York goal blitz overpowers WWS
3 goals in 5 minutes does trick, Woolfe’s brace highlights road win
By Matt Le Cren
WHEATON – The performance of York’s offense can best be described as a set of dominoes.
Once the first tile goes down, they all get knocked over.
Sometimes it takes longer than the Dukes would like, but more often than not they can knock off teams one goal at a time.
That’s how it went Saturday, when York scored three times in a five-minute span of the second half and topped Wheaton Warrenville South 3-1 at Red Grange Field.
“We’re capable of many things,” York coach Lukasz Majewski said. “Sometimes you get frustrated with the fact that (the first goal doesn’t) come.
“Once we strike, we’re able to do that multiple times in a short period of time. It’s sometimes that first one that is the eluding one, that frustrates the most because you let teams hang in there.”
Indeed, the Dukes utterly dominated the possession, especially in the first half, and outshot the host Tigers 26-2. That included a 14-0 edge before intermission, when the Dukes had the wind at their backs but came up empty.
Ironically, York found more success going into the teeth of the wind and solved the Wheaton Warrenville South defense three times early in the second half.
Junior forward Ryan Woolfe scored the first two goals to record the first brace of his career, and Jack Musial ended the scoring.
“I feel like as we get one, it kind of helps,” Woolfe said. “When we got that one it really helped our momentum, and we really started going after that. We were all high-press for basically the rest of the half.”
The Dukes (9-5-1) were missing two key offensive pieces in Ethan Oder, who sat out with an injury, and Kol Rollins, who was on a college visit. But the attack didn’t miss a beat.
Senior Joe Meade and Parker Gawne were dangerous, as usually. They combined to barely miss at least five goals on shots that whizzed wide of the pipes.
But it was Woolfe who got the breakthrough with 35:20 left in the second half. The Dukes won a ball on the wing near midfield and caught the Tigers napping.
Chase McNeil’s lead pass sprung Woolfe and Erwin Morales on a 2-on-0 breakaway. Morales passed to Woolfe for an easy shot past goalkeeper Ramsey Khayal, who had no chance.
The Dukes struck again at the 32:51 mark on a similar play. This time it was Meade who accompanied Woolfe into the box on a 2-on-1 break.
They played a give-and-go before Woolfe moved the ball onto his left foot for a short finish to the lower left corner. It was the fifth goal for Woolfe, who had never scored more than one goal in a game but has been heating up of late.
“It definitely feels good,” Woolfe said. “I’m not used to that. It’s a good feeling score two, not just one.”
The emergence of Woolfe makes the Dukes even more dangerous.
“That’s good,” Musial said. “We have a lot of dangerous players, and it’s good to know that Woolfe is one of them too. Because he’s a guy that wants to score.”
The Dukes wanted to score earlier, of course, but had no luck before the break despite unleashing 14 shots and earning four corner kicks. Several shots were off the mark and Wheaton Warrenville South goalie Marco Chavez made four saves. Chavez was relieved at halftime by Khayal, who added five saves in the second half.
“I told the boys at halftime, this game reminds me of the 'Horror at Hoffman Estates' game,” said Majewski, referring to York’s season-opening 1-0 loss. “There’s no shots on goal (against us) yet we figure out how to lose a game.”
There would be no repeat as the Dukes continued to attack relentlessly even without the advantage of the wind.
“It almost seemed like (going against) the wind benefitted us a little bit because it slowed the ball down for us,” Majewski said. “We were using the width of the field.
“The goals came from the sides. The ball is on one side, we switch it to the other side and slide it across the face of the goal for the easy finish. Both of (Woolfe’s goals) were pretty easy finishes.”
So was the third goal, which also involved Woolfe, who launched a corner kick from the right side that deflected off Meade to Musial, who scored his third goal of the season to increase the lead to 3-0 with exactly a half-hour remaining.
“I think today we really played our game,” Musial said. “We were composed.
“We weren’t forcing the ball anywhere when it didn’t need to be. We need to work on our finishing, for sure, but overall I think we played the game the way we wanted to play.”
In contrast, the Tigers (6-6-1) played with the vigor they wanted to but failed to execute the way they needed to.
“If I could take 10 minutes back at any point in the day, it would be where we gave up three goals,” said Wheaton Warrenville South coach Guy Callipari, who said fatigue did not play a role in the defensive breakdowns.
“It was just a matter of taking poor angles, letting people run at you aggressively without initiating some sort of disruption in the flow of that pattern.
“Those plays happened 35-40 yards from the finish, and there’s a lot of bodies behind the ball. If you can’t figure out in a singular attempt, that should be easy to focus in on and redirect it someplace else.
“But we didn’t do a very good job of that collectively. (We were a) little bit on our back foot, unfortunately, and then we didn’t respond well after the first one.
“If you take that away and play with a clear mind and respond in a better way, we’ll be in pretty good shape.”
Despite the loss, the Tigers seemed in good shape mentally after the match. Senior forward Ivan Guzman, who tallied his team’s only goal on a penalty kick with 16:11 left, was upbeat.
“The team was working hard,” Guzman said. “I’m really proud of them.
“Even though I was really tired - we were all tired - we all stepped up. I think we did a good performance today. Even though we were losing 3-0 we were trying really hard to get it up to 3-3.
“We’ve been working really hard, and we’re confident. Even though some mistakes happen, everything can get better, and I hope we can turn this around and start winning.”
It all starts with attitude, which explains why Guzman still had a smile on his face even after he and his teammates spent most of 80 minutes chasing the ball.
“I’m passionate, so when you’re passionate, you don’t get tired,” Guzman said. “You just play for the love of the game.
“I have two goals right now, but I’m going to get more. Hopefully I can get other people who haven’t scored their first varsity goal to get their first goals.”
Callipari loves that mindset.
“He’s positive all over the park,” Callipari said. “They all are, and that’s the great thing about it.
“We go 24 deep today and everybody’s going to play regardless of what the score is. They love the game and they want to get better.”
Starting lineups
York
GK Kennedy Shea
D Kalvin Glodz
D Parker Gawne
D Sebastian Benavides
D Paolo Favuzzi
M Sam Musial
M Jack Musial
M Simar Singh
M Chase McNeil
F Joe Meade
F Ryan Woolfe
F Erwin Morales
Wheaton Warrenville South
GK Marco Chavez
D Jackson Moran
D Ben Webber
D Rolin Thang
M Gabe Waszak
M Ryan Dufty
M Paul Thalmann
M Christian Munoz
M Kevin Stumbris
M Jack Cooper
F Nick McGrath
Chicagoland Soccer Man of the Match: Ryan Woolfe, jr., F, York
Scoring summary
First half
No scoring
Second half
York – Ryan Woolfe (Erwin Morales) 35:20
York – Woolfe (Joe Meade) 32:51
York – Jack Musial (Kalvin Glodz) 30:00
WWS – Juan Guzman (PK) 16:11
3 goals in 5 minutes does trick, Woolfe’s brace highlights road win
By Matt Le Cren
WHEATON – The performance of York’s offense can best be described as a set of dominoes.
Once the first tile goes down, they all get knocked over.
Sometimes it takes longer than the Dukes would like, but more often than not they can knock off teams one goal at a time.
That’s how it went Saturday, when York scored three times in a five-minute span of the second half and topped Wheaton Warrenville South 3-1 at Red Grange Field.
“We’re capable of many things,” York coach Lukasz Majewski said. “Sometimes you get frustrated with the fact that (the first goal doesn’t) come.
“Once we strike, we’re able to do that multiple times in a short period of time. It’s sometimes that first one that is the eluding one, that frustrates the most because you let teams hang in there.”
Indeed, the Dukes utterly dominated the possession, especially in the first half, and outshot the host Tigers 26-2. That included a 14-0 edge before intermission, when the Dukes had the wind at their backs but came up empty.
Ironically, York found more success going into the teeth of the wind and solved the Wheaton Warrenville South defense three times early in the second half.
Junior forward Ryan Woolfe scored the first two goals to record the first brace of his career, and Jack Musial ended the scoring.
“I feel like as we get one, it kind of helps,” Woolfe said. “When we got that one it really helped our momentum, and we really started going after that. We were all high-press for basically the rest of the half.”
The Dukes (9-5-1) were missing two key offensive pieces in Ethan Oder, who sat out with an injury, and Kol Rollins, who was on a college visit. But the attack didn’t miss a beat.
Senior Joe Meade and Parker Gawne were dangerous, as usually. They combined to barely miss at least five goals on shots that whizzed wide of the pipes.
But it was Woolfe who got the breakthrough with 35:20 left in the second half. The Dukes won a ball on the wing near midfield and caught the Tigers napping.
Chase McNeil’s lead pass sprung Woolfe and Erwin Morales on a 2-on-0 breakaway. Morales passed to Woolfe for an easy shot past goalkeeper Ramsey Khayal, who had no chance.
The Dukes struck again at the 32:51 mark on a similar play. This time it was Meade who accompanied Woolfe into the box on a 2-on-1 break.
They played a give-and-go before Woolfe moved the ball onto his left foot for a short finish to the lower left corner. It was the fifth goal for Woolfe, who had never scored more than one goal in a game but has been heating up of late.
“It definitely feels good,” Woolfe said. “I’m not used to that. It’s a good feeling score two, not just one.”
The emergence of Woolfe makes the Dukes even more dangerous.
“That’s good,” Musial said. “We have a lot of dangerous players, and it’s good to know that Woolfe is one of them too. Because he’s a guy that wants to score.”
The Dukes wanted to score earlier, of course, but had no luck before the break despite unleashing 14 shots and earning four corner kicks. Several shots were off the mark and Wheaton Warrenville South goalie Marco Chavez made four saves. Chavez was relieved at halftime by Khayal, who added five saves in the second half.
“I told the boys at halftime, this game reminds me of the 'Horror at Hoffman Estates' game,” said Majewski, referring to York’s season-opening 1-0 loss. “There’s no shots on goal (against us) yet we figure out how to lose a game.”
There would be no repeat as the Dukes continued to attack relentlessly even without the advantage of the wind.
“It almost seemed like (going against) the wind benefitted us a little bit because it slowed the ball down for us,” Majewski said. “We were using the width of the field.
“The goals came from the sides. The ball is on one side, we switch it to the other side and slide it across the face of the goal for the easy finish. Both of (Woolfe’s goals) were pretty easy finishes.”
So was the third goal, which also involved Woolfe, who launched a corner kick from the right side that deflected off Meade to Musial, who scored his third goal of the season to increase the lead to 3-0 with exactly a half-hour remaining.
“I think today we really played our game,” Musial said. “We were composed.
“We weren’t forcing the ball anywhere when it didn’t need to be. We need to work on our finishing, for sure, but overall I think we played the game the way we wanted to play.”
In contrast, the Tigers (6-6-1) played with the vigor they wanted to but failed to execute the way they needed to.
“If I could take 10 minutes back at any point in the day, it would be where we gave up three goals,” said Wheaton Warrenville South coach Guy Callipari, who said fatigue did not play a role in the defensive breakdowns.
“It was just a matter of taking poor angles, letting people run at you aggressively without initiating some sort of disruption in the flow of that pattern.
“Those plays happened 35-40 yards from the finish, and there’s a lot of bodies behind the ball. If you can’t figure out in a singular attempt, that should be easy to focus in on and redirect it someplace else.
“But we didn’t do a very good job of that collectively. (We were a) little bit on our back foot, unfortunately, and then we didn’t respond well after the first one.
“If you take that away and play with a clear mind and respond in a better way, we’ll be in pretty good shape.”
Despite the loss, the Tigers seemed in good shape mentally after the match. Senior forward Ivan Guzman, who tallied his team’s only goal on a penalty kick with 16:11 left, was upbeat.
“The team was working hard,” Guzman said. “I’m really proud of them.
“Even though I was really tired - we were all tired - we all stepped up. I think we did a good performance today. Even though we were losing 3-0 we were trying really hard to get it up to 3-3.
“We’ve been working really hard, and we’re confident. Even though some mistakes happen, everything can get better, and I hope we can turn this around and start winning.”
It all starts with attitude, which explains why Guzman still had a smile on his face even after he and his teammates spent most of 80 minutes chasing the ball.
“I’m passionate, so when you’re passionate, you don’t get tired,” Guzman said. “You just play for the love of the game.
“I have two goals right now, but I’m going to get more. Hopefully I can get other people who haven’t scored their first varsity goal to get their first goals.”
Callipari loves that mindset.
“He’s positive all over the park,” Callipari said. “They all are, and that’s the great thing about it.
“We go 24 deep today and everybody’s going to play regardless of what the score is. They love the game and they want to get better.”
Starting lineups
York
GK Kennedy Shea
D Kalvin Glodz
D Parker Gawne
D Sebastian Benavides
D Paolo Favuzzi
M Sam Musial
M Jack Musial
M Simar Singh
M Chase McNeil
F Joe Meade
F Ryan Woolfe
F Erwin Morales
Wheaton Warrenville South
GK Marco Chavez
D Jackson Moran
D Ben Webber
D Rolin Thang
M Gabe Waszak
M Ryan Dufty
M Paul Thalmann
M Christian Munoz
M Kevin Stumbris
M Jack Cooper
F Nick McGrath
Chicagoland Soccer Man of the Match: Ryan Woolfe, jr., F, York
Scoring summary
First half
No scoring
Second half
York – Ryan Woolfe (Erwin Morales) 35:20
York – Woolfe (Joe Meade) 32:51
York – Jack Musial (Kalvin Glodz) 30:00
WWS – Juan Guzman (PK) 16:11