Saint Ignatius, Stagg
draw in great atmosphere
Wolfpack play to 1-1 tie on special night in Palos Hills
By Curt Herron
PALOS HILLS - As Illinois schools kicked off the football season on Friday, a school named after one of the all-time gridiron legends staged a similar event for a different sport.
With the rare presence of a marching band performing at a soccer match to kick things off and a large and vocal student body in attendance throughout, Stagg recognized its soccer program by hosting Saint Ignatius for a twilight special.
Once play completed after 9 p.m. following numerous delays where trainers had to deal with cramps, injuries and exhaustion for players from both sides, the Wolfpack and Chargers both walked off the field feeling pretty good about the great atmosphere and effort in the hard-fought nonconference match which ended in a 1-1 draw.
While Stagg won its opener earlier in the week against Brother Rice, Saint Ignatius' initial scheduled match with St. Patrick on Tuesday was stopped due to the weather. So this was the first time that coach Matt Miller's squad got the chance to perform in a match, and they were proud of a gutsy effort that could set a high bar for them for the rest of their season.
Wolfpack keeper Liam McConnell, who earned Chicagoland Soccer Man of the Match honors, made several outstanding saves that clearly reflected on his team's debut.
"It was our first match and everyone was working so hard for 80-minutes straight," McConnell said. "It was a hot night in an away game, and they had a big crowd and that was nerve-wracking. Everyone just kept working so hard and it's a really good testament to how we want to continue with our season.
"It just shows how much we want to fight and to win. There were so many guys on our team and the other team who went down since everyone was cramping on a hot night. They'd go out and get stretched out by the trainers and then be back in the next minute, which just showed how much we wanted to fight.
"They really kept me busy. They had a lot of really good chances that I had to show up for. And I learned how tough we are. We have that mindset, so going into the rest of the season we're really hoping to come up with great things."
Saint Ignatius opened the match with eight seniors on the field: Christian Carr; Jaxson Hanlon; Dillon Kraft; Jack Lowe; Jack Regan; Isaac Rice; Christian Rodriquez; and Billy Thompson. Juniors Lucas Hanna and McConnell and sophomore Oscar Quinn-Pasin rounded out the starting lineup.
"It was crazy," Hanna said. "They had the most fans that I've ever seen at a game, and it was just an awesome atmosphere. It was high-intensity on both sides, and our team played very well. I'm pretty happy with our performance, and I felt like we should have won. But this is all right. It was a great game.
"I'm really proud of our team since we work until the final whistle. We had several injuries but were still battling toe-to-toe with them all game. We never got down; we were just always fighting."
On a night where opportunities were many but goals would be hard to come by, all of the match's scoring occurred during a span of just over two minutes during the opening half. Stagg (1-0-1) grabbed the early advantage, only to see the Wolfpack (0-0-1) quickly respond.
After Rice and Quinn-Pasin were denied in the early going by Chargers keeper Konrad Smich and McConnell punched away a shot by Sebastian Magiera, Stagg took a 1-0 lead in the 16th minute when Jan Bednarz sent a pass to Abdallah Omar, who bounced a shot off the post and in from about 10 yards.
Saint Ignatius wasted little time and tied things up in the 18th minute when Quinn-Pasin placed the ball in front of the net, and Rice put in the short attempt.
After each team scored in that brief span, it looked like there might be several more goals collected. But while there were numerous opportunities for both sides, neither could find the net again as the tempo slowed due to the numerous delays that occurred, especially during the final half.
But while Saint Ignatius wasn't able to walk away from the tough match with a win, they learned a lot about their team and that should benefit them in upcoming matches.
"I think that this shows that the boys dug deep," Wolfpack assistant coach David Abidor said. "I'm a big believer that if a team can get a result like this on the road, it shows a lot of team spirit and camaraderie. I think we'll look back at this game as a learning block moving forward, and I think we can take a lot of things from this game and grow.
"Kudos to Stagg. This was an awesome atmosphere for our boys to experience. I think that added a little extra fire for the boys tonight. And I heard some of the boys talking a little bit about how we'd like to create that similar atmosphere at Ignatius moving forward.
"I think we have a really deep squad, and we have a lot of guys who are very versatile that we can play in different positions. The boys had a heck of a game tonight."
Some of the top Wolfpack scoring opportunities in the second half were provided by Charlie Kennedy, Regan, Rice, Lowe and Quinn-Pasin.
Meanwhile, Chargers such as Daniel Szczepaniak, Omar, Bednarz and Bart Jaskowski all had good attempts that were thwarted by McConnell.
In the 56th minute, it looked like the hosts might have scored to move in front again, but the referee ruled otherwise.
"It was the first time that many people showed up for a soccer game here," said Bednarz, who was Stagg's lone senior starter. "It really pumped us up and got the energy going, and it really helped us a lot.
"Both teams hustled hard and no matter who got injured, we still played to the last minute. We have a lot of youngsters so it's a really new team compared to what we had last year. I liked how we played, we played really good."
Longtime Chargers coach Mike Kealy was happy that athletic director Jennifer Doede wanted to have an evening like this to recognize his program.
"I went over to the kids and thanked them all for being here," Kealy said. "This is a new push that we're having throughout the school to support one another.
"Both sides weren't going to give an inch, and it was a playoff atmosphere. We started one senior so we have some youth, but we have some high-level experience in terms of club. I think the atmosphere got to some of the youngsters initially, and they got a little too amped up; but then they settled in.
"Knowing Saint Ignatius and Matt Miller and the success of their program over the years, we knew that we were going to be in for a dogfight tonight. I'm proud of our boys and their effort, and I'll take the tie at this point."
Starting lineups
Saint Ignatius
GK - Liam McConnell
LB - Jaxson Hanlon
CB - Lucas Hanna
CB - Billy Thompson
RB - Cristian Rodriquez
DM - Jack Lowe
DM - Dillon Kraft
LW - Jack Regan
RW - Isaac Rice
AM - Oscar Quinn-Pasin
CF - Christian Carr
Stagg
GK - Konrad Smich
D - Daniel Szczepaniak
D - Bart Jaskowski
D - Steven Potoczny
D - Christian Nowak
MF - Kamil Bak
MF - Nicolas Soto
MF - Abdallah Omar
MF - Kacper Dzuibek
F - Jan Bednarz
F - Sebastian Magiera
Chicagoland Soccer Man of the Match:
Liam McConnell, jr., GK, Saint Ignatius
Scoring summary
First half
Stagg - Abdallah Omar (Jan Bednarz), 16
Saint Ignatius - Isaac Rice (Oscar Quinn-Pasin), 18
Second half
No scoring
draw in great atmosphere
Wolfpack play to 1-1 tie on special night in Palos Hills
By Curt Herron
PALOS HILLS - As Illinois schools kicked off the football season on Friday, a school named after one of the all-time gridiron legends staged a similar event for a different sport.
With the rare presence of a marching band performing at a soccer match to kick things off and a large and vocal student body in attendance throughout, Stagg recognized its soccer program by hosting Saint Ignatius for a twilight special.
Once play completed after 9 p.m. following numerous delays where trainers had to deal with cramps, injuries and exhaustion for players from both sides, the Wolfpack and Chargers both walked off the field feeling pretty good about the great atmosphere and effort in the hard-fought nonconference match which ended in a 1-1 draw.
While Stagg won its opener earlier in the week against Brother Rice, Saint Ignatius' initial scheduled match with St. Patrick on Tuesday was stopped due to the weather. So this was the first time that coach Matt Miller's squad got the chance to perform in a match, and they were proud of a gutsy effort that could set a high bar for them for the rest of their season.
Wolfpack keeper Liam McConnell, who earned Chicagoland Soccer Man of the Match honors, made several outstanding saves that clearly reflected on his team's debut.
"It was our first match and everyone was working so hard for 80-minutes straight," McConnell said. "It was a hot night in an away game, and they had a big crowd and that was nerve-wracking. Everyone just kept working so hard and it's a really good testament to how we want to continue with our season.
"It just shows how much we want to fight and to win. There were so many guys on our team and the other team who went down since everyone was cramping on a hot night. They'd go out and get stretched out by the trainers and then be back in the next minute, which just showed how much we wanted to fight.
"They really kept me busy. They had a lot of really good chances that I had to show up for. And I learned how tough we are. We have that mindset, so going into the rest of the season we're really hoping to come up with great things."
Saint Ignatius opened the match with eight seniors on the field: Christian Carr; Jaxson Hanlon; Dillon Kraft; Jack Lowe; Jack Regan; Isaac Rice; Christian Rodriquez; and Billy Thompson. Juniors Lucas Hanna and McConnell and sophomore Oscar Quinn-Pasin rounded out the starting lineup.
"It was crazy," Hanna said. "They had the most fans that I've ever seen at a game, and it was just an awesome atmosphere. It was high-intensity on both sides, and our team played very well. I'm pretty happy with our performance, and I felt like we should have won. But this is all right. It was a great game.
"I'm really proud of our team since we work until the final whistle. We had several injuries but were still battling toe-to-toe with them all game. We never got down; we were just always fighting."
On a night where opportunities were many but goals would be hard to come by, all of the match's scoring occurred during a span of just over two minutes during the opening half. Stagg (1-0-1) grabbed the early advantage, only to see the Wolfpack (0-0-1) quickly respond.
After Rice and Quinn-Pasin were denied in the early going by Chargers keeper Konrad Smich and McConnell punched away a shot by Sebastian Magiera, Stagg took a 1-0 lead in the 16th minute when Jan Bednarz sent a pass to Abdallah Omar, who bounced a shot off the post and in from about 10 yards.
Saint Ignatius wasted little time and tied things up in the 18th minute when Quinn-Pasin placed the ball in front of the net, and Rice put in the short attempt.
After each team scored in that brief span, it looked like there might be several more goals collected. But while there were numerous opportunities for both sides, neither could find the net again as the tempo slowed due to the numerous delays that occurred, especially during the final half.
But while Saint Ignatius wasn't able to walk away from the tough match with a win, they learned a lot about their team and that should benefit them in upcoming matches.
"I think that this shows that the boys dug deep," Wolfpack assistant coach David Abidor said. "I'm a big believer that if a team can get a result like this on the road, it shows a lot of team spirit and camaraderie. I think we'll look back at this game as a learning block moving forward, and I think we can take a lot of things from this game and grow.
"Kudos to Stagg. This was an awesome atmosphere for our boys to experience. I think that added a little extra fire for the boys tonight. And I heard some of the boys talking a little bit about how we'd like to create that similar atmosphere at Ignatius moving forward.
"I think we have a really deep squad, and we have a lot of guys who are very versatile that we can play in different positions. The boys had a heck of a game tonight."
Some of the top Wolfpack scoring opportunities in the second half were provided by Charlie Kennedy, Regan, Rice, Lowe and Quinn-Pasin.
Meanwhile, Chargers such as Daniel Szczepaniak, Omar, Bednarz and Bart Jaskowski all had good attempts that were thwarted by McConnell.
In the 56th minute, it looked like the hosts might have scored to move in front again, but the referee ruled otherwise.
"It was the first time that many people showed up for a soccer game here," said Bednarz, who was Stagg's lone senior starter. "It really pumped us up and got the energy going, and it really helped us a lot.
"Both teams hustled hard and no matter who got injured, we still played to the last minute. We have a lot of youngsters so it's a really new team compared to what we had last year. I liked how we played, we played really good."
Longtime Chargers coach Mike Kealy was happy that athletic director Jennifer Doede wanted to have an evening like this to recognize his program.
"I went over to the kids and thanked them all for being here," Kealy said. "This is a new push that we're having throughout the school to support one another.
"Both sides weren't going to give an inch, and it was a playoff atmosphere. We started one senior so we have some youth, but we have some high-level experience in terms of club. I think the atmosphere got to some of the youngsters initially, and they got a little too amped up; but then they settled in.
"Knowing Saint Ignatius and Matt Miller and the success of their program over the years, we knew that we were going to be in for a dogfight tonight. I'm proud of our boys and their effort, and I'll take the tie at this point."
Starting lineups
Saint Ignatius
GK - Liam McConnell
LB - Jaxson Hanlon
CB - Lucas Hanna
CB - Billy Thompson
RB - Cristian Rodriquez
DM - Jack Lowe
DM - Dillon Kraft
LW - Jack Regan
RW - Isaac Rice
AM - Oscar Quinn-Pasin
CF - Christian Carr
Stagg
GK - Konrad Smich
D - Daniel Szczepaniak
D - Bart Jaskowski
D - Steven Potoczny
D - Christian Nowak
MF - Kamil Bak
MF - Nicolas Soto
MF - Abdallah Omar
MF - Kacper Dzuibek
F - Jan Bednarz
F - Sebastian Magiera
Chicagoland Soccer Man of the Match:
Liam McConnell, jr., GK, Saint Ignatius
Scoring summary
First half
Stagg - Abdallah Omar (Jan Bednarz), 16
Saint Ignatius - Isaac Rice (Oscar Quinn-Pasin), 18
Second half
No scoring