Timothy ends 19-year drought
against Wheaton Academy in style
Bode hat-trick leads Trojans to landmark 3-0 win
By Bob Narang
ELMHURST -- Josh Bode had plenty of opportunities to work on his post-goal celebrations Monday night.
And he picked a good time to deliver one of his best games ever.
The Timothy Christian senior helped end a 19-year series losing streak to the Wheaton Academy, add to his growing highlight reel and pull out three different memorable celebrations for the large home faithful to enjoy.
Yes, it was a night to remember on many levels for the Trojans.
Bode scored all three goals in the second half to lead the Trojans to a 3-0 victory over the Warriors in a Metro Suburban Conference victory that also ended Wheaton Academy's 25-game Blue Division win streak.
On a sun-splashed, warm early spring evening, Bode was the bright star on the horizon. He celebrated his first goal in the 42nd minute by running and pointing to the large throng of fans. His second goal featured an arms-wide open leap into a big wall of teammates on the Trojans' sideline. The Calvin University recruit capped his outstanding performance by sprinting toward the grandstand following his final goal. The Trojans (3-1, 2-0) snapped a series losing streak to Wheaton Academy that spanned 19 years.
“I wanted to celebrate with the fans, my teammates and brothers,” Bode said. “There’s nothing better than that.”
And there’s nothing better than beating the Warriors, who won a Class AA state title in 2014. The Warriors (4-2-1, 3-1-0), who jumped to no. 17 in the Chicagoland Soccer Top 25 after defeating then-no. 1 Naperville North, have dominated the series against the Trojans, winning the last six matches by a margin of 34-4. Timothy Christian coach Joel Zielke said it was great day for his program.
“We haven’t beaten them in 19 years as a varsity program,” Zielke said. “We had some nerves in the first half, putting a lot of pressure on ourselves, so the talk at halftime was to just play, see the joy and go out and compete.
“We got that spark when Josh scored that first goal less than two minutes into the second half, and we continued to pour it on. This is a great win for our program and will give us confidence moving forward to finish out strong.”
Bode is adjusting well to his move from left back last year to winger this spring. He set the tone for a big second half party by tapping in a left-footed shot near the far post from five yards.
“I came in on the far side of the goal. It went right through everyone, and I just tapped it in,” Bode said.
Eight minutes later, Bode capitalized after a long punt that took a fortuitous big bounce. Bode jumped on the opportunity, raced ahead and nailed a shot into the back of the net from 18 yards.
“One of the defenders headed it back, and I took advantage, especially because the goalie came out,” he said.
In the 69th minute, Bode completed his hat-trick by scoring off an assist from Josh Kiefer. Bode, who also had a hat-trick against Bishop McNamara on Saturday, said the entire team played loose in the second half.
“Oh man, I don’t even remember the third goal,” Bode said, laughing. “The third one took a lot of stress off me, because I didn’t want them to come back. I was putting a lot less pressure on myself in the second half and just relaxed and let myself play.”
The Trojans didn’t have many opportunities to score in the first 40 minutes, but Bode’s aggressive and energetic play fueled the second half surge. The Trojans attacked the ball, played with a physical force and relied on their defense to keep the Warriors at bay.
“I remember watching us getting blown out by Wheaton Academy all the way back to seventh grade, but we just kept getting closer to beating them," Bode said. "This means a lot for the program. I would say we were even doubting ourselves at the start of the game, but once we realized we could play with them, we showed how hungry we were.”
Bode said he credits his improvement this season to studying the game, and learning to better position himself. Physically, he added 100 pounds to his bench press to raise his max to 250 pounds.
He gained 15 pounds of muscle to push his weight to 160 pounds. His strength showed in the aggressive match, as he fought his way to openings and benefitted from the added strength and improved conditioning.
"I was pushed around a lot last year, so now I’m able to withstand the pushing in the back and side and still make a clean touch with it," Bode said.
Timothy Christian senior forward Michael Vogt assisted on Bode’s first goal. He called the conference win a big step for the program.
“The first half we really realized we could hang with them,” Vogt said. “I can’t tell you how good this feels. Every single year on varsity we’ve gotten a step closer to beating them. This year winning just doesn’t feel real yet, and to shut them out. We never let our foot off the gas. We played hard on defense and that paid off. Our defense stayed compact and not a lot of balls went through. Josh Bode is a legend for his performance, just an amazing hat-trick.”
Timothy Christian senior goalie Jason Westra, a three-year varsity player, finished with four saves, including a full-length diving save to his left midway through the second half.
“Our defense played so good, just credit to them for forcing players to take bad shots,” Westra said. “It feels so good to get a shutout. Keeping it clean in the back was so important. We’ve been losing to them all these years, but been cutting it closer every year. Our back four played good, and we made no mistakes, plus won all the balls in the air and getting them forward to our midfielders.”
Wheaton Academy played without starters Kaiden Massie and Giovanni Nicoski, who will be out the entire week.
Warriors coach Cody Snouffer praised the Trojans for outplaying his team. With every game counting in conference play, Snouffer said the Trojans came ready to play.
\Wheaton Academy coach Cody Snouffer praised the Trojans for outplaying his team. He said the Trojans came ready to play.
“Every game is a chance to learn, and we learned a lot today,” Snouffer said. “(Timothy Christian) was really motivated. You want teams to come up and play against you instead of running and hiding. The fact that they came out with a good game plan and put a lot of effort into planning it, that’s an honor to us.
“We need regular season matches like that. If you don’t have a team coming at you trying to bust up your strength, and don’t figure out a way to beat that, it’s going to be hard to have a deep state run when the state tournament comes back. We’ll reload and try again tomorrow.”
Starting lineup
Timothy
GK - Jason Westra
D- Jake Alex
D- Ethan Munk
D- Mike Vogt
D - Josh Kiefer
M- Eddie Favela
M- Christian Cruz
M- Ethan Lemkuil
M- Cam Baker
M- Josh Bode
F- Jackson Day
Chicagoland Soccer Man of the Match: Josh Bode, sr., F, Timothy
Scoring summary
First half
No scoring
Second half
TC — Bode (Vogt) 42’
TC — Bode (unassisted) 50’
TC — Bode (Kiefer) 69’
against Wheaton Academy in style
Bode hat-trick leads Trojans to landmark 3-0 win
By Bob Narang
ELMHURST -- Josh Bode had plenty of opportunities to work on his post-goal celebrations Monday night.
And he picked a good time to deliver one of his best games ever.
The Timothy Christian senior helped end a 19-year series losing streak to the Wheaton Academy, add to his growing highlight reel and pull out three different memorable celebrations for the large home faithful to enjoy.
Yes, it was a night to remember on many levels for the Trojans.
Bode scored all three goals in the second half to lead the Trojans to a 3-0 victory over the Warriors in a Metro Suburban Conference victory that also ended Wheaton Academy's 25-game Blue Division win streak.
On a sun-splashed, warm early spring evening, Bode was the bright star on the horizon. He celebrated his first goal in the 42nd minute by running and pointing to the large throng of fans. His second goal featured an arms-wide open leap into a big wall of teammates on the Trojans' sideline. The Calvin University recruit capped his outstanding performance by sprinting toward the grandstand following his final goal. The Trojans (3-1, 2-0) snapped a series losing streak to Wheaton Academy that spanned 19 years.
“I wanted to celebrate with the fans, my teammates and brothers,” Bode said. “There’s nothing better than that.”
And there’s nothing better than beating the Warriors, who won a Class AA state title in 2014. The Warriors (4-2-1, 3-1-0), who jumped to no. 17 in the Chicagoland Soccer Top 25 after defeating then-no. 1 Naperville North, have dominated the series against the Trojans, winning the last six matches by a margin of 34-4. Timothy Christian coach Joel Zielke said it was great day for his program.
“We haven’t beaten them in 19 years as a varsity program,” Zielke said. “We had some nerves in the first half, putting a lot of pressure on ourselves, so the talk at halftime was to just play, see the joy and go out and compete.
“We got that spark when Josh scored that first goal less than two minutes into the second half, and we continued to pour it on. This is a great win for our program and will give us confidence moving forward to finish out strong.”
Bode is adjusting well to his move from left back last year to winger this spring. He set the tone for a big second half party by tapping in a left-footed shot near the far post from five yards.
“I came in on the far side of the goal. It went right through everyone, and I just tapped it in,” Bode said.
Eight minutes later, Bode capitalized after a long punt that took a fortuitous big bounce. Bode jumped on the opportunity, raced ahead and nailed a shot into the back of the net from 18 yards.
“One of the defenders headed it back, and I took advantage, especially because the goalie came out,” he said.
In the 69th minute, Bode completed his hat-trick by scoring off an assist from Josh Kiefer. Bode, who also had a hat-trick against Bishop McNamara on Saturday, said the entire team played loose in the second half.
“Oh man, I don’t even remember the third goal,” Bode said, laughing. “The third one took a lot of stress off me, because I didn’t want them to come back. I was putting a lot less pressure on myself in the second half and just relaxed and let myself play.”
The Trojans didn’t have many opportunities to score in the first 40 minutes, but Bode’s aggressive and energetic play fueled the second half surge. The Trojans attacked the ball, played with a physical force and relied on their defense to keep the Warriors at bay.
“I remember watching us getting blown out by Wheaton Academy all the way back to seventh grade, but we just kept getting closer to beating them," Bode said. "This means a lot for the program. I would say we were even doubting ourselves at the start of the game, but once we realized we could play with them, we showed how hungry we were.”
Bode said he credits his improvement this season to studying the game, and learning to better position himself. Physically, he added 100 pounds to his bench press to raise his max to 250 pounds.
He gained 15 pounds of muscle to push his weight to 160 pounds. His strength showed in the aggressive match, as he fought his way to openings and benefitted from the added strength and improved conditioning.
"I was pushed around a lot last year, so now I’m able to withstand the pushing in the back and side and still make a clean touch with it," Bode said.
Timothy Christian senior forward Michael Vogt assisted on Bode’s first goal. He called the conference win a big step for the program.
“The first half we really realized we could hang with them,” Vogt said. “I can’t tell you how good this feels. Every single year on varsity we’ve gotten a step closer to beating them. This year winning just doesn’t feel real yet, and to shut them out. We never let our foot off the gas. We played hard on defense and that paid off. Our defense stayed compact and not a lot of balls went through. Josh Bode is a legend for his performance, just an amazing hat-trick.”
Timothy Christian senior goalie Jason Westra, a three-year varsity player, finished with four saves, including a full-length diving save to his left midway through the second half.
“Our defense played so good, just credit to them for forcing players to take bad shots,” Westra said. “It feels so good to get a shutout. Keeping it clean in the back was so important. We’ve been losing to them all these years, but been cutting it closer every year. Our back four played good, and we made no mistakes, plus won all the balls in the air and getting them forward to our midfielders.”
Wheaton Academy played without starters Kaiden Massie and Giovanni Nicoski, who will be out the entire week.
Warriors coach Cody Snouffer praised the Trojans for outplaying his team. With every game counting in conference play, Snouffer said the Trojans came ready to play.
\Wheaton Academy coach Cody Snouffer praised the Trojans for outplaying his team. He said the Trojans came ready to play.
“Every game is a chance to learn, and we learned a lot today,” Snouffer said. “(Timothy Christian) was really motivated. You want teams to come up and play against you instead of running and hiding. The fact that they came out with a good game plan and put a lot of effort into planning it, that’s an honor to us.
“We need regular season matches like that. If you don’t have a team coming at you trying to bust up your strength, and don’t figure out a way to beat that, it’s going to be hard to have a deep state run when the state tournament comes back. We’ll reload and try again tomorrow.”
Starting lineup
Timothy
GK - Jason Westra
D- Jake Alex
D- Ethan Munk
D- Mike Vogt
D - Josh Kiefer
M- Eddie Favela
M- Christian Cruz
M- Ethan Lemkuil
M- Cam Baker
M- Josh Bode
F- Jackson Day
Chicagoland Soccer Man of the Match: Josh Bode, sr., F, Timothy
Scoring summary
First half
No scoring
Second half
TC — Bode (Vogt) 42’
TC — Bode (unassisted) 50’
TC — Bode (Kiefer) 69’