Wheaton N. stays perfect, rolls past S. Elgin
Falcons continue sharp early-season play, post 5-0 win
By Dave Owen
ROSELLE- Rise and shine.
Wheaton North showed no sleepiness Saturday in its 9 a.m. Hillner Classic match with South Elgin.
Powered by a third-straight, two-goal game by junior Jarrett Baumgartner, the Falcons (3-0-0) soared to a 5-0 win over South Elgin (1-2-0). The win gave Wheaton North a 16-0 scoring edge over its three opponents this season.
“I think we’ve really improved on our speed of play,” Wheaton North midfielder Erik Rozanski said of his team’s offensive prowess. “We’ve tried to work on one-two touch plays, getting to the end line and dropping it back. I think that’s really working out for us. We have a lot of goals from doing that.
“Obviously it’s hard to play after waking up in the morning, but we just had to get over it. We had to get ready, and I think we came out strong today.”
Chicagoland Soccer Man of the Match Rozanski is part of a stellar midfield corps that have been the backbone of the Falcons’ eye-opening success.
“The front three are having a great time, because we have such an amazing middle three in Erik Rozanski, Garrett Robinson and Graham Stephenson,” Wheaton North coach Rob Stassen said. “Once they start playing it, we just start running rings and making the other team dizzy.
“Our backline was awesome too. They’re young, we have a sophomore, two juniors and a senior starting. They’ve come together, which is outstanding. It’s a fun team to watch.”
The enjoyment began early Saturday.
After Ethan Martinez’s speedy left-side attack in the 10th minute was denied on a block save at the near post by South Elgin goalkeeper Christian Andrew, the Falcons were swarming again four minutes later for a 1-0 lead.
Off a pass from Will Wanzenburg, Baumgartner burst in on right wing and lined a low 10-yard shot inside the right post.
“In our pregame chat (the message) was ‘We have to go out there and score in the first five minutes,’” Baumgartner said. “I don’t know how early we scored, but we just came at them hard. Will sent me that ball, I shot it on frame, and it went in. That’s what you’ve got to do.
“Stassen takes great pride in getting us mentally prepared for the game, both physically and emotionally. At warmups we don’t talk. We think about what we have to do for the game. We just come out there as a team in our pregame talk, and we know what we’ve got to do, and we go out and do it.”
Outside of a 20-yard shot over the net in the 17th minute by South Elgin’s Nick Flores, the Falcons had the majority of chances in the first half.
The Storm defense played well to limit the early damage. Andrew made a low catch of a Martinez 8-yard shot off a Rozanski feed in the 19th minute. One minute later, good defense in the box by Victor Chagoya denied a threat generated by Robinson and Rozanski.
Andrew answered another threat in the 26th minute, making the save on Baumgartner’s 19-yard free kick drive.
But 11:35 before halftime, the Falcons’ relentless pressure produced a 2-0 lead.
Wanzenburg’s nice pass upfield found Rozanski free in the middle. Rozanski made a nice diagonal run to the left side and drove a 12-yard shot inside the right post.
“This is a young group, and they’re hungry,” Stassen said. “It may not be the flariest group in the world, but they are nose down, nose for the goal.
“What we graduated in flair, we got (back) in pit bulls,” Stassen added. “They just love to run at people.”
South Elgin was able to briefly calm the hounds with a good tackle by Bryce Jungers on a left side attack in the 30th minute and Andrew’s nice save of a Wanzenburg 12-yard drive two minutes later.
But the Falcons upped their lead to 3-0 set up by another Rozanski rush with 6:20 left in the half. After his long dribble drive up the right side, Rozanski’s cross found Martinez in front for a putaway inside the left post.
“Our speed up-top is a killer,” Baumgartner said, “along with our individual-into-teamwork plays, those give-and-go plays.
“We know how to play together, and when you have center mids like Graham, Erik and Garrett playing those through-balls through – they have amazing vision.”
South Elgin was coming off a 2-1 win over Lake Park on Thursday, in which Angel Garcia and Flores (penalty kick) scored goals.
But without two starters on Saturday, and facing a relentless foe in top form, the Storm faced a cloudy forecast.
“It’s a tough one to find positives in,” South Elgin first-year coach Jerzy Skowron said. “We can do nothing but give credit to Wheaton North. They came out and dictated the tempo and pace. They outmuscled us; they outworked us; they outhustled us. At this level you have to take as many positives from it, learn from the negatives and grow.”
While overshadowed by the Falcons offense, Wheaton North goalkeeper Ray Min also came up big when needed.
In the 38th minute, Flores powered a nice send from the right sideline 30 yards out to Grayson Downing deep into the box. But Downing’s ensuing header was grabbed by a diving Min at the left post, keeping the score 3-0 at halftime.
Nine minutes into the second half, Min made the save of the match.
South Elgin’s Lucas Reutimann was fouled on a run into the box with 31:25 left, producing a penalty kick. But Min dove to his left to bat down Flores’ well-struck PK, maintaining the shutout in a goalkeeper’s ultimate test.
“For a keeper that doesn’t get to do much the entire game, we try to get him involved a lot trying to play through our keeper,” Stassen said. “But to come out almost cold and get a penalty stop – and it wasn’t a bad shot. It had pace and had direction. But he read it and off he went.
“Ray is such a solid kid, and he’s been working hard. He’s just a fun kid to be around.”
South Elgin second half goalkeeper Zack Juszko had his own great sequence one minute before Min’s PK stop.
Juszko’s block at the left post stopped Rozanski’s well-struck, 35-yard free kick, then Juszko nicely smothered and covered Robinson’s point-blank rebound try at the left post.
The Falcons’ generally great day took an unfortunate turn with 29:54 left. On a hard run into the box pursuing a loose ball, Wanzenburg suffered an apparent left knee injury and had to be carted off the field.
“Will was a big loss,” Stassen said. “It’s too early to tell (the severity) right now.
“He’s one of the best kids in the world. He’s our captain, our leader. He leads by example. He’s probably older mentally and emotionally than his two coaches put together. That’s a hard one to swallow.
“Will’s a tough kid,” Stassen added. “He had a rough last season with an injury to his ankle and hamstring, and now this.”
Seeing the injury to Wanzenburg only added to the Falcons’ resolve.
“We just wanted to play hard for Will and score a couple more goals,” Baumgartner said. “Show them that we don’t mess around.”
Baumgartner drove home that point with 22:54 to play. Making a steal 30 yards out, he dribbled just inside the box and powered home a 15-yard shot for his third straight two-goal game and a 4-0 score.
The Falcons then completed the scoring with 15:43 to go. Off a throw-in, Stephenson’s pass found Wednesday Moo free at the top of the box for an 18-yard drive just under the crossbar.
The Storm’s already uphill battle had become a mountain with 28:11 left, when a player complaint over a call resulted in a red card and left South Elgin short a player the rest of the way.
But one bright spot that emerged Saturday was the play of senior midfielder Anthony Sisler.
His back-to-the-goal bicycle kick that went wide left with 29:15 left was a flashy part of his solid match. With 7:50 to go, Sisler’s nice run produced a 22-yard shot just wide left of the net.
“He’s a worker,” Skowron said of Sisler. “He just came back from Madrid. He had the opportunity to do a Generation Adidas thing before the season started, so he missed a little bit of time.”
But Sisler is now making his presence felt, with a mix of confidence in his teammates and a drive to get better.
“We have amazing individual players, but as a team we have to find a way to work together,” Sisler said.
“One thing we struggle with doing is in our midfield, we don’t communicate very well. Players will talk for a little while then stop talking, and then no one is working together. It’s got to be a team effort.”
Even facing a huge deficit Saturday, Sisler went all out to the final seconds.
“I wanted to score; it’s motivation,” he said. “If we score even if it’s 5-1, I’d rather lose 5-1 than 5-0.
“The approach I take is, when we can’t seem to work as a team I try to work as hard as I can to make other people successful. If that ball’s over there and no one is running to it, I’ll run to it and try to help us win the ball.”
That kind of hustle is making an impression.
“Anthony and Lucas (Reutimann) played phenomenally,” Skowron said, “but I think we had one shot on goal and that was our penalty kick. You’re not going to win games that way. But hats off to Wheaton North. They did a fantastic job.”
Late-game defensive hustle by Chagoya (denying a threat by Wheaton North’s Liam Lindsey and Moo with 11:30 left) and Aiden Hogan (hustling back to break up an attack into the box by Robinson, Lael Mondragon and Christian Powell with 5:45 to go) were other good signs for the Storm.
First-year coach Skowron came to South Elgin after serving as an assistant at Streamwood. And if there was a Kentucky Derby of soccer quotes, he would be near the front of the pack.
“I tell kids all the time,” Skowron said, “I can teach a racehorse how to kick a ball. But if all he’s going to do is run up and down the field, you can put another racehorse against him, and he’s not going to be very effective.
“I spent the last three years at Streamwood as an assistant, and from an individual talent level we’re right there with those Streamwood teams. It’s just a matter of these kids learning to play the game the right way.
“I’m optimistic,” Skowron added. “The ceiling’s really high. It’s a matter of the coaching staff and players getting on the same page.”
Sisler is just as confident.
“We’re still figuring things out,” he said. “It’s still early in the season. We’ll figure it out for sure.”
Solving early season puzzles has been no trouble for Wheaton North.
“We were here last year (at the Hillner tournament) with an incredibly talented team, but we couldn’t score for the life of us,” Stassen said. “And now these guys put away five. We didn’t create much, but we put them away.
“The team’s fantastic, they’re clicking,” Stassen added. “This isn’t a rebuilding or reloading year but a rebonding year. They’ve got the talent. They just have to figure out how to play.”
Starting lineups
Wheaton North
GK: Ray Min
D: Kyle Schauer
D: Noah Froebe
D: Tyler Larsen
D: Tristan McKay
M: Erik Rozanski
M: Graham Stephenson
M: Garrett Robinson
M: Will Wanzenburg
F: Jarrett Baumgartner
F: Ethan Martinez
South Elgin
GK: Christian Andrew
D: Alex Wano
D: Edwin Ayala
D: Elias Hernandez
D: Ryan Doherty
M: Andres Rivera
M: Danny Quintana
M: Anthony Sisler
M: Nick Flores
F: Lucas Reutimann
F: Jose Rangel
Chicagoland Soccer Man of the Match: Erik Rozanski, jr., MF, Wheaton North
Scoring summary
First half
WN – Jarrett Baumgartner (Will Wanzenburg), 15th min
WN – Erik Rozanski (Wanzenburg), 29th min
WN – Ethan Martinez (Rozanski), 34th min
Second half
WN – Baumgartner (unassisted), 58th min
WN – Wednesday Moo (Graham Stephenson), 64th minute
Falcons continue sharp early-season play, post 5-0 win
By Dave Owen
ROSELLE- Rise and shine.
Wheaton North showed no sleepiness Saturday in its 9 a.m. Hillner Classic match with South Elgin.
Powered by a third-straight, two-goal game by junior Jarrett Baumgartner, the Falcons (3-0-0) soared to a 5-0 win over South Elgin (1-2-0). The win gave Wheaton North a 16-0 scoring edge over its three opponents this season.
“I think we’ve really improved on our speed of play,” Wheaton North midfielder Erik Rozanski said of his team’s offensive prowess. “We’ve tried to work on one-two touch plays, getting to the end line and dropping it back. I think that’s really working out for us. We have a lot of goals from doing that.
“Obviously it’s hard to play after waking up in the morning, but we just had to get over it. We had to get ready, and I think we came out strong today.”
Chicagoland Soccer Man of the Match Rozanski is part of a stellar midfield corps that have been the backbone of the Falcons’ eye-opening success.
“The front three are having a great time, because we have such an amazing middle three in Erik Rozanski, Garrett Robinson and Graham Stephenson,” Wheaton North coach Rob Stassen said. “Once they start playing it, we just start running rings and making the other team dizzy.
“Our backline was awesome too. They’re young, we have a sophomore, two juniors and a senior starting. They’ve come together, which is outstanding. It’s a fun team to watch.”
The enjoyment began early Saturday.
After Ethan Martinez’s speedy left-side attack in the 10th minute was denied on a block save at the near post by South Elgin goalkeeper Christian Andrew, the Falcons were swarming again four minutes later for a 1-0 lead.
Off a pass from Will Wanzenburg, Baumgartner burst in on right wing and lined a low 10-yard shot inside the right post.
“In our pregame chat (the message) was ‘We have to go out there and score in the first five minutes,’” Baumgartner said. “I don’t know how early we scored, but we just came at them hard. Will sent me that ball, I shot it on frame, and it went in. That’s what you’ve got to do.
“Stassen takes great pride in getting us mentally prepared for the game, both physically and emotionally. At warmups we don’t talk. We think about what we have to do for the game. We just come out there as a team in our pregame talk, and we know what we’ve got to do, and we go out and do it.”
Outside of a 20-yard shot over the net in the 17th minute by South Elgin’s Nick Flores, the Falcons had the majority of chances in the first half.
The Storm defense played well to limit the early damage. Andrew made a low catch of a Martinez 8-yard shot off a Rozanski feed in the 19th minute. One minute later, good defense in the box by Victor Chagoya denied a threat generated by Robinson and Rozanski.
Andrew answered another threat in the 26th minute, making the save on Baumgartner’s 19-yard free kick drive.
But 11:35 before halftime, the Falcons’ relentless pressure produced a 2-0 lead.
Wanzenburg’s nice pass upfield found Rozanski free in the middle. Rozanski made a nice diagonal run to the left side and drove a 12-yard shot inside the right post.
“This is a young group, and they’re hungry,” Stassen said. “It may not be the flariest group in the world, but they are nose down, nose for the goal.
“What we graduated in flair, we got (back) in pit bulls,” Stassen added. “They just love to run at people.”
South Elgin was able to briefly calm the hounds with a good tackle by Bryce Jungers on a left side attack in the 30th minute and Andrew’s nice save of a Wanzenburg 12-yard drive two minutes later.
But the Falcons upped their lead to 3-0 set up by another Rozanski rush with 6:20 left in the half. After his long dribble drive up the right side, Rozanski’s cross found Martinez in front for a putaway inside the left post.
“Our speed up-top is a killer,” Baumgartner said, “along with our individual-into-teamwork plays, those give-and-go plays.
“We know how to play together, and when you have center mids like Graham, Erik and Garrett playing those through-balls through – they have amazing vision.”
South Elgin was coming off a 2-1 win over Lake Park on Thursday, in which Angel Garcia and Flores (penalty kick) scored goals.
But without two starters on Saturday, and facing a relentless foe in top form, the Storm faced a cloudy forecast.
“It’s a tough one to find positives in,” South Elgin first-year coach Jerzy Skowron said. “We can do nothing but give credit to Wheaton North. They came out and dictated the tempo and pace. They outmuscled us; they outworked us; they outhustled us. At this level you have to take as many positives from it, learn from the negatives and grow.”
While overshadowed by the Falcons offense, Wheaton North goalkeeper Ray Min also came up big when needed.
In the 38th minute, Flores powered a nice send from the right sideline 30 yards out to Grayson Downing deep into the box. But Downing’s ensuing header was grabbed by a diving Min at the left post, keeping the score 3-0 at halftime.
Nine minutes into the second half, Min made the save of the match.
South Elgin’s Lucas Reutimann was fouled on a run into the box with 31:25 left, producing a penalty kick. But Min dove to his left to bat down Flores’ well-struck PK, maintaining the shutout in a goalkeeper’s ultimate test.
“For a keeper that doesn’t get to do much the entire game, we try to get him involved a lot trying to play through our keeper,” Stassen said. “But to come out almost cold and get a penalty stop – and it wasn’t a bad shot. It had pace and had direction. But he read it and off he went.
“Ray is such a solid kid, and he’s been working hard. He’s just a fun kid to be around.”
South Elgin second half goalkeeper Zack Juszko had his own great sequence one minute before Min’s PK stop.
Juszko’s block at the left post stopped Rozanski’s well-struck, 35-yard free kick, then Juszko nicely smothered and covered Robinson’s point-blank rebound try at the left post.
The Falcons’ generally great day took an unfortunate turn with 29:54 left. On a hard run into the box pursuing a loose ball, Wanzenburg suffered an apparent left knee injury and had to be carted off the field.
“Will was a big loss,” Stassen said. “It’s too early to tell (the severity) right now.
“He’s one of the best kids in the world. He’s our captain, our leader. He leads by example. He’s probably older mentally and emotionally than his two coaches put together. That’s a hard one to swallow.
“Will’s a tough kid,” Stassen added. “He had a rough last season with an injury to his ankle and hamstring, and now this.”
Seeing the injury to Wanzenburg only added to the Falcons’ resolve.
“We just wanted to play hard for Will and score a couple more goals,” Baumgartner said. “Show them that we don’t mess around.”
Baumgartner drove home that point with 22:54 to play. Making a steal 30 yards out, he dribbled just inside the box and powered home a 15-yard shot for his third straight two-goal game and a 4-0 score.
The Falcons then completed the scoring with 15:43 to go. Off a throw-in, Stephenson’s pass found Wednesday Moo free at the top of the box for an 18-yard drive just under the crossbar.
The Storm’s already uphill battle had become a mountain with 28:11 left, when a player complaint over a call resulted in a red card and left South Elgin short a player the rest of the way.
But one bright spot that emerged Saturday was the play of senior midfielder Anthony Sisler.
His back-to-the-goal bicycle kick that went wide left with 29:15 left was a flashy part of his solid match. With 7:50 to go, Sisler’s nice run produced a 22-yard shot just wide left of the net.
“He’s a worker,” Skowron said of Sisler. “He just came back from Madrid. He had the opportunity to do a Generation Adidas thing before the season started, so he missed a little bit of time.”
But Sisler is now making his presence felt, with a mix of confidence in his teammates and a drive to get better.
“We have amazing individual players, but as a team we have to find a way to work together,” Sisler said.
“One thing we struggle with doing is in our midfield, we don’t communicate very well. Players will talk for a little while then stop talking, and then no one is working together. It’s got to be a team effort.”
Even facing a huge deficit Saturday, Sisler went all out to the final seconds.
“I wanted to score; it’s motivation,” he said. “If we score even if it’s 5-1, I’d rather lose 5-1 than 5-0.
“The approach I take is, when we can’t seem to work as a team I try to work as hard as I can to make other people successful. If that ball’s over there and no one is running to it, I’ll run to it and try to help us win the ball.”
That kind of hustle is making an impression.
“Anthony and Lucas (Reutimann) played phenomenally,” Skowron said, “but I think we had one shot on goal and that was our penalty kick. You’re not going to win games that way. But hats off to Wheaton North. They did a fantastic job.”
Late-game defensive hustle by Chagoya (denying a threat by Wheaton North’s Liam Lindsey and Moo with 11:30 left) and Aiden Hogan (hustling back to break up an attack into the box by Robinson, Lael Mondragon and Christian Powell with 5:45 to go) were other good signs for the Storm.
First-year coach Skowron came to South Elgin after serving as an assistant at Streamwood. And if there was a Kentucky Derby of soccer quotes, he would be near the front of the pack.
“I tell kids all the time,” Skowron said, “I can teach a racehorse how to kick a ball. But if all he’s going to do is run up and down the field, you can put another racehorse against him, and he’s not going to be very effective.
“I spent the last three years at Streamwood as an assistant, and from an individual talent level we’re right there with those Streamwood teams. It’s just a matter of these kids learning to play the game the right way.
“I’m optimistic,” Skowron added. “The ceiling’s really high. It’s a matter of the coaching staff and players getting on the same page.”
Sisler is just as confident.
“We’re still figuring things out,” he said. “It’s still early in the season. We’ll figure it out for sure.”
Solving early season puzzles has been no trouble for Wheaton North.
“We were here last year (at the Hillner tournament) with an incredibly talented team, but we couldn’t score for the life of us,” Stassen said. “And now these guys put away five. We didn’t create much, but we put them away.
“The team’s fantastic, they’re clicking,” Stassen added. “This isn’t a rebuilding or reloading year but a rebonding year. They’ve got the talent. They just have to figure out how to play.”
Starting lineups
Wheaton North
GK: Ray Min
D: Kyle Schauer
D: Noah Froebe
D: Tyler Larsen
D: Tristan McKay
M: Erik Rozanski
M: Graham Stephenson
M: Garrett Robinson
M: Will Wanzenburg
F: Jarrett Baumgartner
F: Ethan Martinez
South Elgin
GK: Christian Andrew
D: Alex Wano
D: Edwin Ayala
D: Elias Hernandez
D: Ryan Doherty
M: Andres Rivera
M: Danny Quintana
M: Anthony Sisler
M: Nick Flores
F: Lucas Reutimann
F: Jose Rangel
Chicagoland Soccer Man of the Match: Erik Rozanski, jr., MF, Wheaton North
Scoring summary
First half
WN – Jarrett Baumgartner (Will Wanzenburg), 15th min
WN – Erik Rozanski (Wanzenburg), 29th min
WN – Ethan Martinez (Rozanski), 34th min
Second half
WN – Baumgartner (unassisted), 58th min
WN – Wednesday Moo (Graham Stephenson), 64th minute