Naperville Central offense remains
ablaze in win over St. Charles North
Kim leads Redhawks to 5-1 nonconference victory
By Patrick Z. McGavin
NAPERVILLE — Soccer is a game beautiful to watch though impossible to fully assimilate or wholly understand due to the inherent contradictions.
A time traveler might very well say that about the Naperville Central boys soccer team, circa the fall of 2021.
More than a week ago, the Redhawks went more than 160 minutes without scoring in losses against Oak Park and River Forest, and Minooka, which helped elevate those teams to the no. 10 and no. 18 spots in the Chicagoland Soccer Top 25.
The Redhawks held the ball for significant parts of those games. They developed multiple scoring threats only to be stymied or flummoxed at the most crucial junctures.
Some of the Naperville Central players openly wondered if there was a psychological block.
Flash forward just over a week, and the Redhawks suddenly look invincible.
Naperville Central has scored 19 goals in its last three games.
Senior midfielder Johnny Kim maintained the torrid stretch with a goal and sharp work rate that carried the no. 19 Redhawks to the convincing 5-1 victory over St. Charles North on Saturday.
These are not junior varsity teams the Redhawks are scoring against.
Keeping with their tradition of playing one of the toughest schedules in the state, Naperville Central (9-4-0) started the streak last Sunday with a 7-0 victory against southern Illinois small school powerhouse Althoff.
The Crusaders went undefeated during the spring, and started the year top-ranked in the Illinois 10, the Chicagoland Soccer rankings of the state top programs outside of Chicago.
Naperville Central defeated conference rival Neuqua Valley 7-1 on Tuesday.
For context, Naperville Central scored 14 goals combined in its first 11 games.
“I think we have really just felt something, and gotten some momentum here,” Kim said. “We have been really focusing on our work rate.
“Every game when we come out, we are focusing on pressing them from the start. I think we’re doing a really great job.”
To be sure, two of the goals came off penalty kicks. That only tells part of the story.
Naperville Central dominated possession time and created near constantly pressure that kept the ball almost exclusively in the North Stars’ end.
Breakdowns were inevitable.
St. Charles North (4-2-3) has been in an offenisve funk. The North Stars were coming off a scoreless draw against Wheaton North in DuKane Conference play on Tuesday.
Defense is the cornerstone of this North Stars’ team with elite defenders like Mike DePasquale and Zach Curtis. Alexander Curtis, a sophomore who has been splitting keeping duties with Max Montgomery, was spectacular with several startling stops against the Falcons on Tuesday.
“Our game plan is we always want to outwork teams,” St. Charles East coach Eric WIllson said. “If we are being perfectly honest, we got outworked.
“They have a quality team, well-coached, and they defend well. When you can’t keep the ball for periods of time, you just continue to turn it over and spend a lot of time defending, that is going to wear you down over 80 minutes.”
St. Charles North conceded only six goals in its previous eight games and posted three shutouts. Only Metea Valley scored more than one goal against the North Stars.
St. Charles North lost to the Mustangs on penalty kicks in that St. Charles Invitational pool play game August 30.
The Redhawks’ speed and quickness to the ball and ability to maintain possession forced the North Stars into uncharacteristic errors or fouls.
“They’re pretty forward in how they attack,” Willson said. “They come right at you.
“They definitely have some guys who are dangerous. As they go forward, they attack in numbers. We have to do a better job of keeping the ball.”
Here’s the rub, veteran Naperville Central coach Troy Adams said. Sometimes this mysterious, almost unfathomable game comes down to pure chance or luck, or the lack thereof.
“Sometimes you can be unlucky,” Adams said. “You can overthink it. Thomas Jefferson has the quotation: ‘I’m a big believer in luck, and I find when I work harder, I end up getting a lot more of it.’
“Finding those little spots where you can clean up goals, where you get the angle correctly, that takes work. I think we have also started to understand how each other plays.”
Interestingly, Naperville Central has three sophomore starters in its back with Carter Adams, Patrick Berryman and Patrick Bohan.
Senior Mateo Lopez is a stabilizing presence. Those defenders are athletic and push tempo, and they ignite the attack.
Kim’s goal began with a deep run by reserve forward Nathan Kwon and a ball that midfielder Josh Weigel controlled in space.
“Josh played me a great ball, a great build-up,” Kim said. “Nathan Kwan had a great run down the side.
“Instinctively I just shot it, and it went in.”
Kim’s shot came within the flow, and he simply carried through an existing action.
For his goal and constant pressure, he earned the Chicagoland Soccer Man of the Match prize.
With the playmakers and shot-creators Naperville Central has with Kim, Weigel and forwards Benny Tietjen and Joey Loduca, the Redhawks are exceptionally tough to slow down.
Tietjen scored off a ball from midfielder Matt Driessens. Penalty shots by Lopez and Loduca erased the outcome’s doubt.
St. Charles North is much better than what they showed. The teams played during the truncated spring season, and the Redhawks won that game 2-0.
In a long season, teams are subject to offensive funks. The very thing that Naperville Central experienced the week before, the North Stars are now trying to work out from underneath.
Senior forward Dawid Szlegia tried to staunch the bleeding in the second half by scoring off a ball that deflected off a Redhawks’ defender.
St. Charles North struggled to keep apace with the speed and intensity of their foes.
“As a team, we started off super slow,” Szlegia said. “It was noticeable right from the start. Towards the end of the half, we picked it back up.
“After the second half started, I definitely felt some momentum. We were only down 1-0, and we all felt it was a goal that we just gave away. After the second half, they put it in a couple. It was tough to come back from that.”
Now Naperville Central is riding high and confronting its biggest rival, No. 4 Naperville North, in their conference showdown on Tuesday.
The Huskies beat Naperville Central 2-1 in the championship game of the Best of the West on September 4.
Times are different.
“We want to keep this groove going,” Berryman said. “We have got a good stride going in these last three games, and we want to keep that going against North.
“These past three games have been great to prepare. North is a rivalry game, and we want to win the conference. We have to beat them to do that.”
Starting lineups
St. Charles North
GK: Alex Curtis
D: Zach Curtis
D: Mike DePasquale
D: Logan Turney
D: Casey Kriz
MF: Isaac VanDeSampel
MF: Charlie Mazurek
MF: Chase Graham
MF: Walter DeLaPaz
F: Dawid Szlegia
F: Trevor Mirra
Naperville Central
GK: Dean Scott
D: Mateo Lopez
D: Patrick Bohan
D: Patrick Berryman
MF: Carter Adams
MF: Matt Driessens
MF: Sean O’Reilly
MF: Josh Weigel
MF: Johnny Kim
MF: Benjamin Tietjen
MF: Joey Loduca
Chicagoland Soccer Man of the Match: Johnny Kim, sr., MF, Naperville Central
Scoring summary
First half
Naperville Central—Johnny Kim (Josh Weigel), 12th minute
Second half
Naperville Central—Benny Tietjen (Matt Drissens), 43rd minute
Naperville Central—Meteo Lopez (penalty kick), 45th minute
Naperville Central—Joey Loduca (penalty kick), 53rd minute
St. Charles North—Dawid Szlegia (unassisted), 58th minute
Naperville Central—Sean O’Reilly (Loduca), 78th minute
ablaze in win over St. Charles North
Kim leads Redhawks to 5-1 nonconference victory
By Patrick Z. McGavin
NAPERVILLE — Soccer is a game beautiful to watch though impossible to fully assimilate or wholly understand due to the inherent contradictions.
A time traveler might very well say that about the Naperville Central boys soccer team, circa the fall of 2021.
More than a week ago, the Redhawks went more than 160 minutes without scoring in losses against Oak Park and River Forest, and Minooka, which helped elevate those teams to the no. 10 and no. 18 spots in the Chicagoland Soccer Top 25.
The Redhawks held the ball for significant parts of those games. They developed multiple scoring threats only to be stymied or flummoxed at the most crucial junctures.
Some of the Naperville Central players openly wondered if there was a psychological block.
Flash forward just over a week, and the Redhawks suddenly look invincible.
Naperville Central has scored 19 goals in its last three games.
Senior midfielder Johnny Kim maintained the torrid stretch with a goal and sharp work rate that carried the no. 19 Redhawks to the convincing 5-1 victory over St. Charles North on Saturday.
These are not junior varsity teams the Redhawks are scoring against.
Keeping with their tradition of playing one of the toughest schedules in the state, Naperville Central (9-4-0) started the streak last Sunday with a 7-0 victory against southern Illinois small school powerhouse Althoff.
The Crusaders went undefeated during the spring, and started the year top-ranked in the Illinois 10, the Chicagoland Soccer rankings of the state top programs outside of Chicago.
Naperville Central defeated conference rival Neuqua Valley 7-1 on Tuesday.
For context, Naperville Central scored 14 goals combined in its first 11 games.
“I think we have really just felt something, and gotten some momentum here,” Kim said. “We have been really focusing on our work rate.
“Every game when we come out, we are focusing on pressing them from the start. I think we’re doing a really great job.”
To be sure, two of the goals came off penalty kicks. That only tells part of the story.
Naperville Central dominated possession time and created near constantly pressure that kept the ball almost exclusively in the North Stars’ end.
Breakdowns were inevitable.
St. Charles North (4-2-3) has been in an offenisve funk. The North Stars were coming off a scoreless draw against Wheaton North in DuKane Conference play on Tuesday.
Defense is the cornerstone of this North Stars’ team with elite defenders like Mike DePasquale and Zach Curtis. Alexander Curtis, a sophomore who has been splitting keeping duties with Max Montgomery, was spectacular with several startling stops against the Falcons on Tuesday.
“Our game plan is we always want to outwork teams,” St. Charles East coach Eric WIllson said. “If we are being perfectly honest, we got outworked.
“They have a quality team, well-coached, and they defend well. When you can’t keep the ball for periods of time, you just continue to turn it over and spend a lot of time defending, that is going to wear you down over 80 minutes.”
St. Charles North conceded only six goals in its previous eight games and posted three shutouts. Only Metea Valley scored more than one goal against the North Stars.
St. Charles North lost to the Mustangs on penalty kicks in that St. Charles Invitational pool play game August 30.
The Redhawks’ speed and quickness to the ball and ability to maintain possession forced the North Stars into uncharacteristic errors or fouls.
“They’re pretty forward in how they attack,” Willson said. “They come right at you.
“They definitely have some guys who are dangerous. As they go forward, they attack in numbers. We have to do a better job of keeping the ball.”
Here’s the rub, veteran Naperville Central coach Troy Adams said. Sometimes this mysterious, almost unfathomable game comes down to pure chance or luck, or the lack thereof.
“Sometimes you can be unlucky,” Adams said. “You can overthink it. Thomas Jefferson has the quotation: ‘I’m a big believer in luck, and I find when I work harder, I end up getting a lot more of it.’
“Finding those little spots where you can clean up goals, where you get the angle correctly, that takes work. I think we have also started to understand how each other plays.”
Interestingly, Naperville Central has three sophomore starters in its back with Carter Adams, Patrick Berryman and Patrick Bohan.
Senior Mateo Lopez is a stabilizing presence. Those defenders are athletic and push tempo, and they ignite the attack.
Kim’s goal began with a deep run by reserve forward Nathan Kwon and a ball that midfielder Josh Weigel controlled in space.
“Josh played me a great ball, a great build-up,” Kim said. “Nathan Kwan had a great run down the side.
“Instinctively I just shot it, and it went in.”
Kim’s shot came within the flow, and he simply carried through an existing action.
For his goal and constant pressure, he earned the Chicagoland Soccer Man of the Match prize.
With the playmakers and shot-creators Naperville Central has with Kim, Weigel and forwards Benny Tietjen and Joey Loduca, the Redhawks are exceptionally tough to slow down.
Tietjen scored off a ball from midfielder Matt Driessens. Penalty shots by Lopez and Loduca erased the outcome’s doubt.
St. Charles North is much better than what they showed. The teams played during the truncated spring season, and the Redhawks won that game 2-0.
In a long season, teams are subject to offensive funks. The very thing that Naperville Central experienced the week before, the North Stars are now trying to work out from underneath.
Senior forward Dawid Szlegia tried to staunch the bleeding in the second half by scoring off a ball that deflected off a Redhawks’ defender.
St. Charles North struggled to keep apace with the speed and intensity of their foes.
“As a team, we started off super slow,” Szlegia said. “It was noticeable right from the start. Towards the end of the half, we picked it back up.
“After the second half started, I definitely felt some momentum. We were only down 1-0, and we all felt it was a goal that we just gave away. After the second half, they put it in a couple. It was tough to come back from that.”
Now Naperville Central is riding high and confronting its biggest rival, No. 4 Naperville North, in their conference showdown on Tuesday.
The Huskies beat Naperville Central 2-1 in the championship game of the Best of the West on September 4.
Times are different.
“We want to keep this groove going,” Berryman said. “We have got a good stride going in these last three games, and we want to keep that going against North.
“These past three games have been great to prepare. North is a rivalry game, and we want to win the conference. We have to beat them to do that.”
Starting lineups
St. Charles North
GK: Alex Curtis
D: Zach Curtis
D: Mike DePasquale
D: Logan Turney
D: Casey Kriz
MF: Isaac VanDeSampel
MF: Charlie Mazurek
MF: Chase Graham
MF: Walter DeLaPaz
F: Dawid Szlegia
F: Trevor Mirra
Naperville Central
GK: Dean Scott
D: Mateo Lopez
D: Patrick Bohan
D: Patrick Berryman
MF: Carter Adams
MF: Matt Driessens
MF: Sean O’Reilly
MF: Josh Weigel
MF: Johnny Kim
MF: Benjamin Tietjen
MF: Joey Loduca
Chicagoland Soccer Man of the Match: Johnny Kim, sr., MF, Naperville Central
Scoring summary
First half
Naperville Central—Johnny Kim (Josh Weigel), 12th minute
Second half
Naperville Central—Benny Tietjen (Matt Drissens), 43rd minute
Naperville Central—Meteo Lopez (penalty kick), 45th minute
Naperville Central—Joey Loduca (penalty kick), 53rd minute
St. Charles North—Dawid Szlegia (unassisted), 58th minute
Naperville Central—Sean O’Reilly (Loduca), 78th minute