Wheaton North wings it in win
Falcons fly down the flanks to top Schurz 5-1
By Bill Stone
WHEATON – Only 40 seconds into the season opener Monday, Wheaton North junior Alex Beausoleil nearly scored off a nice cross from the right wing by junior Joe Gaither.
After a 2-15-2 record last season, the Falcons came out against Schurz with a different perspective.
“(The best part was) just enjoying it. Everyone was just enjoying it. Just seeing the smiles on everyone’s faces, it was fun,” Gaither said.
“I think that’s really key this season. (Last season) everyone was getting on each other, tension was high, but today everyone was just playing freely and everyone was enjoying it.”
Thanks to another switch by Gaither midway through the half to left wing, the Falcons took the first step toward reversing their 2016 fortunes with a 5-1 victory over Schurz at Rexilius Field.
“The confidence. Coming off last season, that’s been kind of the big thing in the back of our heads,” Wheaton North coach Rob Stassen said. “We did not have a good record (in 2016), even though we played well. Just coming out hard, scoring goals has not been our forte.”
Gaither, the Chicagoland Soccer MVP of the Match, played a key role in the game’s first two goals by Beausoleil.
In the second half, Gaither contributed to a 3-0 lead and later had the final tally with 13:34 remaining by beating goalie Roman Rodolfo near the 25-yard line to a long, beautiful cross by senior co-captain Jake Dzarnowski.
Senior co-captain Jorge Patino knocked in junior Jack Morrissey‘s shot that hit the inside of the left post and lay dormant at the goal line for the 3-0 advantage. Patino then made a nice surge to the left of the goal and fed junior Chris Haase for his header goal with 16:00 left.
“What Joe does a great job with is he realizes he’s not the main man with the ball. When he doesn’t have the ball, he’s just always active. He’s a defender, and he’s in there mixing it up,” Stassen said.
The Falcons led 22-7 in shots (9-3 on goal). Their offensive success increased after Gaither mixed things up on the front line.
“I guess I got caught up in the play of everything, but I just talked to my winger (Morrissey to switch),” Gaither said.
Beausoleil struck first with 25:06 left in the half after Gaither controlled the ball down the left wing. After appearing to have a shot in mind, he crossed to Beausoleil, who deposited the ball into the bottom right corner of the net.
Beausoleil struck again 3:25 before halftime. Gaither took the ball just past midfield and put it down left wing for senior midfielder Liam Jeanette. Jeanette’s center cross found Beausoleil, who had his back turned to the goal but used a nimble left-footed finish to find the far corner of the net.
“It was just great balls by the midfielders. I just laid it off to the wingers Joe and Jack. We know they have pace so we just try to get them in and utilize that. All I had was the simple part of touching and finishing,” Beausoleil said.
“We had a lot of good link-up play, and one thing that’s really good is scoring a lot. Last year, we didn’t have any games with five goals. It was good for the team to get that early lead. It built up confidence for us.”
The word confidence was mentioned often during postgame talk.
In 2016, the Falcons started 0-6-2 before a 2-0 victory over St. Patrick. Then they lost eight straight before a 1-0 double-overtime victory over Schaumburg in their Class 3A Glenbard North Regional opener. For the season, the Falcons scored just 20 goals with a 5-4 loss to South Elgin and two other two-goal games.
Schurz also had its struggles last season (2-13-1), but the 2016 opener between the two teams ended a 1-1 tie in Wheaton when the Falcons surrendered a late goal.
“It was a penalty (kick) and I think it kind of ruined us,” said junior defender Nathan Heyen. “That kind of set the tone for the rest of the season, but this year I think with our first goal, it just gave us confidence and we started playing better as a result of that.”
Having nine returning starters also helps. By contrast, Schurz started nine seniors and two juniors but has only five returning players. Three of the Bulldogs’ 16 active players Monday are program newcomers.
“It’s a brand new team,” Schurz coach Henry Gomez said. “We did not know what to expect and obviously (the difference) was the speed of play and conditioning that they have as opposed to the conditioning that we have.”
Wheaton North started seven juniors and sophomore outside midfielder Will Wanzenburg. Four of their first six subs were seniors.
As a team bonding exercise, the players last week went to the Outer Edge climbing wall and high ropes course in Bensenville.
“I think a lot of communicating, working as a unit (is helping us),” Heyen said. “Last year, we got on each other a lot when someone would make a mistake. We’d argue. We’re starting to be more of a team I guess you could say.”
The Falcons used three formations Monday, starting with a flat-back line of only three defenders – Heyen and juniors Jack Mancuso and Jack Tegart.
One consistent team trait was the ability to spread the field and effectively attack along the sidelines.
“It comes down to discipline,” Stassen said. “That’s one of the things we’ve been working on, that fluidity between formations, to change on the fly and keep going.”
“They know how to move the ball around so the ball was doing the work, not them,” Gomez observed. “And we had to chase them all around to try and get the ball. When we did get the ball more in the second half, we were able to connect more passes, but after 60-70 minutes with only five subs they get tired.”
Heyen said the team practiced with three defenders during summer league and can benefit from the extra midfielder. Another reason was because Patino and senior central defender Carlos Saavedra, projected to be regular starters, did not play the first half.
Per team rules, they sat out the first 40 minutes after informing Stassen that they were going to miss a practice.
“No discipline issue. Just something came up, they missed a practice, they know the rule and they took it well,” Stassen said. “We’ve got to keep everyone honest. If you miss a practice, you’ve got to sit a half. The two of them are great leaders, great kids. They sent me an email (ahead of time). If the team sees I’m willing to sit the two of them for a half, then I’m going to sit everybody.”
It took 58 minutes for Schurz to find the goal. On a counterattack, senior Juan Castrejon was barely onside but received a breakaway pass from senior Oscar Martinez down right wing.
Schurz actually had the game’s first three corner kicks but had little success offensively. The Bulldogs had one shot on goal in the first half, a 40-yard blast by Nestor Godinez in the 39th minute that senior goalie Harrison Thompson handled near his eyes.
The visitors earned a corner kick in the ninth minute after a cross was deflected, but Thompson punched out the ball by the far post.
The resulting quick corner attack from the left side quickly dematerialized.
Schurz, a member of the Chicago Public League’s second division, appreciated the 6:30 p.m. starting time.
“Our conference games are at 4, 5 o’clock so it’s nice to come out here,” Gomez said. “They like coming out here to play. It’s a good experience to play under the lights in perfect soccer weather, a nice field. That’s something that they’ll remember. It doesn’t matter what the score is.”
Gaither is hopeful Monday’s result is the start of a special season for him and the Falcons.
“I think this season I want to be a leader more. I think that’s something we struggled with last year,” Gaither said.
Stassen is happy to hear that.
“What his big issue was last year was just his confidence,” Stassen said. “He’s come out this year hungry, ready to go, always wants the ball, showing emotion but keeping his emotion in check.”
Starting Lineups
Schurz
GK: Rodolfo Roman
D: Hirving Aguilar
D: Oscar Martinez
D: Nestor Godinez
D: Eber Roman
M: Christopher Ortega
M: Moises Arteaga
M: Alejandro Salcedo
M: Eduardo Gramajo
M: Juan Chimborazo
F: Juan Castrejon
Wheaton North
GK: Harrison Thompson
D: Jack Mancuso
D: Jack Tegart
D: Nathan Heyen
M: Jake Dzarnowski
M: Ethan Shikany
M: Will Wanzenburg
M: Lucas Partington
F: Joe Gaither
F: Alex Beausoleil
F: Jack Morrissey
Chicagoland Soccer MVP of the Match: Joe Gaither, jr. F, Wheaton North
Box score
Schurz 0 1 – 1
Wheaton North 2 3 – 5
Scoring
Wheaton North
Beausoleil (Gaither)
Beausoleil (Jeanette)
Patino (Morrissey)
Haase (Patino)
Gaither (Dzarnowski)
Schurz
Castrejon (Martinez)
Shots
Wheaton North 22 (9 on goal), Schurz 7 (3)
Goalies
Schurz: Roman (2 saves). Wheaton North: Thompson (2)
Corner kicks
Schurz 4, Wheaton North 3
Falcons fly down the flanks to top Schurz 5-1
By Bill Stone
WHEATON – Only 40 seconds into the season opener Monday, Wheaton North junior Alex Beausoleil nearly scored off a nice cross from the right wing by junior Joe Gaither.
After a 2-15-2 record last season, the Falcons came out against Schurz with a different perspective.
“(The best part was) just enjoying it. Everyone was just enjoying it. Just seeing the smiles on everyone’s faces, it was fun,” Gaither said.
“I think that’s really key this season. (Last season) everyone was getting on each other, tension was high, but today everyone was just playing freely and everyone was enjoying it.”
Thanks to another switch by Gaither midway through the half to left wing, the Falcons took the first step toward reversing their 2016 fortunes with a 5-1 victory over Schurz at Rexilius Field.
“The confidence. Coming off last season, that’s been kind of the big thing in the back of our heads,” Wheaton North coach Rob Stassen said. “We did not have a good record (in 2016), even though we played well. Just coming out hard, scoring goals has not been our forte.”
Gaither, the Chicagoland Soccer MVP of the Match, played a key role in the game’s first two goals by Beausoleil.
In the second half, Gaither contributed to a 3-0 lead and later had the final tally with 13:34 remaining by beating goalie Roman Rodolfo near the 25-yard line to a long, beautiful cross by senior co-captain Jake Dzarnowski.
Senior co-captain Jorge Patino knocked in junior Jack Morrissey‘s shot that hit the inside of the left post and lay dormant at the goal line for the 3-0 advantage. Patino then made a nice surge to the left of the goal and fed junior Chris Haase for his header goal with 16:00 left.
“What Joe does a great job with is he realizes he’s not the main man with the ball. When he doesn’t have the ball, he’s just always active. He’s a defender, and he’s in there mixing it up,” Stassen said.
The Falcons led 22-7 in shots (9-3 on goal). Their offensive success increased after Gaither mixed things up on the front line.
“I guess I got caught up in the play of everything, but I just talked to my winger (Morrissey to switch),” Gaither said.
Beausoleil struck first with 25:06 left in the half after Gaither controlled the ball down the left wing. After appearing to have a shot in mind, he crossed to Beausoleil, who deposited the ball into the bottom right corner of the net.
Beausoleil struck again 3:25 before halftime. Gaither took the ball just past midfield and put it down left wing for senior midfielder Liam Jeanette. Jeanette’s center cross found Beausoleil, who had his back turned to the goal but used a nimble left-footed finish to find the far corner of the net.
“It was just great balls by the midfielders. I just laid it off to the wingers Joe and Jack. We know they have pace so we just try to get them in and utilize that. All I had was the simple part of touching and finishing,” Beausoleil said.
“We had a lot of good link-up play, and one thing that’s really good is scoring a lot. Last year, we didn’t have any games with five goals. It was good for the team to get that early lead. It built up confidence for us.”
The word confidence was mentioned often during postgame talk.
In 2016, the Falcons started 0-6-2 before a 2-0 victory over St. Patrick. Then they lost eight straight before a 1-0 double-overtime victory over Schaumburg in their Class 3A Glenbard North Regional opener. For the season, the Falcons scored just 20 goals with a 5-4 loss to South Elgin and two other two-goal games.
Schurz also had its struggles last season (2-13-1), but the 2016 opener between the two teams ended a 1-1 tie in Wheaton when the Falcons surrendered a late goal.
“It was a penalty (kick) and I think it kind of ruined us,” said junior defender Nathan Heyen. “That kind of set the tone for the rest of the season, but this year I think with our first goal, it just gave us confidence and we started playing better as a result of that.”
Having nine returning starters also helps. By contrast, Schurz started nine seniors and two juniors but has only five returning players. Three of the Bulldogs’ 16 active players Monday are program newcomers.
“It’s a brand new team,” Schurz coach Henry Gomez said. “We did not know what to expect and obviously (the difference) was the speed of play and conditioning that they have as opposed to the conditioning that we have.”
Wheaton North started seven juniors and sophomore outside midfielder Will Wanzenburg. Four of their first six subs were seniors.
As a team bonding exercise, the players last week went to the Outer Edge climbing wall and high ropes course in Bensenville.
“I think a lot of communicating, working as a unit (is helping us),” Heyen said. “Last year, we got on each other a lot when someone would make a mistake. We’d argue. We’re starting to be more of a team I guess you could say.”
The Falcons used three formations Monday, starting with a flat-back line of only three defenders – Heyen and juniors Jack Mancuso and Jack Tegart.
One consistent team trait was the ability to spread the field and effectively attack along the sidelines.
“It comes down to discipline,” Stassen said. “That’s one of the things we’ve been working on, that fluidity between formations, to change on the fly and keep going.”
“They know how to move the ball around so the ball was doing the work, not them,” Gomez observed. “And we had to chase them all around to try and get the ball. When we did get the ball more in the second half, we were able to connect more passes, but after 60-70 minutes with only five subs they get tired.”
Heyen said the team practiced with three defenders during summer league and can benefit from the extra midfielder. Another reason was because Patino and senior central defender Carlos Saavedra, projected to be regular starters, did not play the first half.
Per team rules, they sat out the first 40 minutes after informing Stassen that they were going to miss a practice.
“No discipline issue. Just something came up, they missed a practice, they know the rule and they took it well,” Stassen said. “We’ve got to keep everyone honest. If you miss a practice, you’ve got to sit a half. The two of them are great leaders, great kids. They sent me an email (ahead of time). If the team sees I’m willing to sit the two of them for a half, then I’m going to sit everybody.”
It took 58 minutes for Schurz to find the goal. On a counterattack, senior Juan Castrejon was barely onside but received a breakaway pass from senior Oscar Martinez down right wing.
Schurz actually had the game’s first three corner kicks but had little success offensively. The Bulldogs had one shot on goal in the first half, a 40-yard blast by Nestor Godinez in the 39th minute that senior goalie Harrison Thompson handled near his eyes.
The visitors earned a corner kick in the ninth minute after a cross was deflected, but Thompson punched out the ball by the far post.
The resulting quick corner attack from the left side quickly dematerialized.
Schurz, a member of the Chicago Public League’s second division, appreciated the 6:30 p.m. starting time.
“Our conference games are at 4, 5 o’clock so it’s nice to come out here,” Gomez said. “They like coming out here to play. It’s a good experience to play under the lights in perfect soccer weather, a nice field. That’s something that they’ll remember. It doesn’t matter what the score is.”
Gaither is hopeful Monday’s result is the start of a special season for him and the Falcons.
“I think this season I want to be a leader more. I think that’s something we struggled with last year,” Gaither said.
Stassen is happy to hear that.
“What his big issue was last year was just his confidence,” Stassen said. “He’s come out this year hungry, ready to go, always wants the ball, showing emotion but keeping his emotion in check.”
Starting Lineups
Schurz
GK: Rodolfo Roman
D: Hirving Aguilar
D: Oscar Martinez
D: Nestor Godinez
D: Eber Roman
M: Christopher Ortega
M: Moises Arteaga
M: Alejandro Salcedo
M: Eduardo Gramajo
M: Juan Chimborazo
F: Juan Castrejon
Wheaton North
GK: Harrison Thompson
D: Jack Mancuso
D: Jack Tegart
D: Nathan Heyen
M: Jake Dzarnowski
M: Ethan Shikany
M: Will Wanzenburg
M: Lucas Partington
F: Joe Gaither
F: Alex Beausoleil
F: Jack Morrissey
Chicagoland Soccer MVP of the Match: Joe Gaither, jr. F, Wheaton North
Box score
Schurz 0 1 – 1
Wheaton North 2 3 – 5
Scoring
Wheaton North
Beausoleil (Gaither)
Beausoleil (Jeanette)
Patino (Morrissey)
Haase (Patino)
Gaither (Dzarnowski)
Schurz
Castrejon (Martinez)
Shots
Wheaton North 22 (9 on goal), Schurz 7 (3)
Goalies
Schurz: Roman (2 saves). Wheaton North: Thompson (2)
Corner kicks
Schurz 4, Wheaton North 3