Notebook: Barrington; Hersey; New Trier; Prospect; Rolling Meadows
By Mike Garofola and staff
Kings of the Central Suburban League and Mid-Suburban League, New Trier and Barrington respectively, tried to meet Tuesday night in the season-opening CSL/MSL Challenge. Unfortunately, the league champions from the 2021 spring season lost out to Mother Nature.
Six minutes into the match at Barrington Community Stadium the skies went pitch black, the winds roared across the stadium and pounding rain sent all those on hand in for safe keeping. Lightning ended the evening almost 75 minutes after this nasty weather came about.
With each club set to play on Thursday, this contest will not see its way back onto their schedules.
That’s too bad according to both managers, who were looking forward to this rousing start to the season.
"We were really looking forward to playing Scott's (Steib, Barrington's manager) group tonight, and at their place which is easily one of the biggest in the state," said Trevians manager Matt Ravenscraft, now in his sixth year in charge with an overall record of 74-21-11 during that time.
The reigning CSL South Division champions lost plenty from the 2021 spring club, six of whom will continue to play this fall, including the Chicagoland Soccer all-state duo of Will Franzen and Jake Krueger (Denison).
Franzen stepped away from his commitment at Carnegie Mellon to play overseas at Uppsala University in Sweden. It is nearly an hour outside of Stockholm, according to Ravenscraft.
"While we graduated some very strong players, we brought back a strong core group of very experienced players across the line: (junior and two-time CS all-stater) Aidan Crawford in goal, James Paden as our central defender-holding midfielder, Ronan O'Neill (striker), Ely Wilson (central defender, center midfielder), the Kanellos brothers (Peter, Evan) in the midfield and Becca Simon as one of our wide players," he said.
"We added several seniors to give us additional leadership and a very nice group of juniors and sophomores who are really eager to make their mark.
"It's a strong squad and one that has been a real pleasure to coach thus far."
The Trevians will host Glenbard East at 7 p.m. Thursday at their Northfield Campus.
Barrington’s Steib, who enters his 23rd year at the school, has a 371-118-43 career mark after breaking in at Lake Zurich.
He led his men to a 9-3-0 record last spring, which included a thrilling win in kicks over Buffalo Grove to earn the fourth MSL Soccer Bowl title in program history following a ninth MSL West Division crown.
"We lost a very talented and deeply experienced senior class from this past May,” he said. “While we will be unable to replace their quality or experience, we do have (12) seniors on this club. I think they believe in their ability to step in and carry the torch this fall."
Graduated were a trio of all-state players. Four-year star Niko Argyros, a classy, clever and crafty midfielder, is now on the roster at Denison. Two-time all-state goalkeeper Daniel Hesselbein (Hope College), a brilliant shot-stopper and field general, was a key performer in the Broncos’ Soccer Bowl victory against Buffalo Grove.
Steib also said good-bye to one of the best one-two central defending partnerships in all-stater Jo Cidulka and special mention selection Michael Horak.
Steib will lean on the returning trio of defender Ryan Chang, midfielder Jeremiah Gascho and forward Ben Yaney, alaong withy midfielder David Gomez, forward Jack Peterson and Highland Park transfer Matt Klujian, an all-sectional pick spring who will provide plenty of help along the back.
"We love the way our kids are training, and the brotherhood and team camaraderie they've exhibited thus far, which has been excellent,” Steib said. “But we know we'll have to be more clinical in our attack and find a way to score goals. It's a group which is coachable, and seems quite capable of being competitive against anyone," opined Steib, who along with Glenbrook North manager Paul Vignocchi were the visionaries behind the CSL/MSL Challenge, which is now in its 13th season.
The Broncos play at Hoffman Estates in their league-opener on Thursday night.
New travel trophy up for grabs
Hersey, Prospect and Rolling Meadows will have something new to play for this season.
Huskies coach Mike Rusniak liked the idea of adding extra intrigue to the season and turned to local history for inspiration.
From that the Cardinal Cup was born.
The name comes from the old Arlington High School, nicknamed the Cardinals, which closed in 1984.
After the shutdown Prospect, which opened in 1957 as a freshman campus for Arlington but became a full-fledged high school the next year, Hersey which opened its doors in 1968, and Rolling Meadows (1971) accepted displaced students from the shuttered school.
Now, whether their seasons are soaring, suffering or sitting somewhere in between, look for extra-spirited competition when: Rolling Meadows hosts Prospect on Sept 23; Hersey welcomes Rolling Meadows on Sept. 28; and Prospect visits Hersey on Sept. 30.
The Cardinal Cup is in play.
By Mike Garofola and staff
Kings of the Central Suburban League and Mid-Suburban League, New Trier and Barrington respectively, tried to meet Tuesday night in the season-opening CSL/MSL Challenge. Unfortunately, the league champions from the 2021 spring season lost out to Mother Nature.
Six minutes into the match at Barrington Community Stadium the skies went pitch black, the winds roared across the stadium and pounding rain sent all those on hand in for safe keeping. Lightning ended the evening almost 75 minutes after this nasty weather came about.
With each club set to play on Thursday, this contest will not see its way back onto their schedules.
That’s too bad according to both managers, who were looking forward to this rousing start to the season.
"We were really looking forward to playing Scott's (Steib, Barrington's manager) group tonight, and at their place which is easily one of the biggest in the state," said Trevians manager Matt Ravenscraft, now in his sixth year in charge with an overall record of 74-21-11 during that time.
The reigning CSL South Division champions lost plenty from the 2021 spring club, six of whom will continue to play this fall, including the Chicagoland Soccer all-state duo of Will Franzen and Jake Krueger (Denison).
Franzen stepped away from his commitment at Carnegie Mellon to play overseas at Uppsala University in Sweden. It is nearly an hour outside of Stockholm, according to Ravenscraft.
"While we graduated some very strong players, we brought back a strong core group of very experienced players across the line: (junior and two-time CS all-stater) Aidan Crawford in goal, James Paden as our central defender-holding midfielder, Ronan O'Neill (striker), Ely Wilson (central defender, center midfielder), the Kanellos brothers (Peter, Evan) in the midfield and Becca Simon as one of our wide players," he said.
"We added several seniors to give us additional leadership and a very nice group of juniors and sophomores who are really eager to make their mark.
"It's a strong squad and one that has been a real pleasure to coach thus far."
The Trevians will host Glenbard East at 7 p.m. Thursday at their Northfield Campus.
Barrington’s Steib, who enters his 23rd year at the school, has a 371-118-43 career mark after breaking in at Lake Zurich.
He led his men to a 9-3-0 record last spring, which included a thrilling win in kicks over Buffalo Grove to earn the fourth MSL Soccer Bowl title in program history following a ninth MSL West Division crown.
"We lost a very talented and deeply experienced senior class from this past May,” he said. “While we will be unable to replace their quality or experience, we do have (12) seniors on this club. I think they believe in their ability to step in and carry the torch this fall."
Graduated were a trio of all-state players. Four-year star Niko Argyros, a classy, clever and crafty midfielder, is now on the roster at Denison. Two-time all-state goalkeeper Daniel Hesselbein (Hope College), a brilliant shot-stopper and field general, was a key performer in the Broncos’ Soccer Bowl victory against Buffalo Grove.
Steib also said good-bye to one of the best one-two central defending partnerships in all-stater Jo Cidulka and special mention selection Michael Horak.
Steib will lean on the returning trio of defender Ryan Chang, midfielder Jeremiah Gascho and forward Ben Yaney, alaong withy midfielder David Gomez, forward Jack Peterson and Highland Park transfer Matt Klujian, an all-sectional pick spring who will provide plenty of help along the back.
"We love the way our kids are training, and the brotherhood and team camaraderie they've exhibited thus far, which has been excellent,” Steib said. “But we know we'll have to be more clinical in our attack and find a way to score goals. It's a group which is coachable, and seems quite capable of being competitive against anyone," opined Steib, who along with Glenbrook North manager Paul Vignocchi were the visionaries behind the CSL/MSL Challenge, which is now in its 13th season.
The Broncos play at Hoffman Estates in their league-opener on Thursday night.
New travel trophy up for grabs
Hersey, Prospect and Rolling Meadows will have something new to play for this season.
Huskies coach Mike Rusniak liked the idea of adding extra intrigue to the season and turned to local history for inspiration.
From that the Cardinal Cup was born.
The name comes from the old Arlington High School, nicknamed the Cardinals, which closed in 1984.
After the shutdown Prospect, which opened in 1957 as a freshman campus for Arlington but became a full-fledged high school the next year, Hersey which opened its doors in 1968, and Rolling Meadows (1971) accepted displaced students from the shuttered school.
Now, whether their seasons are soaring, suffering or sitting somewhere in between, look for extra-spirited competition when: Rolling Meadows hosts Prospect on Sept 23; Hersey welcomes Rolling Meadows on Sept. 28; and Prospect visits Hersey on Sept. 30.
The Cardinal Cup is in play.