Wheaton Academy continues
roll, tops Genoa-Kingston
Warriors 1 step from state finals; Nasr scores hat-trick in 6-0 win
By Len Eisele
HINCKLEY -- Wheaton Academy ran away from the Genoa-Kingston in the second half for a 6-0 victory and the Class A Hinckey-Big Rock Sectional championship.
“It’s an incredible feeling,” senior forward Haetham Nasr said. “It’s hard to describe, but it just makes you want more, to keep going and strive for more.”
Up 2-0 at the half, the Warriors scored three goals in four minutes to put the Cogs away.
“We adjusted a couple of things at halftime,” Warriors coach Cody Snouffer said. “Just a few things we wanted to do to attack better. In the first half I thought we were a little hesitant to release the ball.”
Nasr smashed a shot into the back of the net from 12 yards in the 51st minute to put the Warriors up 3-0.
“Credit to my teammates for getting me the ball,” Nasr said. As a striker’s job and an attacker’s job, I have to finish. But without them, I wouldn’t have those chances at all.”
For Nasr, completed his hat-trick with the goal.
He opened the scoring less than three minutes into the game by hitting an 18-yard shot from the top left of the box that just squeaked under the crossbar.
“The feeling is in incredible,” Nasr said. “It’s that first goal of the game and to break it open like that. I just turned, saw the corner and put it in there.”
Later in the first half, he rifled in a penalty kick with just over five minutes remaining in the first half.
“We felt okay there because one of the goals was a penalty kick, and the other one was just a beautiful shot,” Cogs coach Randy Tate said. “At halftime we thought we were in it still. It just kind of broke down. They jumped on us pretty good in the second half.”
What would become a Warriors offensive avalanche continued with Evan Eckert who scored a goal in the 54th minute from 15 yards.
The Cogs barely had time to regroup before Giovanni Nicoski hit on another goal from 10 yards less than a minute later to put the game out of reach. Wheaton Academy has outscored its four state tournament foes 27-1.
The Cogs defense was under siege all game from a constant Warriors attack.
“In the first half we were doing OK winning the middle,” senior defender Ben Younker said. “Once we got it up there, we tried to keep the ball on their half of the field, so that we could take a little break in the back and not be under constant stress.”
The second half was a different story.
The Warriors kept the pressure on and just missed on other opportunities. They had three shots hit the post or go just over the goal, including an open-net shot that hit off the left post in the 50th minute
Nicoski added another goal in the 62nd minute from 12 yards on the left side to round out the scoring in the game.
The Cogs high-powered offense never got clicking during the game. The Warriors kept their defense keyed on Eagan Reams and Jorge Leon. The pair didn’t have a shot on goal between them late in the game when the Warriors were already up big.
“They executed their game plan pretty well,” Tate said. “They took our midfielders out of the game. That’s usually a key for us to get the ball from the back, to the mid, to the forwards. We couldn’t get that connection. We were trying to go long all the time.”
Wheaton Academy had been looking forward to this battle of top seeds for a while.
“This was a team that we wanted to play,” Snouffer said. “We kind of had our eye on Genoa all year. Then when we got the tournament draw, we saw we could possibly play them in the sectional final.
“Our guys just really wanted to play a great team. I really do think they’re a great team, and it’s a great win to send us into the supersectional.”
The game was the first time this season that neither Reams or Leon scored.
“They played good team defense,” Reams said. “They were really closing up the middle of the field and weren’t allowing us to do anything really.”
Genoa-Kingston’s few shots on goal came mostly on free kicks from midfield and shots outside the box. The Warriors defense locked down their end of the field.
“They were a good team, an aggressive team,” Reams said. “They got to the ball faster, and they deserved to win really.”
Wheaton Academy moves on and will host the supersectional game against Cristo Rey St. Martin, which was a sub-sectional second seed, at 6:30 p.m. Tuesday. The Knights won their sectional with a 3-1 double-overtime win against fellow second-seed Latin on Saturday.
Genoa-Kingston saw its historic season come to an end. The undefeated conference champions set records for wins with 20 and shutouts with 13. The program saw Reams and Leon become the first players in school history to reach the 100-career goal plateau. The regional title was the in nine years.
“This team, I love these guys,” Reams said. “I love these guys to death. To make it to a sectional final is awesome. The season was fun.”
Starting lineups
Genoa-Kingston
GK Aaron Acosta
FB Nate Skarzynski
FB Eduardo Mercado
FB Ben Younker
FB Jonny Vasquez
MF Aiden Tomlinson
MF Leonardo Rocha
MF Diego Espinoza
FW Eagan Ream
FW Junior Leon
FW Julian Lara-Para
Wheaton Academy
G Declan Finnegan
D Kaiden Massie
D Jude Barton
D Gabriel Olsen
D Scotty Murray
M Joshua Marioti
M Caleb Marioti
M Troy Erickson
F Robert Platt
F Haetham Nasr
F Josiah Pitts
Chicagoland Soccer Man of the Match: Haetham Nasr, sr., F, Wheaton Academy
Scoring Summary
First half
Wheaton Academy - Nasr (C. Marioti) - 3rd minute
Wheaton Academy - Nasr (PK) - 35th minute
Second half
Wheaton Academy - Nasr (C. Marioti) - 50th minute
Wheaton Academy - Eckert (Nasr) - 55th minute
Wheaton Academy - Nicoski (Erickson) 56th minute
Wheaton Academy - Nicoski (Karlson) 62nd minute
roll, tops Genoa-Kingston
Warriors 1 step from state finals; Nasr scores hat-trick in 6-0 win
By Len Eisele
HINCKLEY -- Wheaton Academy ran away from the Genoa-Kingston in the second half for a 6-0 victory and the Class A Hinckey-Big Rock Sectional championship.
“It’s an incredible feeling,” senior forward Haetham Nasr said. “It’s hard to describe, but it just makes you want more, to keep going and strive for more.”
Up 2-0 at the half, the Warriors scored three goals in four minutes to put the Cogs away.
“We adjusted a couple of things at halftime,” Warriors coach Cody Snouffer said. “Just a few things we wanted to do to attack better. In the first half I thought we were a little hesitant to release the ball.”
Nasr smashed a shot into the back of the net from 12 yards in the 51st minute to put the Warriors up 3-0.
“Credit to my teammates for getting me the ball,” Nasr said. As a striker’s job and an attacker’s job, I have to finish. But without them, I wouldn’t have those chances at all.”
For Nasr, completed his hat-trick with the goal.
He opened the scoring less than three minutes into the game by hitting an 18-yard shot from the top left of the box that just squeaked under the crossbar.
“The feeling is in incredible,” Nasr said. “It’s that first goal of the game and to break it open like that. I just turned, saw the corner and put it in there.”
Later in the first half, he rifled in a penalty kick with just over five minutes remaining in the first half.
“We felt okay there because one of the goals was a penalty kick, and the other one was just a beautiful shot,” Cogs coach Randy Tate said. “At halftime we thought we were in it still. It just kind of broke down. They jumped on us pretty good in the second half.”
What would become a Warriors offensive avalanche continued with Evan Eckert who scored a goal in the 54th minute from 15 yards.
The Cogs barely had time to regroup before Giovanni Nicoski hit on another goal from 10 yards less than a minute later to put the game out of reach. Wheaton Academy has outscored its four state tournament foes 27-1.
The Cogs defense was under siege all game from a constant Warriors attack.
“In the first half we were doing OK winning the middle,” senior defender Ben Younker said. “Once we got it up there, we tried to keep the ball on their half of the field, so that we could take a little break in the back and not be under constant stress.”
The second half was a different story.
The Warriors kept the pressure on and just missed on other opportunities. They had three shots hit the post or go just over the goal, including an open-net shot that hit off the left post in the 50th minute
Nicoski added another goal in the 62nd minute from 12 yards on the left side to round out the scoring in the game.
The Cogs high-powered offense never got clicking during the game. The Warriors kept their defense keyed on Eagan Reams and Jorge Leon. The pair didn’t have a shot on goal between them late in the game when the Warriors were already up big.
“They executed their game plan pretty well,” Tate said. “They took our midfielders out of the game. That’s usually a key for us to get the ball from the back, to the mid, to the forwards. We couldn’t get that connection. We were trying to go long all the time.”
Wheaton Academy had been looking forward to this battle of top seeds for a while.
“This was a team that we wanted to play,” Snouffer said. “We kind of had our eye on Genoa all year. Then when we got the tournament draw, we saw we could possibly play them in the sectional final.
“Our guys just really wanted to play a great team. I really do think they’re a great team, and it’s a great win to send us into the supersectional.”
The game was the first time this season that neither Reams or Leon scored.
“They played good team defense,” Reams said. “They were really closing up the middle of the field and weren’t allowing us to do anything really.”
Genoa-Kingston’s few shots on goal came mostly on free kicks from midfield and shots outside the box. The Warriors defense locked down their end of the field.
“They were a good team, an aggressive team,” Reams said. “They got to the ball faster, and they deserved to win really.”
Wheaton Academy moves on and will host the supersectional game against Cristo Rey St. Martin, which was a sub-sectional second seed, at 6:30 p.m. Tuesday. The Knights won their sectional with a 3-1 double-overtime win against fellow second-seed Latin on Saturday.
Genoa-Kingston saw its historic season come to an end. The undefeated conference champions set records for wins with 20 and shutouts with 13. The program saw Reams and Leon become the first players in school history to reach the 100-career goal plateau. The regional title was the in nine years.
“This team, I love these guys,” Reams said. “I love these guys to death. To make it to a sectional final is awesome. The season was fun.”
Starting lineups
Genoa-Kingston
GK Aaron Acosta
FB Nate Skarzynski
FB Eduardo Mercado
FB Ben Younker
FB Jonny Vasquez
MF Aiden Tomlinson
MF Leonardo Rocha
MF Diego Espinoza
FW Eagan Ream
FW Junior Leon
FW Julian Lara-Para
Wheaton Academy
G Declan Finnegan
D Kaiden Massie
D Jude Barton
D Gabriel Olsen
D Scotty Murray
M Joshua Marioti
M Caleb Marioti
M Troy Erickson
F Robert Platt
F Haetham Nasr
F Josiah Pitts
Chicagoland Soccer Man of the Match: Haetham Nasr, sr., F, Wheaton Academy
Scoring Summary
First half
Wheaton Academy - Nasr (C. Marioti) - 3rd minute
Wheaton Academy - Nasr (PK) - 35th minute
Second half
Wheaton Academy - Nasr (C. Marioti) - 50th minute
Wheaton Academy - Eckert (Nasr) - 55th minute
Wheaton Academy - Nicoski (Erickson) 56th minute
Wheaton Academy - Nicoski (Karlson) 62nd minute