Guppy hat-trick leads Naperville N. past WV
No. 2 Huskies too much for weary Warriors in 6-1 win
By Steve Nemeth
NAPERVILLE --- Knowing each team’s prelude to Thursday’s DuPage Valley Conference meeting pretty much foretold the outcome.
Visiting Waubonsie Valley, already limited by a short bench, was playing its fourth match in a six-day span.
Granted, Naperville North had four contests in a five-day stretch, but that was four days ago. Plus the host Huskies had the residual high of capturing a bracket title in the Goal 4 The Goal Fall Classic last weekend.
North came out quick to build a four-goal halftime lead, and it was game, set, and match.
Ranked no. 2 in this week’s Chicagoland Soccer Top 25 and 15th nationally by Top Drawer Soccer, North breezed to a 6-1 victory.
The Huskies current win streak (nine games) tops the nine-game unbeaten string (8-0-1) with which they started the 2017 season. When it comes to the DVC, the Huskies (17-1-1, 5-1-0) kept their paw in the door to claim a fourth-straight conference banner and the 25th in school history.
That opportunity presented itself when Wheaton North fought to a 2-2 draw Wednesday with rival and former league frontrunner Naperville Central. The tie left the Redhawks at 5-1-1 with a best-case scenario of 19 points with a positive outcome in their league finale with Lake Park. Metea Valley, which currently tops the DVC, completed its season with a 6-2-0 record and 18 points.
With wins in its final two games, Naperville North can claim the conference. However, both will need to come on the road, and Wheaton Warrenville South and Neuqua Valley would like nothing better than to spoil the Huskies fun.
Getting the conference title back in their sights was more significant to Ian Guppy than becoming the first Huskies player to record a hat-trick this season .
“Before today’s match coach (Jim Konrad) mentioned that tie and that if we can win out, the DVC title can be ours. That’s always on our goal list. The hat-trick is nice, but it really says I was in the right place at the right time thanks to my teammates,” Guppy said with too much humility. “We have plenty of other guys who could have had hat-tricks in other matches, so it’s not really a major bragging right. My goals today were really a credit to the team -- the one was all Jack (Barry) tapping the ball to me.”
Yes but the Chicagoland Soccer Man of the Match's hatter produced the 4-1 halftime tally that was simply too much of mountain to climb for a leg-weary Warrior unit that had its season ledger leveled at 8-8-1 and the DVC standard slip to 3-4-0.
While a header from a corner kick just one minute into the match sailed high, there was only 4:26 elapsed when North claimed the lead. Jack Barry had the perfect touch pass for Guppy to redirect the ball past Waubonsie starting goalie Vincent Rullo. Just under six minutes passed when another Barry throw-in nearly led to another score, but Rullo made one save and a follow-up Huskies try was wide.
Waubonsie Valley showed its fighting spirit midway through the opening half as Stephan Spano used a cross from Giacomo Parrino to the left side to put an 11-yarder inside the right post. For Spano it was his team-best seventh goal of the season while Parrino notched a team-high eighth assist.
“Giacomo found a little bit of space within which he drew defenders and the keeper’s attention and crossed the ball perfectly,” Spano recounted. “I saw one defender coming so I simply put my shot into the far lower corner knowing the keeper is really tall.”
North regained the lead eight seconds shy of three minutes later (22:40) as Barry’s corner kick found Guppy just off the post to his right. Ultimately that turned into Guppy’s team-leading sixth game-winning goal.
There was 8:03 left in the opening half when another Barry throw-in -- virtually as lethal as a corner kick -- was headed squarely into the net from eight yards by Colin Iverson. It was the ninth goal for the junior defender who races up field to utilize his height on corners or throws.
Waubonsie was deflated a step further when Guppy completed his hat trick 38 seconds prior to intermission. Ty Konrad earned the assist for what became Guppy’s 10th goal.
“Scoring off restarts has clearly been a strength, and once again we capitalized on those,” coach Konrad noted. “We’re looking to score more from the run of play, and I thought we did generate chances. Of course I wasn’t pleased that we gave up a goal.”
Both Guppy and Barry viewed their contributions more from a team standpoint.
“It is really important to step on people early, and we’ve come out of the gate a little slow at times,” Guppy said. “So having the mindset to (win) the table in the DVC adds importance to each conference game. I think when we play quick, we’re better overall.”
“Scoring early and often helps everyone stay confident and hungry for more,” Barry stated “We’re still looking to score more off runs and touches. We want to be as effective as we are on restarts. From my perspective, it feels good to contribute regardless of whether it’s an assist or a goal. We simply want to keep winning.”
Winning and the win streak was in doubt during the weekend in Burlington, Ia. While North had a smooth 3-0 win over Cherry Creek from Greenwood Village, Colo., followed by a 2-0 conquest of Notre Dame (Peoria) -- the sixth-rated team in Chicagoland Soccer’s Illinois 10 Poll -- the bracket championship saw the Huskies yield more than one goal for the first time this season.
Perennial national power St. Thomas Aquinas from Overland Park, Kan., led 3-0 at halftime. The Huskies responded with tallies from Will Ritzmann, Barry, Patrick Koenig, and Iverson for a monumental comeback triumph.
So Thursday’s four-goal opening half was simply an encore to North’s last 40 minutes. Two second half goals were like a pin popping any thought bubbles Waubonsie may have had envisioning a comeback during the break.
Only 3:56 after the second half start, Guppy chalked up an assist when Iverson pulled even with his teammate in goals with his 10th strike. A mere minute and 31 seconds ticked off before the Huskies struck again. This time it was yet another Barry throw-in marking his fourth set-up of the match and bumping his assist total to a team-high 14. Ritzmann charged through the middle for an eight-yard header -- his fourth goal of the year.
“Stats don’t matter much to me or my teammates near as much as winning and improving,” Ritzmann added. “My approach, like others, is to win tackles, connect passes, be in the right spot defensively, or set someone up. Every DVC match is a competitive battle to get the right result, so today was all about controlling our own destiny in the conference.”
With 30 minutes remaining in regulation, Jason Barba took over in goal for North becoming one of 14 reserves to see action.
“Another positive I was pleased to see today is that as we subbed, the effort stayed at the same level,” Konrad noted.
In spite of the scoreboard deficit, Waubonsie Valley put a renewed emphasis on ball possession for the remainder of the match. The Warriors looked to keep the ball moving with quick passes rather than running. In addition, Rohan Hindia handled the final 24 minutes in goal for the visitors.
“Between this being a long week and us short on subs, we did refocus our approach in the second half,” Spano said. “Playing possession soccer was being smarter in order to not run our legs too much.”
Waubonsie Valley coach Jose Garcia was looking long-term with respect to Saturday’s invitational pool final versus Lemont, a hoped for championship match later that day and a last road trip to Wheaton North before the postseason.
“In many respects it’s all preparation for the playoffs,” Garcia said. “It’s been a very busy week, and yet we battled for the first 15-20 minutes. But then our legs were clearly super heavy. I could see the physical aspect, a lot of bumps and bruises got to them. That in no way is taking anything away from North or the talent and skill they play with. It was just our reality today.”
While every statistic was also heavily in favor of North, Guppy kept things in perspective noting that the Huskies’ status as defending Class 3A state champions continues to make them everyone’s target.
“We’re aware of how much work remains in front of us, but I also believe we’ve got the kind of chemistry and team bond that can help us,” Guppy said. “It may seem like the roster is a split of sophomores and seniors with a few juniors, but we’re all good friends. Everyone is there to push each other or pick someone up. We were struggling in one game and Ali (Khorfan) came off the bench and worked his tail off and pleaded for everybody to step it up. It was a turning point in that game and represents the respect we have for each other.”
Starting lineups
Waubonsie Valley
GK Vincent Rullo
D Ryan Sanchez
D Will Krutchen
D Charles Zehnal
D Bobby Barnard
M Stephan Spano
M Mitch Mueller
M Noah Glorioso
M Justin Fitzpatrick
F Daniel Fritz
F Giacomo Parrino
Naperville North
GK Tommy Welch
D Ethan Harvey
D Colin Iverson
D Mitch Konrad
D Matt Billardello
M Cesar Recendez
M Jack Barry
M Will Ritzmann
F Ian Guppy
F Ty Konrad
F Patrick Koenig
Chicagoland Soccer Man of the Match: Ian Guppy, sr., F, Naperville North
Officials: Justin O’Bryan, Steve Jablow
Game summary
Naperville North 6, Waubonsie Valley 1
Waubonsie Valley 1 0 ---- 1 8-8-1 (DVC 3-4-0)
Naperville North 4 2 ---- 6 17-1-1 (DVC: 5-1-0)
Scoring
N – Guppy quick strike finish from a tap (J. Barry assist), 4:26 gone
WV – Spano left side 11-yard blast inside right post (Parrino assist), 19:48 gone
N – Guppy five-yarder slotted home from out front of right post (J. Barry assist), 22:40 gone
N – Iverson eight-yard header from the middle (J. Barry assist), 31:57 gone
N – Guppy 12-yarder from right of center (T. Konrad assist), 39:22 gone
N – Iverson five-yard putback inside left post (Guppy assist), 43:56 gone
N – Ritzmann eight-yard header off charge down the middle (J. Barry assist), 45:27 gone
Shots
WV 5 – 1 --- 6
NN 15 – 11 --- 26
Shots on goal
WV 3 – 1 --- 4
NN 6 – 4 --- 10
Saves (player)
WV 4 (Rullo 56 min. 2/1; Hindia 24 min. 1)
NN (Welch, 50 min. 2/0; Barba, 30 min. 1)
Corner kicks
WV 0 – 0 --- 0
NN 3 – 4 --- 7
Offsides
WV 0 – 0 --- 0
NN 0 – 2 --- 2
No. 2 Huskies too much for weary Warriors in 6-1 win
By Steve Nemeth
NAPERVILLE --- Knowing each team’s prelude to Thursday’s DuPage Valley Conference meeting pretty much foretold the outcome.
Visiting Waubonsie Valley, already limited by a short bench, was playing its fourth match in a six-day span.
Granted, Naperville North had four contests in a five-day stretch, but that was four days ago. Plus the host Huskies had the residual high of capturing a bracket title in the Goal 4 The Goal Fall Classic last weekend.
North came out quick to build a four-goal halftime lead, and it was game, set, and match.
Ranked no. 2 in this week’s Chicagoland Soccer Top 25 and 15th nationally by Top Drawer Soccer, North breezed to a 6-1 victory.
The Huskies current win streak (nine games) tops the nine-game unbeaten string (8-0-1) with which they started the 2017 season. When it comes to the DVC, the Huskies (17-1-1, 5-1-0) kept their paw in the door to claim a fourth-straight conference banner and the 25th in school history.
That opportunity presented itself when Wheaton North fought to a 2-2 draw Wednesday with rival and former league frontrunner Naperville Central. The tie left the Redhawks at 5-1-1 with a best-case scenario of 19 points with a positive outcome in their league finale with Lake Park. Metea Valley, which currently tops the DVC, completed its season with a 6-2-0 record and 18 points.
With wins in its final two games, Naperville North can claim the conference. However, both will need to come on the road, and Wheaton Warrenville South and Neuqua Valley would like nothing better than to spoil the Huskies fun.
Getting the conference title back in their sights was more significant to Ian Guppy than becoming the first Huskies player to record a hat-trick this season .
“Before today’s match coach (Jim Konrad) mentioned that tie and that if we can win out, the DVC title can be ours. That’s always on our goal list. The hat-trick is nice, but it really says I was in the right place at the right time thanks to my teammates,” Guppy said with too much humility. “We have plenty of other guys who could have had hat-tricks in other matches, so it’s not really a major bragging right. My goals today were really a credit to the team -- the one was all Jack (Barry) tapping the ball to me.”
Yes but the Chicagoland Soccer Man of the Match's hatter produced the 4-1 halftime tally that was simply too much of mountain to climb for a leg-weary Warrior unit that had its season ledger leveled at 8-8-1 and the DVC standard slip to 3-4-0.
While a header from a corner kick just one minute into the match sailed high, there was only 4:26 elapsed when North claimed the lead. Jack Barry had the perfect touch pass for Guppy to redirect the ball past Waubonsie starting goalie Vincent Rullo. Just under six minutes passed when another Barry throw-in nearly led to another score, but Rullo made one save and a follow-up Huskies try was wide.
Waubonsie Valley showed its fighting spirit midway through the opening half as Stephan Spano used a cross from Giacomo Parrino to the left side to put an 11-yarder inside the right post. For Spano it was his team-best seventh goal of the season while Parrino notched a team-high eighth assist.
“Giacomo found a little bit of space within which he drew defenders and the keeper’s attention and crossed the ball perfectly,” Spano recounted. “I saw one defender coming so I simply put my shot into the far lower corner knowing the keeper is really tall.”
North regained the lead eight seconds shy of three minutes later (22:40) as Barry’s corner kick found Guppy just off the post to his right. Ultimately that turned into Guppy’s team-leading sixth game-winning goal.
There was 8:03 left in the opening half when another Barry throw-in -- virtually as lethal as a corner kick -- was headed squarely into the net from eight yards by Colin Iverson. It was the ninth goal for the junior defender who races up field to utilize his height on corners or throws.
Waubonsie was deflated a step further when Guppy completed his hat trick 38 seconds prior to intermission. Ty Konrad earned the assist for what became Guppy’s 10th goal.
“Scoring off restarts has clearly been a strength, and once again we capitalized on those,” coach Konrad noted. “We’re looking to score more from the run of play, and I thought we did generate chances. Of course I wasn’t pleased that we gave up a goal.”
Both Guppy and Barry viewed their contributions more from a team standpoint.
“It is really important to step on people early, and we’ve come out of the gate a little slow at times,” Guppy said. “So having the mindset to (win) the table in the DVC adds importance to each conference game. I think when we play quick, we’re better overall.”
“Scoring early and often helps everyone stay confident and hungry for more,” Barry stated “We’re still looking to score more off runs and touches. We want to be as effective as we are on restarts. From my perspective, it feels good to contribute regardless of whether it’s an assist or a goal. We simply want to keep winning.”
Winning and the win streak was in doubt during the weekend in Burlington, Ia. While North had a smooth 3-0 win over Cherry Creek from Greenwood Village, Colo., followed by a 2-0 conquest of Notre Dame (Peoria) -- the sixth-rated team in Chicagoland Soccer’s Illinois 10 Poll -- the bracket championship saw the Huskies yield more than one goal for the first time this season.
Perennial national power St. Thomas Aquinas from Overland Park, Kan., led 3-0 at halftime. The Huskies responded with tallies from Will Ritzmann, Barry, Patrick Koenig, and Iverson for a monumental comeback triumph.
So Thursday’s four-goal opening half was simply an encore to North’s last 40 minutes. Two second half goals were like a pin popping any thought bubbles Waubonsie may have had envisioning a comeback during the break.
Only 3:56 after the second half start, Guppy chalked up an assist when Iverson pulled even with his teammate in goals with his 10th strike. A mere minute and 31 seconds ticked off before the Huskies struck again. This time it was yet another Barry throw-in marking his fourth set-up of the match and bumping his assist total to a team-high 14. Ritzmann charged through the middle for an eight-yard header -- his fourth goal of the year.
“Stats don’t matter much to me or my teammates near as much as winning and improving,” Ritzmann added. “My approach, like others, is to win tackles, connect passes, be in the right spot defensively, or set someone up. Every DVC match is a competitive battle to get the right result, so today was all about controlling our own destiny in the conference.”
With 30 minutes remaining in regulation, Jason Barba took over in goal for North becoming one of 14 reserves to see action.
“Another positive I was pleased to see today is that as we subbed, the effort stayed at the same level,” Konrad noted.
In spite of the scoreboard deficit, Waubonsie Valley put a renewed emphasis on ball possession for the remainder of the match. The Warriors looked to keep the ball moving with quick passes rather than running. In addition, Rohan Hindia handled the final 24 minutes in goal for the visitors.
“Between this being a long week and us short on subs, we did refocus our approach in the second half,” Spano said. “Playing possession soccer was being smarter in order to not run our legs too much.”
Waubonsie Valley coach Jose Garcia was looking long-term with respect to Saturday’s invitational pool final versus Lemont, a hoped for championship match later that day and a last road trip to Wheaton North before the postseason.
“In many respects it’s all preparation for the playoffs,” Garcia said. “It’s been a very busy week, and yet we battled for the first 15-20 minutes. But then our legs were clearly super heavy. I could see the physical aspect, a lot of bumps and bruises got to them. That in no way is taking anything away from North or the talent and skill they play with. It was just our reality today.”
While every statistic was also heavily in favor of North, Guppy kept things in perspective noting that the Huskies’ status as defending Class 3A state champions continues to make them everyone’s target.
“We’re aware of how much work remains in front of us, but I also believe we’ve got the kind of chemistry and team bond that can help us,” Guppy said. “It may seem like the roster is a split of sophomores and seniors with a few juniors, but we’re all good friends. Everyone is there to push each other or pick someone up. We were struggling in one game and Ali (Khorfan) came off the bench and worked his tail off and pleaded for everybody to step it up. It was a turning point in that game and represents the respect we have for each other.”
Starting lineups
Waubonsie Valley
GK Vincent Rullo
D Ryan Sanchez
D Will Krutchen
D Charles Zehnal
D Bobby Barnard
M Stephan Spano
M Mitch Mueller
M Noah Glorioso
M Justin Fitzpatrick
F Daniel Fritz
F Giacomo Parrino
Naperville North
GK Tommy Welch
D Ethan Harvey
D Colin Iverson
D Mitch Konrad
D Matt Billardello
M Cesar Recendez
M Jack Barry
M Will Ritzmann
F Ian Guppy
F Ty Konrad
F Patrick Koenig
Chicagoland Soccer Man of the Match: Ian Guppy, sr., F, Naperville North
Officials: Justin O’Bryan, Steve Jablow
Game summary
Naperville North 6, Waubonsie Valley 1
Waubonsie Valley 1 0 ---- 1 8-8-1 (DVC 3-4-0)
Naperville North 4 2 ---- 6 17-1-1 (DVC: 5-1-0)
Scoring
N – Guppy quick strike finish from a tap (J. Barry assist), 4:26 gone
WV – Spano left side 11-yard blast inside right post (Parrino assist), 19:48 gone
N – Guppy five-yarder slotted home from out front of right post (J. Barry assist), 22:40 gone
N – Iverson eight-yard header from the middle (J. Barry assist), 31:57 gone
N – Guppy 12-yarder from right of center (T. Konrad assist), 39:22 gone
N – Iverson five-yard putback inside left post (Guppy assist), 43:56 gone
N – Ritzmann eight-yard header off charge down the middle (J. Barry assist), 45:27 gone
Shots
WV 5 – 1 --- 6
NN 15 – 11 --- 26
Shots on goal
WV 3 – 1 --- 4
NN 6 – 4 --- 10
Saves (player)
WV 4 (Rullo 56 min. 2/1; Hindia 24 min. 1)
NN (Welch, 50 min. 2/0; Barba, 30 min. 1)
Corner kicks
WV 0 – 0 --- 0
NN 3 – 4 --- 7
Offsides
WV 0 – 0 --- 0
NN 0 – 2 --- 2