St. Charles East rallies for tie
in ranked battle at Naperville North
GK Goss preserves draw for hosts with big save in final seconds
By Matt Le Cren
NAPERVILLE – Mason Brockmeyer thought he was about to win the game for St. Charles East.
And he might have, if not for Naperville North goalkeeper Reed Goss.
Brockmeyer broke in alone in the dying seconds of Thursday night’s nonconference match, but Goss made a great diving save on the point-blank shot with five seconds remaining.
“That last shot in the last five seconds, honestly I thought I scored,” Brockmeyer said. “It was a very nice save by the keeper. I was shocked by that save.”
The Goss stop allowed the host Huskies to hold on for a 1-1 tie in an entertaining and intriguing matchup between two top teams that have the potential to make deep postseason runs.
The Saints (15-3-2), who are ranked ninth in the Chicagoland Soccer Top 25, were arguably more dangerous in the first half than the sixth-ranked Huskies (11-3-3) were, but the difference was slight and both teams had reasons to be happy.
That included Brockmeyer, the senior forward who earned the Chicagoland Soccer Man of the Match honor.
“In the end, I think it’s good that we came here, and it didn’t end with a loss,” Brockmeyer said. “Sure, we wanted the win, but I think the way we played in the first half wasn’t deserving of the win.
“We were making some silly mistakes like hitting it out and giving them throw-ins so they could have chances in the box. After we got to the second half, we really showed that we had some resilience to step it up.”
The Saints did so by rallying from a 1-0 deficit. Sophomore forward Jaxon Stokes scored to give the Naperville North a 1-0 lead with 11:13 left in the first half and that lead held up for nearly half an hour.
“I know that some teams, if they go down 1-0 to a great program like Naperville North, they’re going to be defeated,” Brockmeyer said. “Especially if (the Huskies) get another one, then they’re out of it.
“So I think it’s good that all our players were hustling the whole game and kept working at getting that goal.”
Brockmeyer was the one who got the equalizer, which came on a superb volley from the middle of the box with 24:16 remaining. Jake Walker got the assist with an even more spectacular cross from the left wing.
“A lot of times I score just off my speed and getting around people, so it’s more like repetition,” said Brockmeyer, who has a team-leading 18 goals. “But this one, I saw an opportunity.
“It was a fantastic cross by Jake, and we had talked at halftime about being aggressive and getting in the box. I was like, ‘I need to get to this ball.’
“When you’re down 1-0 and you have a chance to score, you need to get that however you can. I was just trying to hit that ball on target, and it ended up being a great finish.”
There could have been more great finishes if not for the respective goalkeepers. Goss and St. Charles East’s Jordan Rolon each finished with six saves.
In addition to the game-saving denial of Brockmeyer, Goss made a diving save on Logan Lewarchick in the ninth minute of the first half and back-to-back rejections on Walker and Lewarchick seven minutes into the second half.
Rolon registered four of his saves in the first half, including a couple on hard shots from Indiana-bound star Alex Barger.
“It was a fair game,” Naperville North coach Jim Konrad said. “I thought we had the better first half, and they had the better second half.
“We weren’t as good as we should have been defensively in terms of taking away space in the second half, which led to them having more room to go at us. And we had a number of shots that we should have put away as well. Their keeper made a couple saves and both teams had chances. It could have been tied 4-4 or either team could have won by 1.”
St. Charles East coach Vince DiNuzzo was pleased with the comeback, especially considering two starters – defender Connor Brown and midfielder Ryan Vanderveer – left with injuries in the first half. They were unable to return but DiNuzzo said neither injury appears to be serious.
“We were looking to come here, see where we were at, but also come away healthy,” DiNuzzo said. “The second half was much better. I think we woke up a little bit.”
One big reason for the improvement was a change in defensive strategy on the always dangerous Barger, who was a big reason why the Saints seemed to be constantly defending in the first half.
“That Barger is a special player, so he torched us in the first half,” DiNuzzo said. “We weren’t really getting any pressure on the ball and allowed that entry pass to his feet.
“He was comfortable, able to turn and get in behind a bunch of times and caused us to defend a bunch of corners. We were able to keep him in front in a non-dangerous area, but it felt like we were defending throw-ins and corners for the entire first half.”
So what changed?
“We fronted him in the second half,” DiNuzzo said. “Instead of having someone in behind, we had someone in front and someone behind.
“It changed the way that they played, because I think they were relying on that for their build-up, their ability to hold the ball up, slow the game down. So defensively we were much better in the second half, but I also think our front three and center mids did a much better job.”
The anti-Barger strategy paid off, though he still nearly found the back of the net. The senior forward saw a sharp header sail across the crease and wide of the left post only a minute before Brockmeyer’s tying goal.
“Props to them,” Barger said. “They were very smart defensively, taking care of me and Jaxon while creating problems for us.
“While me and Jaxon problem-solved, we maybe didn’t put away some of the chances that we wanted to. That’s just the game of soccer.
“St. Charles is a great team. They put up a good fight. We’re going to reflect on this and get back at it tomorrow.”
Stokes has been getting after it throughout his rookie varsity season but has picked up the pace lately. His goal, which came off a rebound of a Noah Radeke shot, was his eighth of the season, which ties him with Barger for the team lead.
“I was just following the ball,” Stokes said. “Noah hit it, and I was just right there. I just tapped it in.
“I feel like I’ve just been more aggressive from the start of the game to the end of the game. At the beginning of the season, I was passing a lot. I’ve been dribbling more, and I’ve been scoring more now.”
Konrad has been pleased to see that. While he’s not looking forward to the graduation of Barger, he knows he has a strong corps of underclassmen who already are making significant contributions.
That group includes Stokes and fellow sophomores Radeke and Connor Hanrahan as well as freshmen Sam Hess and Josh Pedersen.
“How lucky we are that we’ve got this collection of wonderful senior leaders, some good juniors, great sophomores and a couple freshmen,” Konrad said.
“That’s what keeps the program going, when you can kind of pass on those skills and lessons to the younger classmen.”
Starting lineups
St. Charles East
GK: Jordan Rolon
D: Elia Desario
D: Griffin Counts
D: Connor Brown
D: Jake Walker
M: Logan Lewarchick
M: Jack Harrington
M: Ryan Vanderveer
F: Marc Walker
F: Colin Leatherbury
F: Mason Brockmeyer
Naperville North
GK: Reed Goss
D: Alex Arredondo
D: Joel Zielke
D: Ryan Konrad
M: Owen Gaccione
M: Caden Hill
M: Noak Radeke
M: Hindo Allie
F: Aidan McMahon
F: Alex Barger
F: Jaxon Stokes
Chicagoland Soccer Man of the Match:
Mason Brockmeyer, sr., F, St. Charles East
Scoring summary
First half
NN: Jaxon Stokes (unassisted), 11:13 remaining
Second half
SCE: Mason Brockmeyer (Jake Walker), 24:16 remaining
in ranked battle at Naperville North
GK Goss preserves draw for hosts with big save in final seconds
By Matt Le Cren
NAPERVILLE – Mason Brockmeyer thought he was about to win the game for St. Charles East.
And he might have, if not for Naperville North goalkeeper Reed Goss.
Brockmeyer broke in alone in the dying seconds of Thursday night’s nonconference match, but Goss made a great diving save on the point-blank shot with five seconds remaining.
“That last shot in the last five seconds, honestly I thought I scored,” Brockmeyer said. “It was a very nice save by the keeper. I was shocked by that save.”
The Goss stop allowed the host Huskies to hold on for a 1-1 tie in an entertaining and intriguing matchup between two top teams that have the potential to make deep postseason runs.
The Saints (15-3-2), who are ranked ninth in the Chicagoland Soccer Top 25, were arguably more dangerous in the first half than the sixth-ranked Huskies (11-3-3) were, but the difference was slight and both teams had reasons to be happy.
That included Brockmeyer, the senior forward who earned the Chicagoland Soccer Man of the Match honor.
“In the end, I think it’s good that we came here, and it didn’t end with a loss,” Brockmeyer said. “Sure, we wanted the win, but I think the way we played in the first half wasn’t deserving of the win.
“We were making some silly mistakes like hitting it out and giving them throw-ins so they could have chances in the box. After we got to the second half, we really showed that we had some resilience to step it up.”
The Saints did so by rallying from a 1-0 deficit. Sophomore forward Jaxon Stokes scored to give the Naperville North a 1-0 lead with 11:13 left in the first half and that lead held up for nearly half an hour.
“I know that some teams, if they go down 1-0 to a great program like Naperville North, they’re going to be defeated,” Brockmeyer said. “Especially if (the Huskies) get another one, then they’re out of it.
“So I think it’s good that all our players were hustling the whole game and kept working at getting that goal.”
Brockmeyer was the one who got the equalizer, which came on a superb volley from the middle of the box with 24:16 remaining. Jake Walker got the assist with an even more spectacular cross from the left wing.
“A lot of times I score just off my speed and getting around people, so it’s more like repetition,” said Brockmeyer, who has a team-leading 18 goals. “But this one, I saw an opportunity.
“It was a fantastic cross by Jake, and we had talked at halftime about being aggressive and getting in the box. I was like, ‘I need to get to this ball.’
“When you’re down 1-0 and you have a chance to score, you need to get that however you can. I was just trying to hit that ball on target, and it ended up being a great finish.”
There could have been more great finishes if not for the respective goalkeepers. Goss and St. Charles East’s Jordan Rolon each finished with six saves.
In addition to the game-saving denial of Brockmeyer, Goss made a diving save on Logan Lewarchick in the ninth minute of the first half and back-to-back rejections on Walker and Lewarchick seven minutes into the second half.
Rolon registered four of his saves in the first half, including a couple on hard shots from Indiana-bound star Alex Barger.
“It was a fair game,” Naperville North coach Jim Konrad said. “I thought we had the better first half, and they had the better second half.
“We weren’t as good as we should have been defensively in terms of taking away space in the second half, which led to them having more room to go at us. And we had a number of shots that we should have put away as well. Their keeper made a couple saves and both teams had chances. It could have been tied 4-4 or either team could have won by 1.”
St. Charles East coach Vince DiNuzzo was pleased with the comeback, especially considering two starters – defender Connor Brown and midfielder Ryan Vanderveer – left with injuries in the first half. They were unable to return but DiNuzzo said neither injury appears to be serious.
“We were looking to come here, see where we were at, but also come away healthy,” DiNuzzo said. “The second half was much better. I think we woke up a little bit.”
One big reason for the improvement was a change in defensive strategy on the always dangerous Barger, who was a big reason why the Saints seemed to be constantly defending in the first half.
“That Barger is a special player, so he torched us in the first half,” DiNuzzo said. “We weren’t really getting any pressure on the ball and allowed that entry pass to his feet.
“He was comfortable, able to turn and get in behind a bunch of times and caused us to defend a bunch of corners. We were able to keep him in front in a non-dangerous area, but it felt like we were defending throw-ins and corners for the entire first half.”
So what changed?
“We fronted him in the second half,” DiNuzzo said. “Instead of having someone in behind, we had someone in front and someone behind.
“It changed the way that they played, because I think they were relying on that for their build-up, their ability to hold the ball up, slow the game down. So defensively we were much better in the second half, but I also think our front three and center mids did a much better job.”
The anti-Barger strategy paid off, though he still nearly found the back of the net. The senior forward saw a sharp header sail across the crease and wide of the left post only a minute before Brockmeyer’s tying goal.
“Props to them,” Barger said. “They were very smart defensively, taking care of me and Jaxon while creating problems for us.
“While me and Jaxon problem-solved, we maybe didn’t put away some of the chances that we wanted to. That’s just the game of soccer.
“St. Charles is a great team. They put up a good fight. We’re going to reflect on this and get back at it tomorrow.”
Stokes has been getting after it throughout his rookie varsity season but has picked up the pace lately. His goal, which came off a rebound of a Noah Radeke shot, was his eighth of the season, which ties him with Barger for the team lead.
“I was just following the ball,” Stokes said. “Noah hit it, and I was just right there. I just tapped it in.
“I feel like I’ve just been more aggressive from the start of the game to the end of the game. At the beginning of the season, I was passing a lot. I’ve been dribbling more, and I’ve been scoring more now.”
Konrad has been pleased to see that. While he’s not looking forward to the graduation of Barger, he knows he has a strong corps of underclassmen who already are making significant contributions.
That group includes Stokes and fellow sophomores Radeke and Connor Hanrahan as well as freshmen Sam Hess and Josh Pedersen.
“How lucky we are that we’ve got this collection of wonderful senior leaders, some good juniors, great sophomores and a couple freshmen,” Konrad said.
“That’s what keeps the program going, when you can kind of pass on those skills and lessons to the younger classmen.”
Starting lineups
St. Charles East
GK: Jordan Rolon
D: Elia Desario
D: Griffin Counts
D: Connor Brown
D: Jake Walker
M: Logan Lewarchick
M: Jack Harrington
M: Ryan Vanderveer
F: Marc Walker
F: Colin Leatherbury
F: Mason Brockmeyer
Naperville North
GK: Reed Goss
D: Alex Arredondo
D: Joel Zielke
D: Ryan Konrad
M: Owen Gaccione
M: Caden Hill
M: Noak Radeke
M: Hindo Allie
F: Aidan McMahon
F: Alex Barger
F: Jaxon Stokes
Chicagoland Soccer Man of the Match:
Mason Brockmeyer, sr., F, St. Charles East
Scoring summary
First half
NN: Jaxon Stokes (unassisted), 11:13 remaining
Second half
SCE: Mason Brockmeyer (Jake Walker), 24:16 remaining