 36:40
St. Charles East – Sam Wade PK 30:32
St. Charles East – Connor King (Sebastian Carranza) 12:17
St. Charles East – Sebastian Carranza (Ryan Champine) 9:13
St. Charles East – Sebastian Carranza (Luca Avendano) 7:46
2nd helping vs. Plainvield Central
Saints score 5 after the break in in 6-1 victory
By Chris Walker
ST. CHARLES – St. Charles East came alive in the second half to rally past Plainfield Central on Monday morning in both team’s opening game in the second annual St. Charles Invitational.
The Saints, who are ranked no. 20 in the Chicagoland Soccer Top 25, scored six unanswered goals, including five in the second half, to win 6-1.
“I think we just played quicker and were more decisive on the ball,” Saints coach Vince DiNuzzo said. “That extra touch killed us in the first half. They (Plainfield Central) weren’t quick to pressure, but they were quick enough where we couldn’t take three or four touches.
“Once we kind of realized it, it kind of opened things up. When we get our front three one-on-one or behind the back four that many times it’s just a matter of time where we start putting them away. It’s a credit to (Plainfield Central). They played great in that first half and were very difficult to break down.”
Breaking the Wildcats down no longer was a problem in the second half, and it’s something that has plagued Plainfield Central this young season -- the Wildcats have been inconsistent for a full 80 minutes.
“That’s what has happened to us at this point of the season,” Wildcats coach Kevin Fitzgerald said. “We’ve played a good half in each of our games, and with the teams we’re playing this is the result. We need our guys to get a little more fit, and honestly, we’ve got to make sure we’re playing hard. We can’t let up, and I think we let up and let the penalty kick calls bother us, which is understandable to an extent, but we’ve got to respond the right way too. We didn’t do that. “
The Wildcats are a young squad with defender and co-captain Noah Selefski as the only senior starter and one of only five seniors on the roster.
“Some of our guys are still learning what it takes to compete at this level,” Fitzgerald said. “And it’s not just varsity soccer, but against the teams we’ve got too. That’s our big challenge, because it doesn’t get any easier.”
St. Charles East junior forward Jake Maslowski, seeing his first playing time of the year, gave the Saints their first lead of the game just 3:20 into second half play while junior forward Sam Wade, who assisted on Maslowski’s goal, increased the Saints lead to 3-1 with 30:32 remaining after he converted a penalty kick.
Perhaps the trail mix bar and banana that Maslowski enjoyed as a quick breakfast provided the nutritious spark he needed to score and help his team rally for victory.
‘We just realized we have to wake up,” he said. “We kind of overthought it. We came in slow to the game and then picked it up as you can see by the final (score). We just kept the pressure on them.”
Maslowski praised senior forward Renato Avendano for confusing the Wildcats to help set up his goal.
“He faked it out, and I just controlled it kind of poorly,” Maslowski said. “I just had to slide it forward with my left foot.
“It was the first time we were losing (this season). I’m proud of the team and how we responded,” he said. We just continued to play our game.”
St. Charles East sophomore Sebastian Carranza, who was named Chicagoland Soccer's Man of the Match, sent a soft pass to sophomore Connor King who buried his ensuing shot with 12:17 left to make it a 4-1 game.
“We’ve been playing together since Campton,” King said. “You want him to see success, and he wants to do the same.”
Carranza and King acknowledged that they skipped breakfast, save for a little water to drink, although King explained that he had a heavy dinner the night before. They certainly built up an appetite with the Saints offensive show in the second half while having fun teaming up for a tally.
“It’s nice to get an assist with one of my best friends from when I was younger,” Carranza said.
Carranza then netted his second goal of the game with 9:13 remaining to make it 5-1.
“We came out slow in the first half and really didn’t take them seriously after watching their film,” Carranza said. “We just had to pick it up. We knew we had to do that in the second half or we wouldn’t get the result we wanted.
"So we got our energy back and scored that first goal right away, and that brought us up and then we didn’t want to stop.”
It was as if the Saints had entered an electric scoring zone in the second half where they were as quick and dangerous with the ball as a pinball wizard.
“I think we came in here thinking this wasn’t going to be too competitive of a game and then saw them score a really nice goal and put it to us in the first half and then we started playing our game and things happened,” King said. “Coach kept reiterating, ‘Is this the team you want to be? What identity do we want to have this year?’ And I feel like last year we might’ve conceded that 1-0 loss and nagged on each other, but the energy we brought with all the goals scored you never knew when we were going to put another one in.”
Carranza earned his hat-trick with 7:46 remaining, burying a pass from sophomore Luca Avendano.
Plainfield Central junior midfielder and co-captain Berto Centento put the Wildcats on top early, scoring off the crumbs of a corner kick that St. Charles East senior midfielder Brendan Adams initially headed, but that Centento was able to recover and quickly redirect, winding around to place it beautifully in the back of the net with 25:11 left in the first half for a 1-0 lead.
“We failed to stayed engaged on the second ball after defending the first ball on a set piece,” DiNuzzo said. “That’s huge. We win the first header (Adams), but they were able to get on the second one and create another chance.”
The Saints drew even with 11:34 remaining before halftime when Carranza converted a penalty kick after senior defender Zach Gamster was taken down in the box.
The Wildcats missed a great opportunity to take a 2-1 lead into the break when sophomore forward Moses Mata displayed some fantastic dribbling moves to elude a handful of Saints defenders. He created a 1-v.-1 opportunity, but Saints goalkeeper Zach Doerr rose to the occasion, pursuing Mata head-on to deny his scoring chance with 2:30 on the clock.
Doerr got the start for Jack Settle, who was unavailable but expected back for Wednesday’s game.
“He didn’t know he was getting the start until 20 minutes before the game,” DiNuzzo said. “He came up big for us.”
Mata’s chance was one of the final solid opportunities for the Wildcats as the Saints took over in the second half, not only scoring five times but creating numerous other chances including a few that were denied by the strong play of Plainfield Central goalkeeper Andres Mendoza.
“Andres was very good,” Fitzgerald said. “Obviously goals are the hardest thing to do so if we get one it changes things, but that’s a lot of coulda, woulda, shoulda.
“We gave up a goal in the first five minutes of the second half, and we’ve just got to be better. And honestly I think we’ve got to be tougher. That’s our biggest challenge. To beat a St. Charles team at their place in their tournament, we have to be tough for every bit of 80 minutes. We’ve got to be tougher.”
Starting lineups
Plainfield Central
GK Andres Mendoza
D Tanner Rains
D Carlos Rosales
D Noah Selefski
D Jerek Witkowski
MF Berto Centento
MF Joe Finder
MF Humberto Jaimes
F Anthony Finder
F Alex Ruiz
F Moses Mata
St. Charles East
GK Zach Doerr
D Ryan Champine
D Zach Gamster
D Geoff Unterberg
MF Brendan Adams
MF Renato Avendano
MF Alex Mancera
MF Tyler Filbert
MF Sam Wade
F Sebastian Carranza
F Jake Maslowski
Chicagoland Soccer Man of the Match: Sebastian Carranza, so., F, St. Charles East
Scoring summary
St. Charles East 6, Plainfield Central 1
St. Charles East 1 5 – 6
Plainfield Central 1 0 - 1
First half
Plainfield Central – Berto Centento (Carlos Rosales) 25:11
St. Charles East – Sebastian Carranza PK 11:34
Second half
St. Charles East – Jake Maslowski (Sam Wade), 36:40
St. Charles East – Sam Wade PK 30:32
St. Charles East – Connor King (Sebastian Carranza) 12:17
St. Charles East – Sebastian Carranza (Ryan Champine) 9:13
St. Charles East – Sebastian Carranza (Luca Avendano) 7:46