St. Ignatius stays hot, bests St. Rita
Daniel Fernandez scores hat-trick in 5-1 Wolfpack victory
By Patrick Z. McGavin
CHICAGO — The grace period is over at St. Ignatius.
The Wolfpack players knew they had talent, experience and skill. What they needed was time to assimilate the new playing style and system of Matt Miller, the coach who took over for Ryan Kearns.
The pieces of a standout team were very much in place. The team returned a solid group from the team that finished third in the Class AA state tournament.
The players agreed. They just needed time to jell.
St. Ignatius has eviscerated the cross-over part of its Chicago Catholic League schedule by scoring 27 goals in its last three games. The team is playing free and leaving nothing unturned in its path.
“Our offense has definitely turned it on in the last three games,” senior midfielder Daniel Fernandez said. “I think the new system really works.
“It forces the other team to really think fast, and sometimes thinking fast makes them get rid of the ball, or lead to a counter, a handball in the box or a quick shot on goal.”
St. Ignatius worked every permutation to its advantage and Fernandez sustained his smoldering play with three goals in the 5-1 victory over St. Rita on Monday night on the South Side.
Numbers also deceive. Two of Fernandez’s goals came off of penalty kicks — one in the opening minutes of play after a St. Rita player had an inadvertent touch inside the box.
St. Rita coach Bob Kellam was seeking a greater sense of urgency and importance at the start from his young team. For the most part, the Mustangs delivered.
“The score does not reflect the game at all,” Kellam said. “You could talk about the penalties, but I guess we came out a little flat there, and all of a sudden we found ourselves in a bigger hole and that opened us up a little more.”
The Mustangs also suffered a significant absence when junior midfielder Chuy Flores, a dynamic and terrific player who makes their attack really flourish, had to leave the game.
Before that he created the early equalizer in the fifth minute with a beautiful through-ball that star forward Langston Bedgood put away for his sixth goal of the year.
Five minutes in, the game was locked up at 1-apiece.
St. Rita (5-4-0) moved the ball well early and contrasted the speed and fluidity of the Wolfpack. Flores and Julio Walton generated an equal amount of possession time. Midfielder Logan Corum had a strong scoring chance in the 16th minute.
Tyler Padilla, the lanky and angular defender, also had a decent header inside the box. The deeper point was unmistakable. St. Rita showed the moxie and flair the coach was demanding. Things were looking up.
The team had motivation.
“We came off the two hard losses against Marmion and St. Laurence,” Flores said. “Coming into this game, we wanted to start a winning streak. We showed that, but it didn’t go our way this time around.”
Flores went down with a leg injury in the 25th minute. Without him the wheels came off or St. Rita.
“That [injury] was a big part,” he said. “We took our foot off the gas pedal, and we just let it go. We came into the game, and we wanted it. You could tell right from the start we wanted it more from them, and they came in they were not ready for it, but we just let it go.”
St. Ignatius struck in the 29th minute. Midfielder Jaden Rice made a sharp move on the right flank and slotted a ball in stride to a quickly moving Aidan Hurst.
A quick and explosive midfielder, Hurst never slowed down and pushed wide to the right flank and unleashed a rocket ball from about 19 yards that darted inside the far post.
The sequence was a telling example of how the Wolfpack want to play: fast, aggressive and leaving nothing in their trail.
“We changed from last season, and we made it a more attacking formation,” Rice said. “We moved our midfielders higher up, and we look to finish more goals after we had a lot of losses from graduation on our defense last year.
“I think we are finally getting it, and we are excited to play some bigger teams and see where we go from there.”
While Flores returned in the second half. Any hope of a St. Rita comeback dissipated in the opening moments.
The Wolfpack maintained their hammer hold of pressure, and midfielder Ethan Gould got deep against the overmatched Mustangs’ back and smashed home a short volley for the third goal.
The Wolfpack are averaging six goals a game. The only team to slow them down is Oak Park and River Forest, which is ranked ninth in the Chicagoland Soccer Top 25, who blanked them 2-0.
Kearns stepped down from the lead coach after last year’s memorable state tournament run. He remains in place as the assistant, a connecting thread of past and present. He has an interesting point of view.
“We have scored a lot in the last three games,” Kearns said. “We struggled with buying into the system at the start. The players were struggling with the small details, the intricacies of the system and how to work the ball out of high pressure the other team provides. The other thing we were still learning was how to provide the other team with pressure when they are have the ball on their backline.
“Oak Park was able to break us down, because we would turn the ball over in bad situations. They would put pressure on us right away, and we were not able to build any momentum out of the back. We worked some of those kinks out.”
St. Rita applied enough consistent pressure to effectively take the Wolfpack out of its comfort zone.
St. Ignatius had to adjust and counter.
“In the first 15 or 20 minutes of the first half, we fell back into some old habits, and we have to find our way back into the new habits, or just modifications of the habits we have established over the last few seasons,” Kearns said.
Fernandez took it upon himself. By his own admission, he played poorly over the final 20 minutes of the first half. He looked to rectify that.
“Definitely the second half was a changing point,” he said. “I knew I had to turn it on, because I definitely played a shaky final 20 minutes or so of that first half.”
Another of the fast and fleet Wolfpack talents, Jarred Atuobi pushed the ball wide to a streaking Luke Hogan on the right wing. The intense pressure caused a Mustangs defender to tackle Hogan from behind inside the box.
Fernandez again delivered on the penalty kick.
“The first one I hit it wrong,” he said. “I actually hit it with my heel, but I tend to go down low to the right side. I actually got kind of lucky today with both.”
He left no doubt with his final rocket ball as he controlled a rebound and wove through two defenders in driving hard down the left edge for a final howitzer blast.
For his accomplishments Daniel Fernandez earned Chicagoland Soccer Man of the Match honors.
St. Rita demonstrated considerable toughness and resiliency of its own. The Mustangs fought hard throughout and never submitted.
The team was drove hard and tried to create offense until the very end. The deficit was simply too great to overcome. Kellam saw signs for optimism.
“It is what it is,” Kellam said. “We have to be a little bit more consistent for the whole 80 minutes. It was frustrating because we played well.
“The [penalty kicks] put us in a deeper hole, but we didn’t stop playing. We kept after them. There was no quit in the fight in these guys.
“We are playing against a team that finished third in the state last year, and they probably thought they were coming over for a nice and easy night. They had to work.
“Sometimes that is what happens at the end.”
Starting lineups
St. Ignatius
G: Luke Hales
D: Talcott Malven
D: Charlie Kennedy
MF: Ethan Gould
MF: Aidan Hurst
MF: Jared Atuobi
MF: Jaden Rice
MF: Daniel Fernandez
F: Luke Hogan
F: Gavin Troy
F: Christian Yonan
St. Rita
GK: Luke Manning
D: Brendan Gleeson
D: Luis Salgado
D: Tyler Padilla
MF: Brendan Breslin
MF: Logan Corum
MF: Kenya Sumpter
MF: Julio Walton
MF: George Herman
MF: Chuy Flores
F: Langston Bedgood
Chicagoland Soccer Man of the Match: Daniel Fernandez, sr., MF, St. Ignatius
Scoring summary
First half
St. Ignatius—Daniel Fernandez (penalty kick), second minute
St. Rita—Langston Bedgood (Chuy Flores), fifth minute
St. Ignatius—Aidan Hurst (Jaden Rice), 29th minute
Second half
St. Ignatius—Ethan Gould (unassisted), 41st minute
St. Ignatius—Fernandez (penalty kick), 54th minute
St. Ignatius—Fernandez (unassisted), 65th minute
Daniel Fernandez scores hat-trick in 5-1 Wolfpack victory
By Patrick Z. McGavin
CHICAGO — The grace period is over at St. Ignatius.
The Wolfpack players knew they had talent, experience and skill. What they needed was time to assimilate the new playing style and system of Matt Miller, the coach who took over for Ryan Kearns.
The pieces of a standout team were very much in place. The team returned a solid group from the team that finished third in the Class AA state tournament.
The players agreed. They just needed time to jell.
St. Ignatius has eviscerated the cross-over part of its Chicago Catholic League schedule by scoring 27 goals in its last three games. The team is playing free and leaving nothing unturned in its path.
“Our offense has definitely turned it on in the last three games,” senior midfielder Daniel Fernandez said. “I think the new system really works.
“It forces the other team to really think fast, and sometimes thinking fast makes them get rid of the ball, or lead to a counter, a handball in the box or a quick shot on goal.”
St. Ignatius worked every permutation to its advantage and Fernandez sustained his smoldering play with three goals in the 5-1 victory over St. Rita on Monday night on the South Side.
Numbers also deceive. Two of Fernandez’s goals came off of penalty kicks — one in the opening minutes of play after a St. Rita player had an inadvertent touch inside the box.
St. Rita coach Bob Kellam was seeking a greater sense of urgency and importance at the start from his young team. For the most part, the Mustangs delivered.
“The score does not reflect the game at all,” Kellam said. “You could talk about the penalties, but I guess we came out a little flat there, and all of a sudden we found ourselves in a bigger hole and that opened us up a little more.”
The Mustangs also suffered a significant absence when junior midfielder Chuy Flores, a dynamic and terrific player who makes their attack really flourish, had to leave the game.
Before that he created the early equalizer in the fifth minute with a beautiful through-ball that star forward Langston Bedgood put away for his sixth goal of the year.
Five minutes in, the game was locked up at 1-apiece.
St. Rita (5-4-0) moved the ball well early and contrasted the speed and fluidity of the Wolfpack. Flores and Julio Walton generated an equal amount of possession time. Midfielder Logan Corum had a strong scoring chance in the 16th minute.
Tyler Padilla, the lanky and angular defender, also had a decent header inside the box. The deeper point was unmistakable. St. Rita showed the moxie and flair the coach was demanding. Things were looking up.
The team had motivation.
“We came off the two hard losses against Marmion and St. Laurence,” Flores said. “Coming into this game, we wanted to start a winning streak. We showed that, but it didn’t go our way this time around.”
Flores went down with a leg injury in the 25th minute. Without him the wheels came off or St. Rita.
“That [injury] was a big part,” he said. “We took our foot off the gas pedal, and we just let it go. We came into the game, and we wanted it. You could tell right from the start we wanted it more from them, and they came in they were not ready for it, but we just let it go.”
St. Ignatius struck in the 29th minute. Midfielder Jaden Rice made a sharp move on the right flank and slotted a ball in stride to a quickly moving Aidan Hurst.
A quick and explosive midfielder, Hurst never slowed down and pushed wide to the right flank and unleashed a rocket ball from about 19 yards that darted inside the far post.
The sequence was a telling example of how the Wolfpack want to play: fast, aggressive and leaving nothing in their trail.
“We changed from last season, and we made it a more attacking formation,” Rice said. “We moved our midfielders higher up, and we look to finish more goals after we had a lot of losses from graduation on our defense last year.
“I think we are finally getting it, and we are excited to play some bigger teams and see where we go from there.”
While Flores returned in the second half. Any hope of a St. Rita comeback dissipated in the opening moments.
The Wolfpack maintained their hammer hold of pressure, and midfielder Ethan Gould got deep against the overmatched Mustangs’ back and smashed home a short volley for the third goal.
The Wolfpack are averaging six goals a game. The only team to slow them down is Oak Park and River Forest, which is ranked ninth in the Chicagoland Soccer Top 25, who blanked them 2-0.
Kearns stepped down from the lead coach after last year’s memorable state tournament run. He remains in place as the assistant, a connecting thread of past and present. He has an interesting point of view.
“We have scored a lot in the last three games,” Kearns said. “We struggled with buying into the system at the start. The players were struggling with the small details, the intricacies of the system and how to work the ball out of high pressure the other team provides. The other thing we were still learning was how to provide the other team with pressure when they are have the ball on their backline.
“Oak Park was able to break us down, because we would turn the ball over in bad situations. They would put pressure on us right away, and we were not able to build any momentum out of the back. We worked some of those kinks out.”
St. Rita applied enough consistent pressure to effectively take the Wolfpack out of its comfort zone.
St. Ignatius had to adjust and counter.
“In the first 15 or 20 minutes of the first half, we fell back into some old habits, and we have to find our way back into the new habits, or just modifications of the habits we have established over the last few seasons,” Kearns said.
Fernandez took it upon himself. By his own admission, he played poorly over the final 20 minutes of the first half. He looked to rectify that.
“Definitely the second half was a changing point,” he said. “I knew I had to turn it on, because I definitely played a shaky final 20 minutes or so of that first half.”
Another of the fast and fleet Wolfpack talents, Jarred Atuobi pushed the ball wide to a streaking Luke Hogan on the right wing. The intense pressure caused a Mustangs defender to tackle Hogan from behind inside the box.
Fernandez again delivered on the penalty kick.
“The first one I hit it wrong,” he said. “I actually hit it with my heel, but I tend to go down low to the right side. I actually got kind of lucky today with both.”
He left no doubt with his final rocket ball as he controlled a rebound and wove through two defenders in driving hard down the left edge for a final howitzer blast.
For his accomplishments Daniel Fernandez earned Chicagoland Soccer Man of the Match honors.
St. Rita demonstrated considerable toughness and resiliency of its own. The Mustangs fought hard throughout and never submitted.
The team was drove hard and tried to create offense until the very end. The deficit was simply too great to overcome. Kellam saw signs for optimism.
“It is what it is,” Kellam said. “We have to be a little bit more consistent for the whole 80 minutes. It was frustrating because we played well.
“The [penalty kicks] put us in a deeper hole, but we didn’t stop playing. We kept after them. There was no quit in the fight in these guys.
“We are playing against a team that finished third in the state last year, and they probably thought they were coming over for a nice and easy night. They had to work.
“Sometimes that is what happens at the end.”
Starting lineups
St. Ignatius
G: Luke Hales
D: Talcott Malven
D: Charlie Kennedy
MF: Ethan Gould
MF: Aidan Hurst
MF: Jared Atuobi
MF: Jaden Rice
MF: Daniel Fernandez
F: Luke Hogan
F: Gavin Troy
F: Christian Yonan
St. Rita
GK: Luke Manning
D: Brendan Gleeson
D: Luis Salgado
D: Tyler Padilla
MF: Brendan Breslin
MF: Logan Corum
MF: Kenya Sumpter
MF: Julio Walton
MF: George Herman
MF: Chuy Flores
F: Langston Bedgood
Chicagoland Soccer Man of the Match: Daniel Fernandez, sr., MF, St. Ignatius
Scoring summary
First half
St. Ignatius—Daniel Fernandez (penalty kick), second minute
St. Rita—Langston Bedgood (Chuy Flores), fifth minute
St. Ignatius—Aidan Hurst (Jaden Rice), 29th minute
Second half
St. Ignatius—Ethan Gould (unassisted), 41st minute
St. Ignatius—Fernandez (penalty kick), 54th minute
St. Ignatius—Fernandez (unassisted), 65th minute