Wheaton A. wears down Plainfield North
Warriors break through with 2 goals late in 1st half, win 4-0
By Matt Le Cren
PLAINFIELD – Plainfield North came out on the prowl during the first half of Monday night’s game against Wheaton Academy.
The host Tigers probably deserved a better fate than trailing 2-0 at intermission.
But as good as Plainfield North was, Wheaton Academy was better in its 4-0 victory.
Four different players scored for the Warriors (8-4-0), who took the Tigers’ best shot and bounced back from Saturday’s shootout loss to Plainfield Central.
“It was a good Plainfield Central team, and we fall in penalties,” Wheaton Academy coach Jeff Brooke said. “I was wondering how we’d bounce back on a Monday.
“I’m really proud of the guys. They had a lot of energy.”
They did and it took all of it to hold off the upset-minded Tigers (3-10-0), who outplayed their guests during the first 25 minutes.
Wheaton Academy was saved by the woodwork and goalkeeper J.D. Gunn, who made five of his six saves in the first half.
The Tigers nearly took the lead in the 11th minute when junior forward Brian Bertoni burst up the middle and fired a 22-yard shot over the oncoming Gunn that hit the underside of the crossbar and bounced down into the goalie box, where it was eventually cleared.
Plainfield North had another great chance to draw first blood as senior forward Ryley Burich chipped a 28-yard shot on frame. Gunn leaped to punch the ball over the crossbar with 15:45 left.
Would things have gone differently had that ball gone in?
“Definitely,” Burich said. “It’s a huge momentum change.
“It was a great save. I give him all the credit for it, but if we could have gotten an early goal to get up 1-0, I think the momentum of the game would have been changed completely.”
The momentum did change after that shot, but not in the way Burich had hoped.
Instead, it was the Warriors who surged forward. Just 90 seconds later, Luke Holwerda got loose with a step-over move in the left side of the box and crossed in front, where Plainfield North goalkeeper Brandon Fox punched the ball away but not out.
A Wheaton Academy shot was blocked by a defender and then Fox, who was in the process of getting up after the first shot when Jack Kilgallon’s rebound was deflected off the crossbar.
Fox made eight saves and earned the edge over Gunn in what turned into a terrific goalkeeping clinic.
“He’s been really big for us,” Burich said of Fox, a senior who is getting looks from several college programs. “He knows when to come out to get the ball, and he knows when to stay back in the goal.
“He’s been very solid throughout the season. He made some pretty big saves tonight.”
Fox made another stop after Holwerda got loose again in the box. This time, however, the Warriors capitalized on the rebound -- Grayson Harris ripped a drive from 15 yards that deflected off Fox and in with 12:53 remaining.
“(Fox) is a good goalie,” Harris said. “I actually used to play with him, so I was just hoping he would overcommit, and then I tried to hit it back (to the) far side.
“It didn’t go exactly where I planned, but I’m just glad we got the goal because we were working for it for the first 25 minutes and that was our breakthrough. That was huge.”
Indeed, it only took five minutes for the Warriors to score again. First, Fox made another great diving save on Seamus Kilgallon with 8:55 to go, tipping the midfielder’s shot around the right post.
But the Warriors came right back and Kilgallon ran onto a cross from the right wing and buried a short shot at the 7:59 mark.
The goals from Harris and Seamus Kilgallon were the sixth of the season for each. They took advantage of the great work of the dangerous Holwerda, who gave the Tigers fits all night.
“Luke’s good,” Seamus Kilgallon said. “He’s a great striker, and I really enjoy playing with him.
“One of my strengths is I really like playing give-and-gos with Luke. When Luke makes a run, he’s hard to beat to the ball. So whenever I see him I always try to play him the ball, and he either gets it back or I play him through.”
That was a recipe for success against the Tigers, who bent and finally broke.
“After 30 to 35 minutes in the first half and the 75-minute mark in the second half, they really get tired,” Seamus Kilgallon noted.
The breakthroughs came shortly after Brooke tightened up his team’s formation, packing the middle to prevent the Tigers from attacking directly.
“About 25 minutes (in) our coach told our wingers to play more compact, which helped us to defend their midfield a little bit better,” Seamus Kilgallon said. “(The Tigers) were tough. They were able to play through their center defensive mid.
“I felt that once we recognized that and shifted a little bit, we were able to stop the flow and kind of shut them down.”
Brooke wasn’t shocked at how the Tigers performed and he was impressed with the play of Fox, but he was proud of how his guys rose to the challenge.
“I know they play a good schedule so they’re used to playing in big games,” Brooke said. “The first 25 they came out and were pinging it around.
“We made some tactical changes after about 25 minutes, and I thought it really helped shift the game for us, overwhelmed the middle.
“(Fox) made some good saves, had a nice presence, but I thought the guys did a nice job of playing combination play in the final third and finishing our chances. So I felt good about that.”
The play went mostly the Warriors’ way in the second half as Plainfield North’s backline eventually wore down. Quinn Partain headed home Seamus Kilgallon’s 50-yard free kick to make it 3-0 with 26:33 left, and then Holwerda stole a pass and beat Fox to finish the scoring at the 4:28 mark.
“I think they did a really good job of getting behind our defensive line,” Burich said. “They were able to play the ball forward and then knock it back and try to find those through-balls. I think that is what was key for them.”
While the Tigers don’t have much to show for it, they have improved greatly since being beaten 5-0 by Naperville Central on Sept. 2, a game in which they rarely got the ball out of their own end.
This match featured end-to-end play for nearly an hour.
“Especially since that Naperville Central game I think we’re starting to move the ball around a little bit better,” Burich said. “We’ve been working really hard in training on possession and ways to switch the ball from one side of the field to the other.
“I feel like that’s been a big factor for us in improving our overall game play.”
That’s one reason Burich and his teammates are keeping their chins up.
“It’s been hard to lose all those games like that, but we do have a very tough schedule this year,” Burich said. “I think we realize that.
“A lot of us are disappointed, but I think we know that we’re a better team than what our record shows. So we’re going to continue pushing forward. We have seven conference games left so there’s still a lot of season to play.”
Starting lineups
Wheaton Academy
GK J.D. Gunn
D Mathew Oster
D Owen Setran
D Elijah Lebo
D Max Dominguez
M Owen Hardy
M Jack Kilgallon
M Seamus Kilgallon
F Grayson Harris
F Luke Holwerda
F Quinn Partain
Plainfield North
GK Brandon Fox
D Oliver Fisher
D Colin Russell
D Kanon Woodill
M Shea Bechtel
M Patrick Elster
M Nathan Green
M John Seeley
F Brian Bertoni
F Dilan Anweiler
F Ryley Burich
Chicagoland Soccer Man of the Match: Seamus Kilgallon, MF, Wheaton Academy
Scoring summary
1st Half
Wheaton Academy – Grayson Harris 12:53
Wheaton Academy – Seamus Kilgallon 7:59
2nd Half
Wheaton Academy – Quinn Partain (Seamus Kilgallon) 26:33
Wheaton Academy – Luke Holwerda 4:28
Warriors break through with 2 goals late in 1st half, win 4-0
By Matt Le Cren
PLAINFIELD – Plainfield North came out on the prowl during the first half of Monday night’s game against Wheaton Academy.
The host Tigers probably deserved a better fate than trailing 2-0 at intermission.
But as good as Plainfield North was, Wheaton Academy was better in its 4-0 victory.
Four different players scored for the Warriors (8-4-0), who took the Tigers’ best shot and bounced back from Saturday’s shootout loss to Plainfield Central.
“It was a good Plainfield Central team, and we fall in penalties,” Wheaton Academy coach Jeff Brooke said. “I was wondering how we’d bounce back on a Monday.
“I’m really proud of the guys. They had a lot of energy.”
They did and it took all of it to hold off the upset-minded Tigers (3-10-0), who outplayed their guests during the first 25 minutes.
Wheaton Academy was saved by the woodwork and goalkeeper J.D. Gunn, who made five of his six saves in the first half.
The Tigers nearly took the lead in the 11th minute when junior forward Brian Bertoni burst up the middle and fired a 22-yard shot over the oncoming Gunn that hit the underside of the crossbar and bounced down into the goalie box, where it was eventually cleared.
Plainfield North had another great chance to draw first blood as senior forward Ryley Burich chipped a 28-yard shot on frame. Gunn leaped to punch the ball over the crossbar with 15:45 left.
Would things have gone differently had that ball gone in?
“Definitely,” Burich said. “It’s a huge momentum change.
“It was a great save. I give him all the credit for it, but if we could have gotten an early goal to get up 1-0, I think the momentum of the game would have been changed completely.”
The momentum did change after that shot, but not in the way Burich had hoped.
Instead, it was the Warriors who surged forward. Just 90 seconds later, Luke Holwerda got loose with a step-over move in the left side of the box and crossed in front, where Plainfield North goalkeeper Brandon Fox punched the ball away but not out.
A Wheaton Academy shot was blocked by a defender and then Fox, who was in the process of getting up after the first shot when Jack Kilgallon’s rebound was deflected off the crossbar.
Fox made eight saves and earned the edge over Gunn in what turned into a terrific goalkeeping clinic.
“He’s been really big for us,” Burich said of Fox, a senior who is getting looks from several college programs. “He knows when to come out to get the ball, and he knows when to stay back in the goal.
“He’s been very solid throughout the season. He made some pretty big saves tonight.”
Fox made another stop after Holwerda got loose again in the box. This time, however, the Warriors capitalized on the rebound -- Grayson Harris ripped a drive from 15 yards that deflected off Fox and in with 12:53 remaining.
“(Fox) is a good goalie,” Harris said. “I actually used to play with him, so I was just hoping he would overcommit, and then I tried to hit it back (to the) far side.
“It didn’t go exactly where I planned, but I’m just glad we got the goal because we were working for it for the first 25 minutes and that was our breakthrough. That was huge.”
Indeed, it only took five minutes for the Warriors to score again. First, Fox made another great diving save on Seamus Kilgallon with 8:55 to go, tipping the midfielder’s shot around the right post.
But the Warriors came right back and Kilgallon ran onto a cross from the right wing and buried a short shot at the 7:59 mark.
The goals from Harris and Seamus Kilgallon were the sixth of the season for each. They took advantage of the great work of the dangerous Holwerda, who gave the Tigers fits all night.
“Luke’s good,” Seamus Kilgallon said. “He’s a great striker, and I really enjoy playing with him.
“One of my strengths is I really like playing give-and-gos with Luke. When Luke makes a run, he’s hard to beat to the ball. So whenever I see him I always try to play him the ball, and he either gets it back or I play him through.”
That was a recipe for success against the Tigers, who bent and finally broke.
“After 30 to 35 minutes in the first half and the 75-minute mark in the second half, they really get tired,” Seamus Kilgallon noted.
The breakthroughs came shortly after Brooke tightened up his team’s formation, packing the middle to prevent the Tigers from attacking directly.
“About 25 minutes (in) our coach told our wingers to play more compact, which helped us to defend their midfield a little bit better,” Seamus Kilgallon said. “(The Tigers) were tough. They were able to play through their center defensive mid.
“I felt that once we recognized that and shifted a little bit, we were able to stop the flow and kind of shut them down.”
Brooke wasn’t shocked at how the Tigers performed and he was impressed with the play of Fox, but he was proud of how his guys rose to the challenge.
“I know they play a good schedule so they’re used to playing in big games,” Brooke said. “The first 25 they came out and were pinging it around.
“We made some tactical changes after about 25 minutes, and I thought it really helped shift the game for us, overwhelmed the middle.
“(Fox) made some good saves, had a nice presence, but I thought the guys did a nice job of playing combination play in the final third and finishing our chances. So I felt good about that.”
The play went mostly the Warriors’ way in the second half as Plainfield North’s backline eventually wore down. Quinn Partain headed home Seamus Kilgallon’s 50-yard free kick to make it 3-0 with 26:33 left, and then Holwerda stole a pass and beat Fox to finish the scoring at the 4:28 mark.
“I think they did a really good job of getting behind our defensive line,” Burich said. “They were able to play the ball forward and then knock it back and try to find those through-balls. I think that is what was key for them.”
While the Tigers don’t have much to show for it, they have improved greatly since being beaten 5-0 by Naperville Central on Sept. 2, a game in which they rarely got the ball out of their own end.
This match featured end-to-end play for nearly an hour.
“Especially since that Naperville Central game I think we’re starting to move the ball around a little bit better,” Burich said. “We’ve been working really hard in training on possession and ways to switch the ball from one side of the field to the other.
“I feel like that’s been a big factor for us in improving our overall game play.”
That’s one reason Burich and his teammates are keeping their chins up.
“It’s been hard to lose all those games like that, but we do have a very tough schedule this year,” Burich said. “I think we realize that.
“A lot of us are disappointed, but I think we know that we’re a better team than what our record shows. So we’re going to continue pushing forward. We have seven conference games left so there’s still a lot of season to play.”
Starting lineups
Wheaton Academy
GK J.D. Gunn
D Mathew Oster
D Owen Setran
D Elijah Lebo
D Max Dominguez
M Owen Hardy
M Jack Kilgallon
M Seamus Kilgallon
F Grayson Harris
F Luke Holwerda
F Quinn Partain
Plainfield North
GK Brandon Fox
D Oliver Fisher
D Colin Russell
D Kanon Woodill
M Shea Bechtel
M Patrick Elster
M Nathan Green
M John Seeley
F Brian Bertoni
F Dilan Anweiler
F Ryley Burich
Chicagoland Soccer Man of the Match: Seamus Kilgallon, MF, Wheaton Academy
Scoring summary
1st Half
Wheaton Academy – Grayson Harris 12:53
Wheaton Academy – Seamus Kilgallon 7:59
2nd Half
Wheaton Academy – Quinn Partain (Seamus Kilgallon) 26:33
Wheaton Academy – Luke Holwerda 4:28