Wheaton Academy beats Westminster, continues road to Class A title repeat
Defending Class A champions roll into final week
By Curt Herron
WEST CHICAGO -- When the worst thing that you can say about a sectional final match is that your team gave up an own-goal that prevented it from claiming its 14th shutout of the season, you don't have very much to be disappointed about.
That happened to Wheaton Academy on Saturday evening in its Class A sectional championship match. The Warriors did not allow Westminster, a team that averaged more than five goals per match, a goal on its own as the home team captured a 3-1 victory before a sell-out crowd at Performance Trust Field.
Coach Cody Snouffer's defending state champions advanced to Tuesday's Burlington Central Supersectional where they'll take on Latin (19-5-1), which won its first sectional title since its Class AA championship season of 2016. The Colonels advanced with a 1-0 victory over North Shore Country Day School in Friday's Cristo Rey St. Martin Sectional final in Waukegan.
This was the third time that Wheaton Academy (15-4-2) has won consecutive sectional championships: the 2012-2014 teams took three in a row; the 2004-2005 teams claimed two. The win was the 10th sectional championship for the Warriors and their sixth since 2012. If they beat Latin on Tuesday, they will assure the program of its seventh trophy in 10 state finals appearances.
The Class A Final Four takes place Friday and Saturday at EastSide Centre in East Peoria.
After posting a 1-2-1 record against Class 3A opponents to start the season, Wheaton Academy has gone 14-2-1 with 11 shutouts five one-goal games, That mark includes three more games against 3A competition and a trio against AA clubs.
Westminster (15-4-1) hoped to win its first sectional title and just its fourth in any sport but Wheaton Academy took control with two first half goals and added another tally shortly after the hour mark. The host Warriors surrendered the own-goal in the same 61st minute.
The visiting Warriors came in with impressive credentials. Senior Nathaniel Siers scored 41 of the team’s 102 goals and recorded 18 assists. However, Wheaton Academy's defense of seniors Logan Bates, Troy Erickson and Tengisbolor Shinetulga and junior Scotty Murray clamped down and didn't allow many threatening attempts to get to senior goalkeeper Declan Finnegan, 2021 Chicagoland Soccer all-stater.
Senior Josiah Pitts put the hosts in front in the 19th minute following an assist from junior Alex Moncau. Wheaton Academy claimed a 2-0 advantage in the 39th minute when senior Lucas Landstrom scored following a pass from senior Caleb Mariotti, who capped the scoring for the victors in the 61st minute following an assist from sophomore Sam Brown.
A total of 12 players returned from the school’s 2021 state champions, who beat Timothy 6-1 in the semifinals and Althoff 2-1 in the title match in East Peoria to capture the program’s second title in the sport. The other came in 2014. The remaining players from that group are seniors Joshua Mariotti and Luke Poland, and juniors Asher Barton, Ethan Head and Jakob Karlson.
Each of last fall’s Final Four teams are still alive heading into supersectional play.
Althoff plays Springfield's Sacred Heart-Griffin, and third place Bloomington Central faces Notre Dame (Quincy). Timothy meets Chicago's Soto. There figures to be at least several squads in the Final Four with state finals experience.
"It feels kind of weird knowing that this season only has one week left," Snouffer said. "We really love being a team and playing together. Really for the guys, that's so much of the motivation. Let's win tonight so that we can practice on Monday, and we can prepare to try to win on Tuesday, so that we can practice on Wednesday. It's cool to see the guys putting together matches and finding ways through.
"You set a schedule and put big opponents on it. More than the results, you have lessons that you hope the guys learn, because a match is the best teacher. I think they're learning those, and that's a good thing. We need to lean on those experiences when we find ourselves in different scenarios in the postseason.
“At this point, there's not a lot of new things that you can teach. You might want to give them a few more pointers and refine a few things but the hope is that the process, the work-rate, the heart and taking care of our bodies and our health set us up well for each match."
Snouffer, who's 58-17-7 in his fourth season, joined Jeff Brooke (2012-2014, 2017) and Chip Huber (2004-2005) as coaches who have led the program to multiple sectional titles. He's very familiar with some of those involved with Westminster's program and was pleased to see them put together an historic season.
"I know coach (David) Siers and his son plays on a club that I'm a part of. A number of these guys are clubmates, so that was kind of fun," Snouffer said. "They wanted to see the matchups and how the game would go.
“It was really fun to watch their match on Tuesday night (a 2-1 win over Genoa-Kingston) and see a program play with so much belief and so much heart and so much joy. So just a ton of credit and congratulations to coach Siers for a great season. He had some really special players. They had some deserving players who left an impact on the school and hopefully leave something that other players want to come and build on, too."
Wheaton Academy went on the attack from the outset as Karlson and Joshua Mariotti were both denied by goalkeeper Joram Versaw before Karlson deflected a pair of shots off defender Nathanael Ephrem. Joshua Mariotti bounced one off of the crossbar prior to Pitts being turned away. After Finnegan came out of the net to thwart a run by Siers, Pitts was again denied on a close attempt.
In the 19th minute, Moncau sent a nice cross in front of the net to Pitts, who headed the ball in for a score. A short time later, Caleb Mariotti was denied by Versaw.
Caleb Mariotti sent a cross into the box, and Landstrom was there to put in the short attempt in the 39th minute to give the hosts a 2-0 cushion.
Both sides were on the hunt for scores before the break. Siers directed a long free kick to Finnegan, and Landstrom sent a corner kick that was cleared by Ephrem before Murray was denied on a try just before the halftime whistle.
"It was a ton of fun," Murray said. "The guys all looked on MaxPreps and saw that he had a lot of goals. And we kind of know them from our club, so it was kind of like mutual friends.
"But we didn't change our game plan up at all, and we stayed focused and played as a team. Our big thing is defending in threes, so when one guy steps, you pressure the other guy, and we balance to even it out.
"The main thing that's on our mind is that it's one game at a time. The first thing that we said after we won tonight was that the job's not finished. So we're just going to come back ready to play.
“It's really nice to have most of our team as starters at state, so we have a lot of experience there. It's going to be pretty exciting to see what we can do. I like the family that we've built. Without the community and the strength that we've built together as a team, we'd crumble. So, it's good to have guys that love each other and play together, and for God, too."
It was more of the same at the start of the final half as Karlson was quickly stymied before Landstrom saw a pair of shots cleared by defenders. After Joshua Mariotti threatened with a pair of good attempts, Westminster responded with a long shot from Charles Richardson that Finnegan hauled in.
The final real drama of the evening happened just after the hour mark when Brown sent a pass in front of the net and Caleb Mariotti connected from close range to give the hosts their final goal in the 61st minute.
Westminster got on the board about 10 seconds after the restart. A Wheaton Academy back pass accidentally went into the net for an own-goal.
"Praise the Lord, it's been a journey ever since the St. Charles Invitational in the beginning of the year," Caleb Mariotti said. "It kind of set us on pace for the rest of the season, and we've kind of learned how to adapt. And in the Marmion game, we were winning 2-0 at half, but we came out with a 3-3 tie. So, every time we're up, we just come in with the mentality that it's 0-0; and we keep playing as a team.
"The freshmen and sophomores are stepping up and doing a good job. (Sophomore) Sam Brown and (freshman) Gabe Rodrigues are both doing really well. I think that our team collectively is doing a great job of supporting each other.
“Lord willing we can make it. And I think the adrenaline from last year is just fueling us for this season, We have the hope that we can get there to the state final and win it."
Since heading to the Great River Classic, that concluded on the first day of October, Wheaton Academy is 8-1-0. Its lone loss was by a 1-0 score to Althoff, which came a day after a 3-0 win over Notre Dame (Quincy). Both results came Burlington, Ia., against teams who are contenders for the state championship.
A solid combination of veteran players from a year ago with a new mix of upperclassmen and talented younger players gives Wheaton Academy plenty of hope that its final week of the season can once again be a very memorable one.
"I've learned so much from all of these guys," Brown said. "We have a lot of seniors and every one of them brings something to the team, whether it's on the field or off the bench. They bring so much intensity. And I've also learned from the Mariottis, Caleb and Josh. They've taught me so much in the midfield about leadership.
"The next couple of games will be tough but I think that we absolutely have a shot at this. I love the community that we have, especially the feeling in the locker room like how we will sing a song before every home game. And I like the kind of team bonding that we've had through this past season. I'm looking forward to this week and also to the next two years in this program, for sure."
Westminster fell in a sectional title match for the second time. In 2009, it lost 2-1 to Timothy, which went on to win the Class A title. Playing in the final week of the season and maybe becoming just the third team in any sport in school history to qualify for the state finals came up just short of their grasp.
While that didn't happen, the Warriors coach was understandably happy with what his team achieved this season.
"I'm super proud of them," David Siers said. "They showed a lot of fortitude and a lot of effort, and they played the game the right way. We just ran into a really good team tonight.
“We have a school of 121 kids and 29 of them are on the soccer team. I think Nathaniel ended up with 41 goals this season, but that's a testament to his teammates. It was just about making each other better and working hard for each other in and out of practice.
"We had 10 seniors on this team, so for him to come through this program with nine of his other buddies and being able to be a part of that was extremely special. You get to this level finally at a small school and then you have to say goodbye to a large portion of your team."
Starting lineups
Westminster Christian
GK: Joram Versaw
D: Nathanael Ephrem
D: C.J. Galante
D: Caleb Villalobos
D: Charles Richardson
MF: Stephen Boldt
MF: Zach Hoon
MF: Jaxson Schultze
MF: Peter DiNapoli
F: Cal Hoon
F: Nathaniel Siers
Wheaton Academy
GK: Declan Finnegan
D: Scotty Murray
D: Troy Erickson
D: Logan Bates
D: Tengisbolor Shinetulga
MF: Asher Barton
MF: Josiah Pitts
MF: Joshua Mariotti
MF: Caleb Mariotti
F: Jakob Karlson
F: Lucas Landstrom
Chicagoland Soccer Man of the Match:
Caleb Mariotti, sr., MF, Wheaton Academy
Scoring summary
First half
WA: Josiah Pitts (Alex Moncau), 19'
WA: Lucas Landstrom (Caleb Mariotti), 39'
Second half
WA: Caleb Mariotti (Sam Brown), 61'
W: own-goal, 61'
Defending Class A champions roll into final week
By Curt Herron
WEST CHICAGO -- When the worst thing that you can say about a sectional final match is that your team gave up an own-goal that prevented it from claiming its 14th shutout of the season, you don't have very much to be disappointed about.
That happened to Wheaton Academy on Saturday evening in its Class A sectional championship match. The Warriors did not allow Westminster, a team that averaged more than five goals per match, a goal on its own as the home team captured a 3-1 victory before a sell-out crowd at Performance Trust Field.
Coach Cody Snouffer's defending state champions advanced to Tuesday's Burlington Central Supersectional where they'll take on Latin (19-5-1), which won its first sectional title since its Class AA championship season of 2016. The Colonels advanced with a 1-0 victory over North Shore Country Day School in Friday's Cristo Rey St. Martin Sectional final in Waukegan.
This was the third time that Wheaton Academy (15-4-2) has won consecutive sectional championships: the 2012-2014 teams took three in a row; the 2004-2005 teams claimed two. The win was the 10th sectional championship for the Warriors and their sixth since 2012. If they beat Latin on Tuesday, they will assure the program of its seventh trophy in 10 state finals appearances.
The Class A Final Four takes place Friday and Saturday at EastSide Centre in East Peoria.
After posting a 1-2-1 record against Class 3A opponents to start the season, Wheaton Academy has gone 14-2-1 with 11 shutouts five one-goal games, That mark includes three more games against 3A competition and a trio against AA clubs.
Westminster (15-4-1) hoped to win its first sectional title and just its fourth in any sport but Wheaton Academy took control with two first half goals and added another tally shortly after the hour mark. The host Warriors surrendered the own-goal in the same 61st minute.
The visiting Warriors came in with impressive credentials. Senior Nathaniel Siers scored 41 of the team’s 102 goals and recorded 18 assists. However, Wheaton Academy's defense of seniors Logan Bates, Troy Erickson and Tengisbolor Shinetulga and junior Scotty Murray clamped down and didn't allow many threatening attempts to get to senior goalkeeper Declan Finnegan, 2021 Chicagoland Soccer all-stater.
Senior Josiah Pitts put the hosts in front in the 19th minute following an assist from junior Alex Moncau. Wheaton Academy claimed a 2-0 advantage in the 39th minute when senior Lucas Landstrom scored following a pass from senior Caleb Mariotti, who capped the scoring for the victors in the 61st minute following an assist from sophomore Sam Brown.
A total of 12 players returned from the school’s 2021 state champions, who beat Timothy 6-1 in the semifinals and Althoff 2-1 in the title match in East Peoria to capture the program’s second title in the sport. The other came in 2014. The remaining players from that group are seniors Joshua Mariotti and Luke Poland, and juniors Asher Barton, Ethan Head and Jakob Karlson.
Each of last fall’s Final Four teams are still alive heading into supersectional play.
Althoff plays Springfield's Sacred Heart-Griffin, and third place Bloomington Central faces Notre Dame (Quincy). Timothy meets Chicago's Soto. There figures to be at least several squads in the Final Four with state finals experience.
"It feels kind of weird knowing that this season only has one week left," Snouffer said. "We really love being a team and playing together. Really for the guys, that's so much of the motivation. Let's win tonight so that we can practice on Monday, and we can prepare to try to win on Tuesday, so that we can practice on Wednesday. It's cool to see the guys putting together matches and finding ways through.
"You set a schedule and put big opponents on it. More than the results, you have lessons that you hope the guys learn, because a match is the best teacher. I think they're learning those, and that's a good thing. We need to lean on those experiences when we find ourselves in different scenarios in the postseason.
“At this point, there's not a lot of new things that you can teach. You might want to give them a few more pointers and refine a few things but the hope is that the process, the work-rate, the heart and taking care of our bodies and our health set us up well for each match."
Snouffer, who's 58-17-7 in his fourth season, joined Jeff Brooke (2012-2014, 2017) and Chip Huber (2004-2005) as coaches who have led the program to multiple sectional titles. He's very familiar with some of those involved with Westminster's program and was pleased to see them put together an historic season.
"I know coach (David) Siers and his son plays on a club that I'm a part of. A number of these guys are clubmates, so that was kind of fun," Snouffer said. "They wanted to see the matchups and how the game would go.
“It was really fun to watch their match on Tuesday night (a 2-1 win over Genoa-Kingston) and see a program play with so much belief and so much heart and so much joy. So just a ton of credit and congratulations to coach Siers for a great season. He had some really special players. They had some deserving players who left an impact on the school and hopefully leave something that other players want to come and build on, too."
Wheaton Academy went on the attack from the outset as Karlson and Joshua Mariotti were both denied by goalkeeper Joram Versaw before Karlson deflected a pair of shots off defender Nathanael Ephrem. Joshua Mariotti bounced one off of the crossbar prior to Pitts being turned away. After Finnegan came out of the net to thwart a run by Siers, Pitts was again denied on a close attempt.
In the 19th minute, Moncau sent a nice cross in front of the net to Pitts, who headed the ball in for a score. A short time later, Caleb Mariotti was denied by Versaw.
Caleb Mariotti sent a cross into the box, and Landstrom was there to put in the short attempt in the 39th minute to give the hosts a 2-0 cushion.
Both sides were on the hunt for scores before the break. Siers directed a long free kick to Finnegan, and Landstrom sent a corner kick that was cleared by Ephrem before Murray was denied on a try just before the halftime whistle.
"It was a ton of fun," Murray said. "The guys all looked on MaxPreps and saw that he had a lot of goals. And we kind of know them from our club, so it was kind of like mutual friends.
"But we didn't change our game plan up at all, and we stayed focused and played as a team. Our big thing is defending in threes, so when one guy steps, you pressure the other guy, and we balance to even it out.
"The main thing that's on our mind is that it's one game at a time. The first thing that we said after we won tonight was that the job's not finished. So we're just going to come back ready to play.
“It's really nice to have most of our team as starters at state, so we have a lot of experience there. It's going to be pretty exciting to see what we can do. I like the family that we've built. Without the community and the strength that we've built together as a team, we'd crumble. So, it's good to have guys that love each other and play together, and for God, too."
It was more of the same at the start of the final half as Karlson was quickly stymied before Landstrom saw a pair of shots cleared by defenders. After Joshua Mariotti threatened with a pair of good attempts, Westminster responded with a long shot from Charles Richardson that Finnegan hauled in.
The final real drama of the evening happened just after the hour mark when Brown sent a pass in front of the net and Caleb Mariotti connected from close range to give the hosts their final goal in the 61st minute.
Westminster got on the board about 10 seconds after the restart. A Wheaton Academy back pass accidentally went into the net for an own-goal.
"Praise the Lord, it's been a journey ever since the St. Charles Invitational in the beginning of the year," Caleb Mariotti said. "It kind of set us on pace for the rest of the season, and we've kind of learned how to adapt. And in the Marmion game, we were winning 2-0 at half, but we came out with a 3-3 tie. So, every time we're up, we just come in with the mentality that it's 0-0; and we keep playing as a team.
"The freshmen and sophomores are stepping up and doing a good job. (Sophomore) Sam Brown and (freshman) Gabe Rodrigues are both doing really well. I think that our team collectively is doing a great job of supporting each other.
“Lord willing we can make it. And I think the adrenaline from last year is just fueling us for this season, We have the hope that we can get there to the state final and win it."
Since heading to the Great River Classic, that concluded on the first day of October, Wheaton Academy is 8-1-0. Its lone loss was by a 1-0 score to Althoff, which came a day after a 3-0 win over Notre Dame (Quincy). Both results came Burlington, Ia., against teams who are contenders for the state championship.
A solid combination of veteran players from a year ago with a new mix of upperclassmen and talented younger players gives Wheaton Academy plenty of hope that its final week of the season can once again be a very memorable one.
"I've learned so much from all of these guys," Brown said. "We have a lot of seniors and every one of them brings something to the team, whether it's on the field or off the bench. They bring so much intensity. And I've also learned from the Mariottis, Caleb and Josh. They've taught me so much in the midfield about leadership.
"The next couple of games will be tough but I think that we absolutely have a shot at this. I love the community that we have, especially the feeling in the locker room like how we will sing a song before every home game. And I like the kind of team bonding that we've had through this past season. I'm looking forward to this week and also to the next two years in this program, for sure."
Westminster fell in a sectional title match for the second time. In 2009, it lost 2-1 to Timothy, which went on to win the Class A title. Playing in the final week of the season and maybe becoming just the third team in any sport in school history to qualify for the state finals came up just short of their grasp.
While that didn't happen, the Warriors coach was understandably happy with what his team achieved this season.
"I'm super proud of them," David Siers said. "They showed a lot of fortitude and a lot of effort, and they played the game the right way. We just ran into a really good team tonight.
“We have a school of 121 kids and 29 of them are on the soccer team. I think Nathaniel ended up with 41 goals this season, but that's a testament to his teammates. It was just about making each other better and working hard for each other in and out of practice.
"We had 10 seniors on this team, so for him to come through this program with nine of his other buddies and being able to be a part of that was extremely special. You get to this level finally at a small school and then you have to say goodbye to a large portion of your team."
Starting lineups
Westminster Christian
GK: Joram Versaw
D: Nathanael Ephrem
D: C.J. Galante
D: Caleb Villalobos
D: Charles Richardson
MF: Stephen Boldt
MF: Zach Hoon
MF: Jaxson Schultze
MF: Peter DiNapoli
F: Cal Hoon
F: Nathaniel Siers
Wheaton Academy
GK: Declan Finnegan
D: Scotty Murray
D: Troy Erickson
D: Logan Bates
D: Tengisbolor Shinetulga
MF: Asher Barton
MF: Josiah Pitts
MF: Joshua Mariotti
MF: Caleb Mariotti
F: Jakob Karlson
F: Lucas Landstrom
Chicagoland Soccer Man of the Match:
Caleb Mariotti, sr., MF, Wheaton Academy
Scoring summary
First half
WA: Josiah Pitts (Alex Moncau), 19'
WA: Lucas Landstrom (Caleb Mariotti), 39'
Second half
WA: Caleb Mariotti (Sam Brown), 61'
W: own-goal, 61'