St. Francis shows firepower vs. Wheaton N.
Herard’s 1st half brace sparks Spartans in 4-1 season-debut win
By Bill Stone
ROSELLE -- St. Francis forward Leo Herard is hoping for a much longer boys soccer schedule in 2017.
In the Spartans' season opener Thursday, Herard contributed to a long first half for Wheaton North.
Herard scored twice off lead passes to set the tone for the Spartans’ 4-1 victory in Lake Park's Norm Hillner Classic opening round played at the school's east campus.
“Especially because it’s my last year, too, I’ve just got to leave it all out there,” said Herard, who Chicagoland Soccer's Man of the Match honors. “Offseason, I’ve just been working with my club (Galaxy). We did good this year, and you’re just building chemistry with your teammates and bringing everyone together.
"I think we played really well for our first game, and our chemistry was a lot better than I thought it would be.”
In the tournament's second day of action Saturday, Wheaton North (1-1-0) plays South Elgin at 10 a.m., and York plays Lake Park at noon. St. Francis has a bye. South Elgin lost to the host Lancers 3-2 Thursday.
St. Francis junior reserve Alex Guiborat and junior Samuel Audy scored in the second half. Audy’s goal off a lead pass by junior Nicholas Gulli came with only three seconds remaining. Sophomore Frank Marsico assisted the first and third goals, and senior Henry Roback the second.
“I thought we moved well tonight. Our speed of play was good at times,” St. Francis coach Kevin Ward said. “It could be better. If we improve upon it, it could be one of our strengths.”
St. Francis led 21-12 in shots (9-5 on goal). The teams combined for 11 shots in the final 20 minutes after Guiborat just stayed onside and created a 3-0 lead with 23:52 to go.
Early on, Wheaton North experienced remembrances of last year’s 2-15-2 finish, but later it showed its improved potential behind nine returning starters.
Like Monday’s season-opening 5-1 home victory over Schurz, the Falcons had decent possession and passing. Unlike that game, they could not muster any threatening shots in the first half.
“It was just nothing (the final third). We’re working on it. We’re getting there,” Wheaton North coach Rob Stassen said. “But they stayed aggressive. It just kind of took them a little longer to get into the game, but I’d rather this happen in game two than in game 22.”
With the Falcons trailing 3-0, junior Joe Gaither converted a penalty kick with 16:40 remaining. The goal was part of a spirited effort despite going most of the second half with just 10 players.
St. Francis returns seven starters – seniors Herard, Roback, Ethan Grosam, Jacob Power and Ryan Scharf and juniors Gulli and Sean Conley. Many were contributors in 2015 when the team reached the Class AA supersectional before losing 1-0 to Notre Dame (Peoria), the eventual state runnerup to Waterloo.
Last year, the Spartans suffered a disappointing 2-1 loss in the Class AA regional final of the St. Francis Sectional to eventual sectional runnerup Fenton. The Spartans were 10-9-0 overall but also finished the season winning six of their last eight games, three by shutout. The 2016 season began with a 3-1 Hillner Classic victory over Wheaton North.
“We were definitely hyped on the bus ride here,” Herard said.
Classmate Roback shared in the anticipation for this season.
“(I was) a little anxious, a little nervous. This is our last season playing high school soccer. It’s a lot of fun playing again,” added Roback.
“Our sophomore year we went to supersectionals. We know how hard it was to get there. Now we’re anxious to get back there and just do everything we can, because we know we ended last season on a good note but just couldn’t finish the last game.”
Herard should be one of the key factors to success. Last season, he missed three weeks of the season and remembers scoring only about half a dozen goals as graduated Zach Crescenzo led the offense. Only three other seniors graduated.
“I would like to get to state obviously, also to average a goal a game,” Herard said.
“He’s got it in him. He’s capable (of consistent scoring),” Ward said. “He’s got a nice shot, nice moves. He’s a good forward. If we do things a little differently, we can set him up with even more chances – if we get better.”
Surprisingly, Wheaton North had most of its offensive push after being down to 10 players. Only 1:01 into the second half, senior center midfielder and co-captain Jorge Patino was assessed a red card after challenging a defender for a possessed ball. Four St. Francis players received four yellow cards with no ejections.
“Losing Georgy was a big, big loss but if it’s going to happen, it inspired everyone,” Stassen said. “Glad no one was hurt. The ref was right, made the right call. No complaints.”
“We went down a man and we went down two goals but for the entire (second) half everyone who was in the game, everyone who went in the game was fighting,” Wheaton
North senior center midfielder and co-captain Jake Dzarnowski said.
“You could just feel the emotions. Everyone was into it. Everyone was playing hard. I haven’t felt that with these teammates in a while. It was something special. No one gave up. (We learned about) just playing the same way in the second half with the same intensity.”
The 5-foot-10 Herard also kept coming, even with a brief second half exit following his yellow card. Herard took 14 of the Spartans’ 21 shots and 7 of 10 in the first half, including 3 of their 4 shots on goal.
Herard first struck with 25:15 left in the first half when he took a ball down left from Marsico, dribbled a few yards and let go a diagonal shot near the top of the box that caromed off the right post into the net.
Herard scored again 20:16 before halftime from the right side. He beat a defender for control of a sideline chip by Roback near the top corner of the box and then dribbled around charging goalie Harrison Thompson toward the open net. The right-wing linesman waved his flag during the battle for the chip, but the referee let play continue.
“(Our midfielders) did a good job. They were able to find me and put their head up, put it through the middle and not just play me but play each other,” Herard said.
It was a rare assist for Roback, who returns on the defensive line.
“That (assist) was pretty cool. I knew Leo was up there. I know he’d be able to outpace the defender,” Roback said. “It’s definitely easier knowing we won’t be on defense the entire game (this season), that our offense will hold the ball, work it up, score some goals.”
Roback started on defense with goalie Scharf (4 saves), Power, Grosam and Trey Gora, a freshman on the roster along with reserve Jack Hartle. Marsico was the lone sophomore starter.
Adding the midfielders, Herard praised the Spartans’ “block of eight” defensively. While Grosam often moved up to bolster the midfield, Conley would help strengthen the interior defense.
“We play a four-back (defense), but we move a lot,” Ward said.
“Then when we transition, we push more people up so it creates more of an offense,” Roback said. “We have a couple of freshmen (defenders), and they played outstanding. Having them really helps, and our midfield won a lot of balls, disrupted a lot of play.”
Wheaton North's first half shots on goal were nonthreatening. They included junior Jack Morrissey's try along left wing in the 18th minute and Dzarnowski in the 28th minute after a strong passing combination with junior Jack Mancuso, sophomore Will Wanzenburg and junior Jack Beausoleil.
The immediate loss of Patino initially stifled the offense. After only two shots the first 20 minutes of the half, shots by juniors Nathan Heyen and Ethan Shikany signaled a resurgence.
Gaither scored after senior central defender Carlos Saavedra’s long cross into the box was headed high into the air by Mancuso. A foul was called while the Spartans tried to clear the ball.
“I don’t know what it was. They wanted it all of a sudden. The second half, I was proud of them,” Stassen said.
Once St. Francis withstood Saavedra’s 45-yard blast that went just wide with 12 minutes to play, they regained their footing and peppered reserve goalie Isaac Nolen, who entered in the latter part of the half.
Herard and Marsico combined for seven shots in the final 11 minutes before Audy surged against a reserve defender in the last seconds.
“We made some simple mistakes,” Stassen said. “They were a good side, and they came after us. Two mistakes in the beginning kind of put us in the hole.
“The third goal (by Guiborat) was just a simple elementary mistake. They thought it was offside, put their hand up (to alter the linesman) and everyone stopped.
“The last 20 minutes was all us. We put it on, flooded it on. I’m proud of the guys. We’re taking the positives and rolling into Saturday and come out a different team. I’m still smiling.”
Starting lineups
St. Francis
GK: Ryan Scharf
D: Trey Gora
D: Henry Roback
D: Jacob Power
D: Ethan Grosam
M: Sean Conley
M: Frank Marsico
M: Nicholas Gulli
M: Ryan Pennington
M: Samuel Audy
F: Leo Herard
Wheaton North
GK: Harrison Thompson
D: Jack Mancuso
D: Jack Tegart
D: Carlos Saavedra
D: Nathan Heyen
M: Jake Dzarnowski
M: Will Wanzenburg
M: Jorge Patino
F: Joe Gaither
F: Alex Beausoleil
F: Jack Morrissey
Chicagoland Soccer Man of the Match: Leo Herard, sr. F, St. Francis
Game summary
St. Francis 2-2 – 4
Wheaton North 0 1 – 1
Scoring
St. Francis: Herard (Frank Marsico), Herard (Henry Roback), Alex Guiborat (Frank Marsico), Samuel Audy (Nicholas Gulli)
Wheaton North: Joe Gaither (penalty kick)
Shots: St. Francis 21 (9 on goal), Wheaton North 11 (5 on goal)
Goalies: St. Francis: Ryan Scharf (4 saves). Wheaton North: Thompson (2 saves), Nolen (3 saves)
Corner kicks: St. Francis 2, Wheaton North 1
Herard’s 1st half brace sparks Spartans in 4-1 season-debut win
By Bill Stone
ROSELLE -- St. Francis forward Leo Herard is hoping for a much longer boys soccer schedule in 2017.
In the Spartans' season opener Thursday, Herard contributed to a long first half for Wheaton North.
Herard scored twice off lead passes to set the tone for the Spartans’ 4-1 victory in Lake Park's Norm Hillner Classic opening round played at the school's east campus.
“Especially because it’s my last year, too, I’ve just got to leave it all out there,” said Herard, who Chicagoland Soccer's Man of the Match honors. “Offseason, I’ve just been working with my club (Galaxy). We did good this year, and you’re just building chemistry with your teammates and bringing everyone together.
"I think we played really well for our first game, and our chemistry was a lot better than I thought it would be.”
In the tournament's second day of action Saturday, Wheaton North (1-1-0) plays South Elgin at 10 a.m., and York plays Lake Park at noon. St. Francis has a bye. South Elgin lost to the host Lancers 3-2 Thursday.
St. Francis junior reserve Alex Guiborat and junior Samuel Audy scored in the second half. Audy’s goal off a lead pass by junior Nicholas Gulli came with only three seconds remaining. Sophomore Frank Marsico assisted the first and third goals, and senior Henry Roback the second.
“I thought we moved well tonight. Our speed of play was good at times,” St. Francis coach Kevin Ward said. “It could be better. If we improve upon it, it could be one of our strengths.”
St. Francis led 21-12 in shots (9-5 on goal). The teams combined for 11 shots in the final 20 minutes after Guiborat just stayed onside and created a 3-0 lead with 23:52 to go.
Early on, Wheaton North experienced remembrances of last year’s 2-15-2 finish, but later it showed its improved potential behind nine returning starters.
Like Monday’s season-opening 5-1 home victory over Schurz, the Falcons had decent possession and passing. Unlike that game, they could not muster any threatening shots in the first half.
“It was just nothing (the final third). We’re working on it. We’re getting there,” Wheaton North coach Rob Stassen said. “But they stayed aggressive. It just kind of took them a little longer to get into the game, but I’d rather this happen in game two than in game 22.”
With the Falcons trailing 3-0, junior Joe Gaither converted a penalty kick with 16:40 remaining. The goal was part of a spirited effort despite going most of the second half with just 10 players.
St. Francis returns seven starters – seniors Herard, Roback, Ethan Grosam, Jacob Power and Ryan Scharf and juniors Gulli and Sean Conley. Many were contributors in 2015 when the team reached the Class AA supersectional before losing 1-0 to Notre Dame (Peoria), the eventual state runnerup to Waterloo.
Last year, the Spartans suffered a disappointing 2-1 loss in the Class AA regional final of the St. Francis Sectional to eventual sectional runnerup Fenton. The Spartans were 10-9-0 overall but also finished the season winning six of their last eight games, three by shutout. The 2016 season began with a 3-1 Hillner Classic victory over Wheaton North.
“We were definitely hyped on the bus ride here,” Herard said.
Classmate Roback shared in the anticipation for this season.
“(I was) a little anxious, a little nervous. This is our last season playing high school soccer. It’s a lot of fun playing again,” added Roback.
“Our sophomore year we went to supersectionals. We know how hard it was to get there. Now we’re anxious to get back there and just do everything we can, because we know we ended last season on a good note but just couldn’t finish the last game.”
Herard should be one of the key factors to success. Last season, he missed three weeks of the season and remembers scoring only about half a dozen goals as graduated Zach Crescenzo led the offense. Only three other seniors graduated.
“I would like to get to state obviously, also to average a goal a game,” Herard said.
“He’s got it in him. He’s capable (of consistent scoring),” Ward said. “He’s got a nice shot, nice moves. He’s a good forward. If we do things a little differently, we can set him up with even more chances – if we get better.”
Surprisingly, Wheaton North had most of its offensive push after being down to 10 players. Only 1:01 into the second half, senior center midfielder and co-captain Jorge Patino was assessed a red card after challenging a defender for a possessed ball. Four St. Francis players received four yellow cards with no ejections.
“Losing Georgy was a big, big loss but if it’s going to happen, it inspired everyone,” Stassen said. “Glad no one was hurt. The ref was right, made the right call. No complaints.”
“We went down a man and we went down two goals but for the entire (second) half everyone who was in the game, everyone who went in the game was fighting,” Wheaton
North senior center midfielder and co-captain Jake Dzarnowski said.
“You could just feel the emotions. Everyone was into it. Everyone was playing hard. I haven’t felt that with these teammates in a while. It was something special. No one gave up. (We learned about) just playing the same way in the second half with the same intensity.”
The 5-foot-10 Herard also kept coming, even with a brief second half exit following his yellow card. Herard took 14 of the Spartans’ 21 shots and 7 of 10 in the first half, including 3 of their 4 shots on goal.
Herard first struck with 25:15 left in the first half when he took a ball down left from Marsico, dribbled a few yards and let go a diagonal shot near the top of the box that caromed off the right post into the net.
Herard scored again 20:16 before halftime from the right side. He beat a defender for control of a sideline chip by Roback near the top corner of the box and then dribbled around charging goalie Harrison Thompson toward the open net. The right-wing linesman waved his flag during the battle for the chip, but the referee let play continue.
“(Our midfielders) did a good job. They were able to find me and put their head up, put it through the middle and not just play me but play each other,” Herard said.
It was a rare assist for Roback, who returns on the defensive line.
“That (assist) was pretty cool. I knew Leo was up there. I know he’d be able to outpace the defender,” Roback said. “It’s definitely easier knowing we won’t be on defense the entire game (this season), that our offense will hold the ball, work it up, score some goals.”
Roback started on defense with goalie Scharf (4 saves), Power, Grosam and Trey Gora, a freshman on the roster along with reserve Jack Hartle. Marsico was the lone sophomore starter.
Adding the midfielders, Herard praised the Spartans’ “block of eight” defensively. While Grosam often moved up to bolster the midfield, Conley would help strengthen the interior defense.
“We play a four-back (defense), but we move a lot,” Ward said.
“Then when we transition, we push more people up so it creates more of an offense,” Roback said. “We have a couple of freshmen (defenders), and they played outstanding. Having them really helps, and our midfield won a lot of balls, disrupted a lot of play.”
Wheaton North's first half shots on goal were nonthreatening. They included junior Jack Morrissey's try along left wing in the 18th minute and Dzarnowski in the 28th minute after a strong passing combination with junior Jack Mancuso, sophomore Will Wanzenburg and junior Jack Beausoleil.
The immediate loss of Patino initially stifled the offense. After only two shots the first 20 minutes of the half, shots by juniors Nathan Heyen and Ethan Shikany signaled a resurgence.
Gaither scored after senior central defender Carlos Saavedra’s long cross into the box was headed high into the air by Mancuso. A foul was called while the Spartans tried to clear the ball.
“I don’t know what it was. They wanted it all of a sudden. The second half, I was proud of them,” Stassen said.
Once St. Francis withstood Saavedra’s 45-yard blast that went just wide with 12 minutes to play, they regained their footing and peppered reserve goalie Isaac Nolen, who entered in the latter part of the half.
Herard and Marsico combined for seven shots in the final 11 minutes before Audy surged against a reserve defender in the last seconds.
“We made some simple mistakes,” Stassen said. “They were a good side, and they came after us. Two mistakes in the beginning kind of put us in the hole.
“The third goal (by Guiborat) was just a simple elementary mistake. They thought it was offside, put their hand up (to alter the linesman) and everyone stopped.
“The last 20 minutes was all us. We put it on, flooded it on. I’m proud of the guys. We’re taking the positives and rolling into Saturday and come out a different team. I’m still smiling.”
Starting lineups
St. Francis
GK: Ryan Scharf
D: Trey Gora
D: Henry Roback
D: Jacob Power
D: Ethan Grosam
M: Sean Conley
M: Frank Marsico
M: Nicholas Gulli
M: Ryan Pennington
M: Samuel Audy
F: Leo Herard
Wheaton North
GK: Harrison Thompson
D: Jack Mancuso
D: Jack Tegart
D: Carlos Saavedra
D: Nathan Heyen
M: Jake Dzarnowski
M: Will Wanzenburg
M: Jorge Patino
F: Joe Gaither
F: Alex Beausoleil
F: Jack Morrissey
Chicagoland Soccer Man of the Match: Leo Herard, sr. F, St. Francis
Game summary
St. Francis 2-2 – 4
Wheaton North 0 1 – 1
Scoring
St. Francis: Herard (Frank Marsico), Herard (Henry Roback), Alex Guiborat (Frank Marsico), Samuel Audy (Nicholas Gulli)
Wheaton North: Joe Gaither (penalty kick)
Shots: St. Francis 21 (9 on goal), Wheaton North 11 (5 on goal)
Goalies: St. Francis: Ryan Scharf (4 saves). Wheaton North: Thompson (2 saves), Nolen (3 saves)
Corner kicks: St. Francis 2, Wheaton North 1