Wheaton N. keeps Waubonsie V. at bay
Falcons’ keeper Thompson shines in 2nd half in 1-0 DVC win
By Gary Larsen
WHEATON -- Harry Thompson was in a precarious spot.
Wheaton North’s senior keeper had a 1-0 lead to protect against a visiting Waubonsie Valley team that found its attack in the second half and brought the heat in search of a tying goal.
“If they get a goal, then the momentum switches to them, and we can get frantic,” Thompson said. “So I tried to kick it into a higher gear.”
Whether he was making sliding stops on point-blank shots, racing out to the 18 to intercept dangerous through-balls, or facing hard shots from distance, Thompson handled everything the Warriors threw at him in preserving a 1-0 Falcons win in a DuPage Valley Conference tilt.
“The whole team owes Harry for that one,” Wheaton North senior mid Jorge Patino said.
A steady rain on the artificial pitch at Wheaton North didn’t make matters any easier for Thompson.
“That’s one of my worst fears,” Thompson said. “It makes your gloves really slippery, and the ball can slip through them real easily. And the ball skips off the turf fast. I was trying not to get my hands away from my body to catch it, and try to use my chest to get it down, and keep my body in front of it as much as I could.”
Thompson’s shutout earned him Chicagoland Soccer’s Man of the Match honor.
“Harry started the season well, had a bit of a hiccup in the middle of the season, and he bounced back,” Wheaton North coach Rob Stassen said. “He’s now had two or three games, back-to-back, where he has been lights out and saved us.
“He really took ownership out there. He’s out quick, and he’s out hard, and he’s fearless. Without him today that game would not have gone the way it ended.”
Waubonsie Valley coach Jose Garcia was left to ponder a solid Warriors attack that came away empty-handed.
“That’s the way it goes. It’s part of soccer,” Garcia said. “We had the opportunities, and we just couldn’t put them away. They either hit the keeper or we were a couple inches off. But that’s the game of soccer. We just have to look ahead and work on finishing those opportunities.”
The game’s lone goal came early, when Wheaton North’s Jack Morrisey took a corner kick at four minutes that eventually found its way to the far side. Patino took it from there, serving it from the right side into the box, where teammate Alex Beausoleil stepped forward and buried a head shot from 10 yards out.
“It deflected off one of our players, and I got to it,” Patino said. “I saw (Alex Beausoleil) and just served it. I think that goal might give him the Golden Boot.”
The Golden Boot is an award given annually to the player who scores the most goals in DVC play, and Beausoleil’s seventh goal against DVC opponents put him firmly in the running.
“I told (Beausoleil) if he got two or three today, that Golden Boot was definitely his,” Stassen said. “He got one and hopefully seven will do it. And to get seven goals in the DVC is quite a feat. He played great, and when his confidence is up he can take nine shots and score nine times.”
Two minutes after Beausoleil’s goal, Waubonsie Valley forward Darius Grassi fired a shot that Thompson dove for and tipped over the endline. The Warriors had a few free kicks from distance and found another decent shot at 16 minutes, when Thompson hit the turf and saved a low blast taken by Waubonsie Valley midfielder Stephen Spano.
Beausoleil had a shot blocked by a defender in transition a minute later, and Wheaton North’s attack began to slowly establish itself. Midfielder Morrisey split a pair of defenders at 24 minutes and fired a one-hopper into the hands of Warriors keeper Vincent Rullo, and midfielder Will Wanzenburg broke in alone on net at 30 minutes but Rullo slid out and made the save.
Wheaton North played quick, cohesive, and aggressive soccer to intermission.
“We’ve been fixing some little things, like switching the ball, playing at high speed, and we have really good strikers that can find goals everywhere,” Patino said. “We just need to move the ball quicker and keep talking. When we do that consistently, we’re good.”
Beausoleil sent a good chance wide at 31 minutes, teammate Ethan Shikany shot just high from distance a minute later, and Jake Dzarnowski and Joe Gaither each found good chances on their feet that either flew wide or Rullo stopped before halftime.
“We kept moving the ball quick, especially in the first half,” Patino said. “We did really well and (Waubonsie) barely touched the ball. But in the second half we stopped moving, and that’s when things started to fall off.”
Waubonsie Valley began to apply consistent pressure at 50 minutes, when Spano broke in alone and Thompson made a sliding stop on him. Will Krutchen fired just over the bar at 51 minutes on a feed from Giacomo Parrino, and Thompson won a foot race with a charging Parrino near the 18 on a Waubonsie Valley through-ball at 59 minutes.
Garcia liked what he got from Parrino on Tuesday.
“Giacamo came out to play today,” he said, "and I think we showed in the second half that we’re playing more as a cohesive team, in terms of less individual play and looking for each other, and just playing more as a team. We’ve improved on that throughout the season, and that’s what we’ll need to get us through the regional.”
Thompson fielded a skipping one-hopper off the foot of Matthew Shannon at 60 minutes and Spano chipped a good chance high from 8 yards out at 63 minutes. Thompson smothered another through-ball near the 18 with Parrino charging at him at 65 minutes and dove to swat a Parrino shot over the end line a minute later. Spano and Parrino each found shots in the game’s waning minutes but Thompson wouldn’t budge.
“We’ve been working a lot on playing through and trying to find those channels, and I think we did a little of that today,” Garcia said.
“You hate those sort of games where you’re chasing a goal, but you just hope the boys continue to play the game the way you want to see them play — possessing the ball a little bit more, switching the play a little bit. And I thought we did that today. Overall, I was pleased with how we played.”
Garcia was particularly pleased with a bevy of players that saw heavy varsity minutes for the first time this year Tuesday: Aaron Griffith; Ajay Buch; Jorge Gallegos, and Tyler Matthews.
“Injury, absences, those other things that just happen, but it gives opportunity to some other players, and those guys really showed up and fought for us today,” Garcia said.
Wheaton North outside backs Liam Jeanette and Drew Ogilvie also provided solid play throughout for Stassen.
“Up until the Naperville Central game (Oct. 4), they hadn’t played more than five minutes together the entire season,” Sassen said. “They played so well in that game that we decided to give them a whirl tonight. If they struggled we could have pulled them, but I didn’t touch them. They both stayed in for 80 minutes.
“I also thought Jack Morrisey was a stud tonight, and Jake Dzarnowski at center mid has been golden for us the entire year. Jack Mancuso stepped in at center back and played well and Will Wanzenburg coming off the bench and sitting at forward and outside mid was a real workhorse on both sides of the ball. We needed that injection of defense tonight.”
Starting lineups
Wheaton North
GK Harry Thompson
D Liam Jeanette
D Jack Tegart
D Carlos Saavedra
D Andrew Ogilvie
M Lucas Partington
M Jorge Patino
M Jake Dzarnowski
M Jack Morrisey
M Joe Gaither
F Alex Beausoleil
Waubonsie Valley
GK Vincent Rullo
D Ryan Sanchez
D Bobby Bernard
D Brandon Garduno
D Matthew Shannon
M Jorge Gallegos
M Daniel Fritz
M Noah Glorioso
M Stephen Spano
M Milan Erastus-Obilo
F Darius Grassi
Chicagoland Soccer Man of the Match: Harry Thompson, sr., GK, Wheaton North
Scoring summary
First half
Wheaton North — Beausoleil (Patino)
Falcons’ keeper Thompson shines in 2nd half in 1-0 DVC win
By Gary Larsen
WHEATON -- Harry Thompson was in a precarious spot.
Wheaton North’s senior keeper had a 1-0 lead to protect against a visiting Waubonsie Valley team that found its attack in the second half and brought the heat in search of a tying goal.
“If they get a goal, then the momentum switches to them, and we can get frantic,” Thompson said. “So I tried to kick it into a higher gear.”
Whether he was making sliding stops on point-blank shots, racing out to the 18 to intercept dangerous through-balls, or facing hard shots from distance, Thompson handled everything the Warriors threw at him in preserving a 1-0 Falcons win in a DuPage Valley Conference tilt.
“The whole team owes Harry for that one,” Wheaton North senior mid Jorge Patino said.
A steady rain on the artificial pitch at Wheaton North didn’t make matters any easier for Thompson.
“That’s one of my worst fears,” Thompson said. “It makes your gloves really slippery, and the ball can slip through them real easily. And the ball skips off the turf fast. I was trying not to get my hands away from my body to catch it, and try to use my chest to get it down, and keep my body in front of it as much as I could.”
Thompson’s shutout earned him Chicagoland Soccer’s Man of the Match honor.
“Harry started the season well, had a bit of a hiccup in the middle of the season, and he bounced back,” Wheaton North coach Rob Stassen said. “He’s now had two or three games, back-to-back, where he has been lights out and saved us.
“He really took ownership out there. He’s out quick, and he’s out hard, and he’s fearless. Without him today that game would not have gone the way it ended.”
Waubonsie Valley coach Jose Garcia was left to ponder a solid Warriors attack that came away empty-handed.
“That’s the way it goes. It’s part of soccer,” Garcia said. “We had the opportunities, and we just couldn’t put them away. They either hit the keeper or we were a couple inches off. But that’s the game of soccer. We just have to look ahead and work on finishing those opportunities.”
The game’s lone goal came early, when Wheaton North’s Jack Morrisey took a corner kick at four minutes that eventually found its way to the far side. Patino took it from there, serving it from the right side into the box, where teammate Alex Beausoleil stepped forward and buried a head shot from 10 yards out.
“It deflected off one of our players, and I got to it,” Patino said. “I saw (Alex Beausoleil) and just served it. I think that goal might give him the Golden Boot.”
The Golden Boot is an award given annually to the player who scores the most goals in DVC play, and Beausoleil’s seventh goal against DVC opponents put him firmly in the running.
“I told (Beausoleil) if he got two or three today, that Golden Boot was definitely his,” Stassen said. “He got one and hopefully seven will do it. And to get seven goals in the DVC is quite a feat. He played great, and when his confidence is up he can take nine shots and score nine times.”
Two minutes after Beausoleil’s goal, Waubonsie Valley forward Darius Grassi fired a shot that Thompson dove for and tipped over the endline. The Warriors had a few free kicks from distance and found another decent shot at 16 minutes, when Thompson hit the turf and saved a low blast taken by Waubonsie Valley midfielder Stephen Spano.
Beausoleil had a shot blocked by a defender in transition a minute later, and Wheaton North’s attack began to slowly establish itself. Midfielder Morrisey split a pair of defenders at 24 minutes and fired a one-hopper into the hands of Warriors keeper Vincent Rullo, and midfielder Will Wanzenburg broke in alone on net at 30 minutes but Rullo slid out and made the save.
Wheaton North played quick, cohesive, and aggressive soccer to intermission.
“We’ve been fixing some little things, like switching the ball, playing at high speed, and we have really good strikers that can find goals everywhere,” Patino said. “We just need to move the ball quicker and keep talking. When we do that consistently, we’re good.”
Beausoleil sent a good chance wide at 31 minutes, teammate Ethan Shikany shot just high from distance a minute later, and Jake Dzarnowski and Joe Gaither each found good chances on their feet that either flew wide or Rullo stopped before halftime.
“We kept moving the ball quick, especially in the first half,” Patino said. “We did really well and (Waubonsie) barely touched the ball. But in the second half we stopped moving, and that’s when things started to fall off.”
Waubonsie Valley began to apply consistent pressure at 50 minutes, when Spano broke in alone and Thompson made a sliding stop on him. Will Krutchen fired just over the bar at 51 minutes on a feed from Giacomo Parrino, and Thompson won a foot race with a charging Parrino near the 18 on a Waubonsie Valley through-ball at 59 minutes.
Garcia liked what he got from Parrino on Tuesday.
“Giacamo came out to play today,” he said, "and I think we showed in the second half that we’re playing more as a cohesive team, in terms of less individual play and looking for each other, and just playing more as a team. We’ve improved on that throughout the season, and that’s what we’ll need to get us through the regional.”
Thompson fielded a skipping one-hopper off the foot of Matthew Shannon at 60 minutes and Spano chipped a good chance high from 8 yards out at 63 minutes. Thompson smothered another through-ball near the 18 with Parrino charging at him at 65 minutes and dove to swat a Parrino shot over the end line a minute later. Spano and Parrino each found shots in the game’s waning minutes but Thompson wouldn’t budge.
“We’ve been working a lot on playing through and trying to find those channels, and I think we did a little of that today,” Garcia said.
“You hate those sort of games where you’re chasing a goal, but you just hope the boys continue to play the game the way you want to see them play — possessing the ball a little bit more, switching the play a little bit. And I thought we did that today. Overall, I was pleased with how we played.”
Garcia was particularly pleased with a bevy of players that saw heavy varsity minutes for the first time this year Tuesday: Aaron Griffith; Ajay Buch; Jorge Gallegos, and Tyler Matthews.
“Injury, absences, those other things that just happen, but it gives opportunity to some other players, and those guys really showed up and fought for us today,” Garcia said.
Wheaton North outside backs Liam Jeanette and Drew Ogilvie also provided solid play throughout for Stassen.
“Up until the Naperville Central game (Oct. 4), they hadn’t played more than five minutes together the entire season,” Sassen said. “They played so well in that game that we decided to give them a whirl tonight. If they struggled we could have pulled them, but I didn’t touch them. They both stayed in for 80 minutes.
“I also thought Jack Morrisey was a stud tonight, and Jake Dzarnowski at center mid has been golden for us the entire year. Jack Mancuso stepped in at center back and played well and Will Wanzenburg coming off the bench and sitting at forward and outside mid was a real workhorse on both sides of the ball. We needed that injection of defense tonight.”
Starting lineups
Wheaton North
GK Harry Thompson
D Liam Jeanette
D Jack Tegart
D Carlos Saavedra
D Andrew Ogilvie
M Lucas Partington
M Jorge Patino
M Jake Dzarnowski
M Jack Morrisey
M Joe Gaither
F Alex Beausoleil
Waubonsie Valley
GK Vincent Rullo
D Ryan Sanchez
D Bobby Bernard
D Brandon Garduno
D Matthew Shannon
M Jorge Gallegos
M Daniel Fritz
M Noah Glorioso
M Stephen Spano
M Milan Erastus-Obilo
F Darius Grassi
Chicagoland Soccer Man of the Match: Harry Thompson, sr., GK, Wheaton North
Scoring summary
First half
Wheaton North — Beausoleil (Patino)