Gibault comeback stuns Wheaton A.
Warriors dominate 1st half, but Gibault rallies for title game berth
By Matt Le Cren
HOFFMAN ESTATES – Ryan Swindle stole a victory from Wheaton Academy.
The Gibault junior midfielder isn’t his team’s leading scorer. He isn’t even second, third, or fourth.
Six of his teammates had scored more goals going into Friday’s Class 2A state semifinal against Wheaton Academy. Yet it was Swindle who bagged the game-winner as the Hawks pulled off a stunning 2-1 upset victory.
Gibault (18-6-3) will play Solorio (18-6-4) in Saturday’s 1 p.m. championship game. The Hawks are trying to win their fifth state title but the others all came in Class A.
Swindle’s goal, his third of the season, came with 5:22 left in regulation on a rebound off a goalmouth scramble.
“Someone else shot the ball, and it got blocked,” Swindle said. “It bounced back in the air, and I just took a touch to make myself a shooting lane and put it on frame.
“Because I myself am not much of a goal scorer, to score in such a big game like this is very exciting.”
Wheaton Academy goalkeeper J.D. Gunn made a diving save on the initial shot, and he nearly stopped Swindle’s drive, which came from about 10 yards out. Gunn deflected the ball into the underside of the crossbar and it bounced in.
“I made the first save, and it fell to the kid, unfortunately,” Gunn said. “That’s one of those things you look back on and say, ‘Can I have done something different?’
“To be honest, I don’t know if I could have. I got my hand on the second shot, and it was just devastating to see it go in off the crossbar.
“I thought I had done just enough to keep it out, but it went in right under the crossbar.”
Thus did Swindle become the unlikely star in an unlikely victory for the Hawks, who were thoroughly dominated in a first half that saw Wheaton Academy hold a 17-1 shot advantage and a 1-0 halftime lead.
“Fortunately Ryan was able to capitalize on his opportunity,” Gibault coach Darryn Haudrich said. “I want to give a lot of credit to him because he stayed very composed.
“In a moment like that, there are a lot of players who get frantic and would hit over or hit it wide. Ryan is one of those players where you almost have to check his pulse sometimes when he’s playing because he stays so composed.
“That’s exactly what you need in a championship-caliber team, and we’re fortunate to have him. He finished in a big moment, and I’m very proud of him.”
Wheaton Academy (23-5-0) came into the match riding a 16-game winning streak and started even better than Gibault finished.
The Warriors looked like world-beaters in the first half. In the second they just got beat.
“I got to give it to them,” Haudrich said. “They are a very good team.
“They possess very well. They are very technically and tactically sound. They move the ball, they are quick, they’re dangerous and they were coming in flows.
“There’s no doubt that first half they outplayed us. They capitalized on one. We had a pretty resilient defense that narrowly escaped some other very quality opportunities for them.”
The Warriors utterly dominated the action before intermission but had just one goal to show for, that coming with 19:10 remaining when Seamus Kilgallon knocked home a rebound of a shot by Jack Kilgallon.
Wheaton had numerous other chances, but sophomore goalkeeper Connor Olson kept his team in the game by making all seven of his saves before the break.
“It was around me a little bit,” Olson said. “It’s kind of like select soccer.
“I’m used to having high competition, very fast game. I just settled in and found my spot, went from there.”
Wheaton’s Luke Holwerda came into the game with 32 goals and 15 assists. He easily could have had a hat trick but came up empty thanks to Olson, who denied him on a pair of headers and another hard shot in the box.
Olson also made two great stops on Kilgallon, leaping to knock a deflected shot over the left post and sliding to kick away another attempt. He gave up a rebound on the latter play, but defender Aaron Grohmann bailed him out by booting Quinn Partain’s rebound off the line.
“(The defenders) are always on me to keep us up, keep us going, so every time I make a big save, they’ll come over (and say) good job, all that and keep my head up,” Olson said. “As long as I keep their heads up, (we) help each other out.”
Haudrich felt pretty good trailing by only one goal at intermission, though it was still an unusual spot for Gibault to be in.
“I did feel like we were pretty fortunate at half,” Haudrich said. “I would say that being down at half is a very foreign concept for us.
“We’ve either been in the lead or been tied in the postseason. I told the boys that we needed to be resilient, find a way to stick to our game plan and step up our tempo.”
The Hawks did that and it finally paid off with a disputed penalty kick with 31:31 remaining. No player hit the turf but Gibault was awarded the penalty, which Karson Huels converted for his team-high 18th goal of the season to tie the game.
“That was a breaking point for us,” Haudrich said. “We knew that having the advantage of taking a penalty kick that would get us back in the game.
“We were 100 percent confident that Karson would be able to make that. It was just a matter of what would unfold after that. Would they push us even more or would that be our wake up call?
“Second half I think we woke up. After that PK the sense of confidence was raised our level and pace of play.”
But for the Warriors, the penalty was a heartbreaker.
“I thought we got a bad call on the penalty that was awarded to them, but obviously we’ve got to fight back and be resilient because that’s part of the game and the tournament,” Wheaton Academy coach Jeff Brooke said. “Very tough loss for us because of how these guys have approached it.
“Our seniors have been fantastic and so it’s just tough to run into a loss when we’re really confident in what we do and what we’re about. I thought they valued the ball a little bit more in the second half, so that was a good adjustment (on Gibault’s part), but the penalty really turned the momentum.”
For Gunn, one of seven Wheaton seniors who had their state championship dreams punctured, it was a cruel turn of events.
“Even if it was a foul it was outside the box and for a ref to blow his whistle in such a high-stakes game if it’s not a clear penalty, I don’t think that whistle should be blown,” Gunn said. “But that’s how the day went.”
Yet the seeds of Wheaton’s destruction were sown in the first half when the Warriors were unable to extend their lead.
“You want to get that second goal in the first half,” Brooke said. “I thought we were really moving the ball well, dangerous in the final third. Credit them for being pretty resilient and tough to get through.
“I’m proud of the guys who worked really, really hard, (but) just fell short. We just couldn’t get it all the way through.
“We were waiting for it to hit the back of the net, and it just doesn’t. They get one late off kind of a broken play, which is tough.
“It’s hard to lose this one, but I’ll hold my head high with this group.”
Starting lineups
Wheaton Academy
GK J.D. Gunn
D Matthew Oster
D Owen Setran
D Max Dominguez
D Jack Liechty
M Grayson Harris
M Owen Hardy
M Jack Kilgallon
M Seamus Kilgallon
F Luke Holwerda
F Quinn Partain
Gibault
GK Connor Olson
D Dylan Altadonna
D Robert Lugge
D Carter Kesler
D Aaron Grohmann
M Adam Stearns
M Ryan Swindle
M Karson Huels
M Jordan Floerke
F Logan Doerr
F Zack Gillan
Chicagoland Soccer MVP of the Match: Connor Olson, so., GK, Gibault
Scoring summary
1st Half
Wheaton Academy – Seamus Kilgallon, 21st minute
2nd Half
Gibault – Karson Huels (PK), 49th minute
Gibault – Ryan Swindle, 75th minute
Warriors dominate 1st half, but Gibault rallies for title game berth
By Matt Le Cren
HOFFMAN ESTATES – Ryan Swindle stole a victory from Wheaton Academy.
The Gibault junior midfielder isn’t his team’s leading scorer. He isn’t even second, third, or fourth.
Six of his teammates had scored more goals going into Friday’s Class 2A state semifinal against Wheaton Academy. Yet it was Swindle who bagged the game-winner as the Hawks pulled off a stunning 2-1 upset victory.
Gibault (18-6-3) will play Solorio (18-6-4) in Saturday’s 1 p.m. championship game. The Hawks are trying to win their fifth state title but the others all came in Class A.
Swindle’s goal, his third of the season, came with 5:22 left in regulation on a rebound off a goalmouth scramble.
“Someone else shot the ball, and it got blocked,” Swindle said. “It bounced back in the air, and I just took a touch to make myself a shooting lane and put it on frame.
“Because I myself am not much of a goal scorer, to score in such a big game like this is very exciting.”
Wheaton Academy goalkeeper J.D. Gunn made a diving save on the initial shot, and he nearly stopped Swindle’s drive, which came from about 10 yards out. Gunn deflected the ball into the underside of the crossbar and it bounced in.
“I made the first save, and it fell to the kid, unfortunately,” Gunn said. “That’s one of those things you look back on and say, ‘Can I have done something different?’
“To be honest, I don’t know if I could have. I got my hand on the second shot, and it was just devastating to see it go in off the crossbar.
“I thought I had done just enough to keep it out, but it went in right under the crossbar.”
Thus did Swindle become the unlikely star in an unlikely victory for the Hawks, who were thoroughly dominated in a first half that saw Wheaton Academy hold a 17-1 shot advantage and a 1-0 halftime lead.
“Fortunately Ryan was able to capitalize on his opportunity,” Gibault coach Darryn Haudrich said. “I want to give a lot of credit to him because he stayed very composed.
“In a moment like that, there are a lot of players who get frantic and would hit over or hit it wide. Ryan is one of those players where you almost have to check his pulse sometimes when he’s playing because he stays so composed.
“That’s exactly what you need in a championship-caliber team, and we’re fortunate to have him. He finished in a big moment, and I’m very proud of him.”
Wheaton Academy (23-5-0) came into the match riding a 16-game winning streak and started even better than Gibault finished.
The Warriors looked like world-beaters in the first half. In the second they just got beat.
“I got to give it to them,” Haudrich said. “They are a very good team.
“They possess very well. They are very technically and tactically sound. They move the ball, they are quick, they’re dangerous and they were coming in flows.
“There’s no doubt that first half they outplayed us. They capitalized on one. We had a pretty resilient defense that narrowly escaped some other very quality opportunities for them.”
The Warriors utterly dominated the action before intermission but had just one goal to show for, that coming with 19:10 remaining when Seamus Kilgallon knocked home a rebound of a shot by Jack Kilgallon.
Wheaton had numerous other chances, but sophomore goalkeeper Connor Olson kept his team in the game by making all seven of his saves before the break.
“It was around me a little bit,” Olson said. “It’s kind of like select soccer.
“I’m used to having high competition, very fast game. I just settled in and found my spot, went from there.”
Wheaton’s Luke Holwerda came into the game with 32 goals and 15 assists. He easily could have had a hat trick but came up empty thanks to Olson, who denied him on a pair of headers and another hard shot in the box.
Olson also made two great stops on Kilgallon, leaping to knock a deflected shot over the left post and sliding to kick away another attempt. He gave up a rebound on the latter play, but defender Aaron Grohmann bailed him out by booting Quinn Partain’s rebound off the line.
“(The defenders) are always on me to keep us up, keep us going, so every time I make a big save, they’ll come over (and say) good job, all that and keep my head up,” Olson said. “As long as I keep their heads up, (we) help each other out.”
Haudrich felt pretty good trailing by only one goal at intermission, though it was still an unusual spot for Gibault to be in.
“I did feel like we were pretty fortunate at half,” Haudrich said. “I would say that being down at half is a very foreign concept for us.
“We’ve either been in the lead or been tied in the postseason. I told the boys that we needed to be resilient, find a way to stick to our game plan and step up our tempo.”
The Hawks did that and it finally paid off with a disputed penalty kick with 31:31 remaining. No player hit the turf but Gibault was awarded the penalty, which Karson Huels converted for his team-high 18th goal of the season to tie the game.
“That was a breaking point for us,” Haudrich said. “We knew that having the advantage of taking a penalty kick that would get us back in the game.
“We were 100 percent confident that Karson would be able to make that. It was just a matter of what would unfold after that. Would they push us even more or would that be our wake up call?
“Second half I think we woke up. After that PK the sense of confidence was raised our level and pace of play.”
But for the Warriors, the penalty was a heartbreaker.
“I thought we got a bad call on the penalty that was awarded to them, but obviously we’ve got to fight back and be resilient because that’s part of the game and the tournament,” Wheaton Academy coach Jeff Brooke said. “Very tough loss for us because of how these guys have approached it.
“Our seniors have been fantastic and so it’s just tough to run into a loss when we’re really confident in what we do and what we’re about. I thought they valued the ball a little bit more in the second half, so that was a good adjustment (on Gibault’s part), but the penalty really turned the momentum.”
For Gunn, one of seven Wheaton seniors who had their state championship dreams punctured, it was a cruel turn of events.
“Even if it was a foul it was outside the box and for a ref to blow his whistle in such a high-stakes game if it’s not a clear penalty, I don’t think that whistle should be blown,” Gunn said. “But that’s how the day went.”
Yet the seeds of Wheaton’s destruction were sown in the first half when the Warriors were unable to extend their lead.
“You want to get that second goal in the first half,” Brooke said. “I thought we were really moving the ball well, dangerous in the final third. Credit them for being pretty resilient and tough to get through.
“I’m proud of the guys who worked really, really hard, (but) just fell short. We just couldn’t get it all the way through.
“We were waiting for it to hit the back of the net, and it just doesn’t. They get one late off kind of a broken play, which is tough.
“It’s hard to lose this one, but I’ll hold my head high with this group.”
Starting lineups
Wheaton Academy
GK J.D. Gunn
D Matthew Oster
D Owen Setran
D Max Dominguez
D Jack Liechty
M Grayson Harris
M Owen Hardy
M Jack Kilgallon
M Seamus Kilgallon
F Luke Holwerda
F Quinn Partain
Gibault
GK Connor Olson
D Dylan Altadonna
D Robert Lugge
D Carter Kesler
D Aaron Grohmann
M Adam Stearns
M Ryan Swindle
M Karson Huels
M Jordan Floerke
F Logan Doerr
F Zack Gillan
Chicagoland Soccer MVP of the Match: Connor Olson, so., GK, Gibault
Scoring summary
1st Half
Wheaton Academy – Seamus Kilgallon, 21st minute
2nd Half
Gibault – Karson Huels (PK), 49th minute
Gibault – Ryan Swindle, 75th minute