Wheaton North's patchwork lineup
prevails over Batavia
Evangelista goal in 75th minute leads to 2-1 win
By Jared Birchfield
BATAVIA — Although it was short-handed, Wheaton North had one objective when it traveled to Bulldog Stadium on Tuesday afternoon.
The Falcons wanted to end a streak of bad luck that started last week: a red-carded goalkeeper and missed chances to gain on DuKane Conference leader St. Charles North thanks to a tie with Geneva and a loss to St. Charles East.
All three teams are ranked in Chicagoland Soccer’s Top 25 Poll: North holds seventh place; East sits at no. 13; and Geneva fill the spot at no. 16.
Wheaton coach Rob Stassen plugged the holes in his lineup caused by spring break and his squad returned home with a 2-1 victory over Batavia.
The contest was scoreless for the first 69 minutes. Wheaton (4-2-2, 4-2-2) broke the deadlock on Erik Rozanski’s penalty kick with 10:45 left to play. The lead was short lived as Luke Bianco scored the equalized for Batavia (0-7-2, 0-6-2) just 24 seconds later.
Diego Evangelista scored the winning Falcons goal in the 75th minute.
“We needed this one, emotionally, it's been a rough ride.” Stassen said “The tie against Geneva really hurt us. (Last) Tuesday, our goalkeeper got a straight red for a ridiculous call so Thursday (against Geneva) we had a defender playing goal because we don't have a backup keeper.
“Ten minutes in he goes down, so we put another player in there. We've dealt with a lot of adversity in the last week let alone add COVID, spring break, school and all that stuff. They are a very resilient group.”
Most of the action in the first half took place on Batavia’s side of the pitch. Wheaton mounted numerous attacks. A combination of a gusty wind, which seems to be a reoccurring theme this season, the Bulldogs backline and Batavia keeper Logan Saenz thwarted the shots.
Saenz stopped a point-blank boot by Graham Stephenson in the fifth minute.
“Their keeper came out with a beautiful save against Graham,” noted Stassen.
The Falcons offense dominance continued in the last 40 minutes.
Stassen credited his team’s determination for the scoring breakthrough.
“It's rough with the wind like that and you're knocking on the door, banging and banging and nothing will drop. They got frustrated,” said the Wheaton North coach. “But they had the composure to stay with the game plan and keep knocking. They didn't change it up it.”
“Obviously we were struggling a bit to get the first goal. It came a bit late in the game, but it came,” Rozanski said of his PK. “It was a bit of an unconventional penalty. They took me down in the box, kind of hugging me.”
The senior kicked the ball to right of Saenz to score.
“I will say my nerves were running high, but I calmed it down and put it away,” Rozanski said.
Going to the right is his preferred move.
“I say it's my go-to move, it’s my most confident side I feel like,” said Rozanski. “No matter what the goalie is doing if I place it where I need it to go, he's not going to save it.”
Stassen needed to make changes to his backline due to missing players.
“Two of outside backs are away on spring break so we had two backups in, Thein Han and Peter Tiesman. They jumped in, and Kyle Komro, a JV One guy came up for today to help out.” the coach said.
They were joined by regular center backs Kyle Schauer and Noah Froebe.
Stassen had high praise for both, especially Froebe.
“Both are just so fast and solid,” he said.” In 80 minutes with the wind like this, Froebe never made a mistake. He just kept on every touch that he made and was on point with every pass that he made moving up and down the field.”
The Falcon make-shift backline held until the 70th minute.
That is when Bianco broke through the defense and knocked the ball in from 10 yards.
Wheaton North’s offense continued the pressure, which resulted in the go-ahead goal with 4:15 to play.
“I saw (Gyan Patel) going in for the cross. I was going to set myself up for either a header or a shot,” Evangelista said. “I thought I was going to take a shot then with my right (foot), but I saw that the defender was right behind me so I decided to chip it up. I found the shot with my left and banged it in.”
Although Batavia coach Mark Gianfrancesco was disappointed with the loss, he said his team is continuing to improve.
“It's tough going into the wind. I thought they stayed together and did a nice job defensively. It’s always tough not to get a result whether it’s a tie or a win and give up something in the last five minutes,” Gianfrancesco said. “But 6-0 last time (the teams played each other) and 2-1 this time, that’s somewhat of an improvement.”
“I think they just know each other better and the relationships are building on the field. I think there's more togetherness,” said Gianfrancesco. “Also, there is an understanding of what we're trying to do -- a better defensive understanding.
Team co-captain Ryan Kahley agreed that the Bulldogs continue to improve.
“We're developing as a team, getting some chemistry. We're going through it,” the junior forward said. “We changed some tactics from last week and definitely from the last time we played them. We are seeing improvement within the score line and definitely within the events of the game.”
Rodrigo Maldonado, the other Batavia co-captain, saw a plus side to the contest.
“Overall, I feel the game was very positive, bouncing back from the last time we faced this team and the last couple of games. I like what I saw. We were really locking it down and came out with a lot more energy, and we put up a lot more of a fight,” Maldonado said.
“They definitely had a solid backline They didn't make it easy for us to get chances on goal. I felt we did pretty well to actually get the chances we had. We just have to put them away, and that's something we can work on.”
Stassen now plans to play the spoiler role when the Falcons host league-leading St. Charles North with their perfect 8-0-0 conference record Thursday. His squad dropped a 2-1 decision to the North Stars earlier this season.
“We're going to try our best to ruin their record and whether they still win (the conference) we'd like to add that one blemish and get that one (game) back,” Stassen said. “It'll be rough, not coming with a full team. But you never know what's going to happen.”
Starting lineups
Wheaton North
GK - Sam Wakeman
D – Kyle Schauer
D – Thein Han
D – Noah Froebe
D – Peter Tiesman
M – Graham Stephenson
M – Tim Duzler
M – Erik Rozanski
F – Jarrett Baumgartner
F – Diego Evangelista
F – Gyan Patel
Batavia
GK – Logan Saenz
D – Ryan Miller
D – Quinn Salyers
D – Emir Haskovic
M – Dylan Knapp
M – Rodrigo Maldonado
M – Will Bardol
M – Ben Hanson
F – Luke Bianco
F – Ryan Kahley
F – Manasas Monarrez
Chicagoland Soccer Man of the Match: Noah Froebe, jr , D, Wheaton North
Scoring summary
First half
No scoring
Second half
Wheaton North - Erik Rozanski (PK) 69 minute
Batavia – Luke Bianco (UA) 70 minute
Wheaton North – Diego Evangelista (UA) 75 minute
prevails over Batavia
Evangelista goal in 75th minute leads to 2-1 win
By Jared Birchfield
BATAVIA — Although it was short-handed, Wheaton North had one objective when it traveled to Bulldog Stadium on Tuesday afternoon.
The Falcons wanted to end a streak of bad luck that started last week: a red-carded goalkeeper and missed chances to gain on DuKane Conference leader St. Charles North thanks to a tie with Geneva and a loss to St. Charles East.
All three teams are ranked in Chicagoland Soccer’s Top 25 Poll: North holds seventh place; East sits at no. 13; and Geneva fill the spot at no. 16.
Wheaton coach Rob Stassen plugged the holes in his lineup caused by spring break and his squad returned home with a 2-1 victory over Batavia.
The contest was scoreless for the first 69 minutes. Wheaton (4-2-2, 4-2-2) broke the deadlock on Erik Rozanski’s penalty kick with 10:45 left to play. The lead was short lived as Luke Bianco scored the equalized for Batavia (0-7-2, 0-6-2) just 24 seconds later.
Diego Evangelista scored the winning Falcons goal in the 75th minute.
“We needed this one, emotionally, it's been a rough ride.” Stassen said “The tie against Geneva really hurt us. (Last) Tuesday, our goalkeeper got a straight red for a ridiculous call so Thursday (against Geneva) we had a defender playing goal because we don't have a backup keeper.
“Ten minutes in he goes down, so we put another player in there. We've dealt with a lot of adversity in the last week let alone add COVID, spring break, school and all that stuff. They are a very resilient group.”
Most of the action in the first half took place on Batavia’s side of the pitch. Wheaton mounted numerous attacks. A combination of a gusty wind, which seems to be a reoccurring theme this season, the Bulldogs backline and Batavia keeper Logan Saenz thwarted the shots.
Saenz stopped a point-blank boot by Graham Stephenson in the fifth minute.
“Their keeper came out with a beautiful save against Graham,” noted Stassen.
The Falcons offense dominance continued in the last 40 minutes.
Stassen credited his team’s determination for the scoring breakthrough.
“It's rough with the wind like that and you're knocking on the door, banging and banging and nothing will drop. They got frustrated,” said the Wheaton North coach. “But they had the composure to stay with the game plan and keep knocking. They didn't change it up it.”
“Obviously we were struggling a bit to get the first goal. It came a bit late in the game, but it came,” Rozanski said of his PK. “It was a bit of an unconventional penalty. They took me down in the box, kind of hugging me.”
The senior kicked the ball to right of Saenz to score.
“I will say my nerves were running high, but I calmed it down and put it away,” Rozanski said.
Going to the right is his preferred move.
“I say it's my go-to move, it’s my most confident side I feel like,” said Rozanski. “No matter what the goalie is doing if I place it where I need it to go, he's not going to save it.”
Stassen needed to make changes to his backline due to missing players.
“Two of outside backs are away on spring break so we had two backups in, Thein Han and Peter Tiesman. They jumped in, and Kyle Komro, a JV One guy came up for today to help out.” the coach said.
They were joined by regular center backs Kyle Schauer and Noah Froebe.
Stassen had high praise for both, especially Froebe.
“Both are just so fast and solid,” he said.” In 80 minutes with the wind like this, Froebe never made a mistake. He just kept on every touch that he made and was on point with every pass that he made moving up and down the field.”
The Falcon make-shift backline held until the 70th minute.
That is when Bianco broke through the defense and knocked the ball in from 10 yards.
Wheaton North’s offense continued the pressure, which resulted in the go-ahead goal with 4:15 to play.
“I saw (Gyan Patel) going in for the cross. I was going to set myself up for either a header or a shot,” Evangelista said. “I thought I was going to take a shot then with my right (foot), but I saw that the defender was right behind me so I decided to chip it up. I found the shot with my left and banged it in.”
Although Batavia coach Mark Gianfrancesco was disappointed with the loss, he said his team is continuing to improve.
“It's tough going into the wind. I thought they stayed together and did a nice job defensively. It’s always tough not to get a result whether it’s a tie or a win and give up something in the last five minutes,” Gianfrancesco said. “But 6-0 last time (the teams played each other) and 2-1 this time, that’s somewhat of an improvement.”
“I think they just know each other better and the relationships are building on the field. I think there's more togetherness,” said Gianfrancesco. “Also, there is an understanding of what we're trying to do -- a better defensive understanding.
Team co-captain Ryan Kahley agreed that the Bulldogs continue to improve.
“We're developing as a team, getting some chemistry. We're going through it,” the junior forward said. “We changed some tactics from last week and definitely from the last time we played them. We are seeing improvement within the score line and definitely within the events of the game.”
Rodrigo Maldonado, the other Batavia co-captain, saw a plus side to the contest.
“Overall, I feel the game was very positive, bouncing back from the last time we faced this team and the last couple of games. I like what I saw. We were really locking it down and came out with a lot more energy, and we put up a lot more of a fight,” Maldonado said.
“They definitely had a solid backline They didn't make it easy for us to get chances on goal. I felt we did pretty well to actually get the chances we had. We just have to put them away, and that's something we can work on.”
Stassen now plans to play the spoiler role when the Falcons host league-leading St. Charles North with their perfect 8-0-0 conference record Thursday. His squad dropped a 2-1 decision to the North Stars earlier this season.
“We're going to try our best to ruin their record and whether they still win (the conference) we'd like to add that one blemish and get that one (game) back,” Stassen said. “It'll be rough, not coming with a full team. But you never know what's going to happen.”
Starting lineups
Wheaton North
GK - Sam Wakeman
D – Kyle Schauer
D – Thein Han
D – Noah Froebe
D – Peter Tiesman
M – Graham Stephenson
M – Tim Duzler
M – Erik Rozanski
F – Jarrett Baumgartner
F – Diego Evangelista
F – Gyan Patel
Batavia
GK – Logan Saenz
D – Ryan Miller
D – Quinn Salyers
D – Emir Haskovic
M – Dylan Knapp
M – Rodrigo Maldonado
M – Will Bardol
M – Ben Hanson
F – Luke Bianco
F – Ryan Kahley
F – Manasas Monarrez
Chicagoland Soccer Man of the Match: Noah Froebe, jr , D, Wheaton North
Scoring summary
First half
No scoring
Second half
Wheaton North - Erik Rozanski (PK) 69 minute
Batavia – Luke Bianco (UA) 70 minute
Wheaton North – Diego Evangelista (UA) 75 minute