Iverson gets his head, foot in the game, leads Naperville North to BOTW title
No. 1 Huskies top Sandburg 2-0 to for 4th-straight tourney trophy
By Matt Le Cren
NAPERVILLE – Ty Konrad has one target when he takes free kicks for Naperville North.
So does Christian Romano when he tosses throw-ins.
Heck, all of the Huskies have the same task on every restart: find Colin Iverson.
The 6-foot-4 Iverson stands out in any crowd and if his teammates don’t get him the ball, he usually finds a way to get to it.
That was the case again Saturday at the Best of the West Tournament title game at Memorial Stadium.
And as has happened so many times before, the result was a familiar one, or in this case, a familiar one and an unusual two.
Iverson scored twice – the first time he can remember bagging a brace – to power Naperville North past Sandburg 2-0. It was the fourth-straight Best of the West championship for the Huskies, who earlier in the day edged Benet 1-0 on Zach Smith’s goal to advance to the final.
“We’re pretty happy,” Iverson said. “We know we have a lot of stuff to work on but (winning) Best of the West is always one of our goals, and we’re very excited that we won.”
The Huskies (6-0-0), who are ranked at the top of the Chicagoland Soccer Top 25, won in stereotypical fashion, converting a pair of restarts even though the Eagles (3-2-1) knew full well what was coming.
Naperville North needed the scores, because Sandburg was a fresh team. The Eagles did not play earlier in the day due to weather related delays, and because they had already clinched the pool.
Sandburg tenacious defended against a consistent, if ineffective, onslaught from the two-time defending state champions.
In fact, Naperville North coach Jim Konrad expressed frustration that the Huskies left several goals on the board, missing a couple of point-blank shots and getting unlucky on several more as Sandburg goalkeeper Connor Baker made five saves, including a great diving effort to tip a side volley from Ty Konrad around the post in the 14th minute.
“It was a grind today playing two games today,” Jim Konrad said. “Obviously Benet is always a great game for us. They play hard.
“Tonight, I thought we did well to manage the game, but we still have a long ways to go. We have a lot of improving to do. We’re not there yet.
“We gave the ball away a ton today, and we had a number of chances that we really should have put away and we missed on. But when you play four games in a week, it’s a lot, so I’m excited to win our fourth (Best of the West title) in a row. That’s a great accomplishment.”
The Huskies could not have done it without a little magic from the Bowling Green-bound Iverson, one of the most offensive-minded defenders in high school soccer.
Every time Naperville North gets a dead ball in the attack zone, which is often, Iverson heads into the box and waits for a teammate to find him.
“I just look for Colin’s head, float the ball up, and he just does a great job flicking it on, putting it in a good spot for us to finish,” Ty Konrad said. “I think it makes us dangerous because when we’re on offense teams are worried to get a foul or play it out of bounds, because we’re deadly on restarts.”
Ty Konrad hooked up with Iverson for the game’s first goal, which came just 21 seconds before intermission. The junior forward launched a 45-yard free kick into the box, and Iverson headed the ball down into the ground.
The ball glanced off a defender and into the net.
“Ty played the ball perfectly, I got a nice slip on it and got a nice deflection,” Iverson said. “That was huge for us.
“It gave us a lot of breathing room. I feel like we came into half a lot more calm and collected, and we were focused on fixing errors instead of worrying about the score as much.”
The Huskies didn’t have to worry much after taking the lead. The Eagles did manage to get a decent amount of counterattacks through the midfield, but North’s backline of Iverson, Romano, Cesar Recendez and Cam Ferus shut everything down, especially in the second half when Sandburg was held without a shot or corner kick.
“Sandburg is a very good team,” Iverson said. “Defensively I think we played very well. I think we were very organized.”
The Huskies are just as organized on the attack, at least when it comes to restarts.
Iverson put the game away on just such a play with 11:34 to go, though not in the usual way.
This time it was Romano who instigated the play, heaving a long throw-in from the left side into the box, where Iverson got a head on it.
The ball hit someone else’s head in front and ping-ponged in traffic before popping back to Iverson, who was next to Ty Konrad. Either player could have struck the ball, but Konrad deferred to his older teammate.
Iverson emphatically booted the ball past Baker into the lower left corner of the net.
“He called me right off and I’m like, ‘All right,’” Ty Konrad said. “It was so special.”
So how many goals has Iverson scored with his feet?
“Not very many,” he said. “It’s always special.
“I just flicked it back post. One of our players got a nice head on it, but it deflected off a kid, and I called Ty off. I just shot it.”
With that, Sandburg’s upset hopes were shot. Naperville North goalkeeper Tom Welch had to make only one save in recording his fourth shutout of the season.
The 6-foot-8 Welch and Iverson are two of the tallest players in the state at their respective positions, which gives the Huskies a huge advantage. But as evidenced by his second finish, height alone cannot account for all of Iverson’s success.
“It’s a lot of it,” Jim Konrad said. “I think he does a good job of putting his body in the way of the ball.
“The first (goal) we had he headed it down. If you head the ball down, good things happen. It deflects off a kid’s hip, and it goes in.
“The second one, he goes in, the ball pops up and he’s calm and keeps the ball low and finishes.”
Iverson barely missed a hat trick as he nearly scored off another restart with 8:40 remaining in the match. Ty Konrad again sent a long free kick in front to Iverson, who headed it off the left post.
“He likes to score,” Jim Konrad said. “He wants to score goals, so even if the ball goes over his head or he knocks it down, he’s looking for that second ball.
“He’s ready to jump on it and then finish it. He does a good job of that.
The Huskies have been good in the early going but good enough for their coach. That was one reason why, aside from the obligatory team picture, there was only muted celebration after the win.
“I’m not happy,” Jim Konrad said. “I’m just frustrated with the way we’re playing and how lackadaisical we are with the ball at our feet.
“The boys work so hard. The problem is they’re working so much harder than they have to because they keep making mistakes, and they have to run and cover for them.
“We have to clean things up in every aspect of the game. We want to be one of those top teams but we’re not playing like it right now. Yeah, our record is great but we’re not where we need to be, and the boys know that.”
Starting lineups
Naperville North
GK Tom Welch
D Cam Ferus
D Cesar Recendez
D Christian Romano
D Colin Iverson
M Myles Barry
M Nata Rojas
M Zach Smith
M Ali Khorfan
F Patrick Koenig
F Ty Konrad
Sandburg
GK Connor Baker
D Julian Hernandez
D Yriyoris Georgiou
D Charlie Gainer
D Michael Poulos
D Christopher Mendez
M Alex Atkinson
M Adam Azhari
M Arnas Miskinis
M Yannis Georgiou
F Colin Kroll
Chicagoland Soccer Man of the Match – Colin Iverson, sr., D, Naperville North.
Scoring summary
First half
Naperville North – Colin Iverson (Ty Konrad), 40th minute
Second half
Naperville North – Iverson (unassisted), 69th minute
No. 1 Huskies top Sandburg 2-0 to for 4th-straight tourney trophy
By Matt Le Cren
NAPERVILLE – Ty Konrad has one target when he takes free kicks for Naperville North.
So does Christian Romano when he tosses throw-ins.
Heck, all of the Huskies have the same task on every restart: find Colin Iverson.
The 6-foot-4 Iverson stands out in any crowd and if his teammates don’t get him the ball, he usually finds a way to get to it.
That was the case again Saturday at the Best of the West Tournament title game at Memorial Stadium.
And as has happened so many times before, the result was a familiar one, or in this case, a familiar one and an unusual two.
Iverson scored twice – the first time he can remember bagging a brace – to power Naperville North past Sandburg 2-0. It was the fourth-straight Best of the West championship for the Huskies, who earlier in the day edged Benet 1-0 on Zach Smith’s goal to advance to the final.
“We’re pretty happy,” Iverson said. “We know we have a lot of stuff to work on but (winning) Best of the West is always one of our goals, and we’re very excited that we won.”
The Huskies (6-0-0), who are ranked at the top of the Chicagoland Soccer Top 25, won in stereotypical fashion, converting a pair of restarts even though the Eagles (3-2-1) knew full well what was coming.
Naperville North needed the scores, because Sandburg was a fresh team. The Eagles did not play earlier in the day due to weather related delays, and because they had already clinched the pool.
Sandburg tenacious defended against a consistent, if ineffective, onslaught from the two-time defending state champions.
In fact, Naperville North coach Jim Konrad expressed frustration that the Huskies left several goals on the board, missing a couple of point-blank shots and getting unlucky on several more as Sandburg goalkeeper Connor Baker made five saves, including a great diving effort to tip a side volley from Ty Konrad around the post in the 14th minute.
“It was a grind today playing two games today,” Jim Konrad said. “Obviously Benet is always a great game for us. They play hard.
“Tonight, I thought we did well to manage the game, but we still have a long ways to go. We have a lot of improving to do. We’re not there yet.
“We gave the ball away a ton today, and we had a number of chances that we really should have put away and we missed on. But when you play four games in a week, it’s a lot, so I’m excited to win our fourth (Best of the West title) in a row. That’s a great accomplishment.”
The Huskies could not have done it without a little magic from the Bowling Green-bound Iverson, one of the most offensive-minded defenders in high school soccer.
Every time Naperville North gets a dead ball in the attack zone, which is often, Iverson heads into the box and waits for a teammate to find him.
“I just look for Colin’s head, float the ball up, and he just does a great job flicking it on, putting it in a good spot for us to finish,” Ty Konrad said. “I think it makes us dangerous because when we’re on offense teams are worried to get a foul or play it out of bounds, because we’re deadly on restarts.”
Ty Konrad hooked up with Iverson for the game’s first goal, which came just 21 seconds before intermission. The junior forward launched a 45-yard free kick into the box, and Iverson headed the ball down into the ground.
The ball glanced off a defender and into the net.
“Ty played the ball perfectly, I got a nice slip on it and got a nice deflection,” Iverson said. “That was huge for us.
“It gave us a lot of breathing room. I feel like we came into half a lot more calm and collected, and we were focused on fixing errors instead of worrying about the score as much.”
The Huskies didn’t have to worry much after taking the lead. The Eagles did manage to get a decent amount of counterattacks through the midfield, but North’s backline of Iverson, Romano, Cesar Recendez and Cam Ferus shut everything down, especially in the second half when Sandburg was held without a shot or corner kick.
“Sandburg is a very good team,” Iverson said. “Defensively I think we played very well. I think we were very organized.”
The Huskies are just as organized on the attack, at least when it comes to restarts.
Iverson put the game away on just such a play with 11:34 to go, though not in the usual way.
This time it was Romano who instigated the play, heaving a long throw-in from the left side into the box, where Iverson got a head on it.
The ball hit someone else’s head in front and ping-ponged in traffic before popping back to Iverson, who was next to Ty Konrad. Either player could have struck the ball, but Konrad deferred to his older teammate.
Iverson emphatically booted the ball past Baker into the lower left corner of the net.
“He called me right off and I’m like, ‘All right,’” Ty Konrad said. “It was so special.”
So how many goals has Iverson scored with his feet?
“Not very many,” he said. “It’s always special.
“I just flicked it back post. One of our players got a nice head on it, but it deflected off a kid, and I called Ty off. I just shot it.”
With that, Sandburg’s upset hopes were shot. Naperville North goalkeeper Tom Welch had to make only one save in recording his fourth shutout of the season.
The 6-foot-8 Welch and Iverson are two of the tallest players in the state at their respective positions, which gives the Huskies a huge advantage. But as evidenced by his second finish, height alone cannot account for all of Iverson’s success.
“It’s a lot of it,” Jim Konrad said. “I think he does a good job of putting his body in the way of the ball.
“The first (goal) we had he headed it down. If you head the ball down, good things happen. It deflects off a kid’s hip, and it goes in.
“The second one, he goes in, the ball pops up and he’s calm and keeps the ball low and finishes.”
Iverson barely missed a hat trick as he nearly scored off another restart with 8:40 remaining in the match. Ty Konrad again sent a long free kick in front to Iverson, who headed it off the left post.
“He likes to score,” Jim Konrad said. “He wants to score goals, so even if the ball goes over his head or he knocks it down, he’s looking for that second ball.
“He’s ready to jump on it and then finish it. He does a good job of that.
The Huskies have been good in the early going but good enough for their coach. That was one reason why, aside from the obligatory team picture, there was only muted celebration after the win.
“I’m not happy,” Jim Konrad said. “I’m just frustrated with the way we’re playing and how lackadaisical we are with the ball at our feet.
“The boys work so hard. The problem is they’re working so much harder than they have to because they keep making mistakes, and they have to run and cover for them.
“We have to clean things up in every aspect of the game. We want to be one of those top teams but we’re not playing like it right now. Yeah, our record is great but we’re not where we need to be, and the boys know that.”
Starting lineups
Naperville North
GK Tom Welch
D Cam Ferus
D Cesar Recendez
D Christian Romano
D Colin Iverson
M Myles Barry
M Nata Rojas
M Zach Smith
M Ali Khorfan
F Patrick Koenig
F Ty Konrad
Sandburg
GK Connor Baker
D Julian Hernandez
D Yriyoris Georgiou
D Charlie Gainer
D Michael Poulos
D Christopher Mendez
M Alex Atkinson
M Adam Azhari
M Arnas Miskinis
M Yannis Georgiou
F Colin Kroll
Chicagoland Soccer Man of the Match – Colin Iverson, sr., D, Naperville North.
Scoring summary
First half
Naperville North – Colin Iverson (Ty Konrad), 40th minute
Second half
Naperville North – Iverson (unassisted), 69th minute