Wheaton Academy looks for
the Wheaton sweep against North
By Chris Walker
It’s been a tale of two different starts for Wheaton Academy and Wheaton North this season.
Highly regarded Wheaton Academy (4-0-1) won’t be fazed by the move from Class 2A to Class 3A this year, although their journey in the playoffs will be more difficult when it arrives.
But the Warriors are accustomed to playing a heavy big-school schedule, and this year is no different. They’ve already earned victories against Geneva, West Chicago and area rival Wheaton Warrenville South. Wheaton Academy hosts Maine West at 7 p.m. Wednesday night.
They’ll now look to sweep the two public Wheaton high schools as they travel to Wheaton North on Thursday.
Offense has been a problem for the Falcons (1-4-1). They’ve only scored one goal in their previous five games after a 2-0 win against Schurz to open the season. Meanwhile, the Warriors have collected 19 goals this season.
Wheaton North lost a tough one on Tuesday, dropping a 1-0 game at Wheaton Warrenville South on a Carlos Moyoti-Rosas goal. It was the third time they’ve come up short by a 1-0 score already this fall.
For Wheaton Academy, ranked no. 3 in the Chicagoland Soccer Top 25, Ty Seager and Jacob Kapitaniuk are the lone starters returning from last year’s Class 2A state champion team, but they’ve quickly brought their teammates up to speed.
Seager scored twice Friday as the Warriors rallied to tie Cuyahoga Valley Christian Academy (Ohio) 3-3 at Grace College in Indiana, where Wheaton Academy athletic director and girls soccer coach Dave Underwood played and coached.
“I think we might be under the radar a bit after graduating 9-of-11 starters, but we’ve had a great first week and came from behind to tie CVCA on the trip we do every year,” Warriors coach Jeff Brooke said. “We’re still trying to find a rhythm to the rotation, so to speak, and we’ve had a couple injuries, so the starting 11 has changed a bit every game.”
The nice thing about the Warriors this far this year is that they’re getting a lot of contributions from both the starting lineup and off the bench.
Luis Rocha, Grayson Harris, Christian Ziesemer, Ethan Stoneman, Elias McCloud and Isaac Anthony, among others, have really stepped up their games this fall.
Now they’ll look to go a perfect 2-0 against their namesake schools.
“We love playing the Wheaton schools,” Brooke said. “It’s a healthy rivalry and because of the close proximity it can be more fun. I think that both schools look forward to the crosstown rivalry.”
Wheaton North continue to be a work in progress under first-year coach Rob Stassen.
The Falcons, who broke a three-game losing streak with a 1-1 tie against York on Saturday, are trying try to learn new team roles and many players have taken on new positions this season.
One constant this season has been senior keeper Connor Reece, who has been a stalwart in goal and provided leadership for the backline. The team will continue to look for a way to score goals. Wheaton North is only 0-3-1 in games that they have allowed a single score.
the Wheaton sweep against North
By Chris Walker
It’s been a tale of two different starts for Wheaton Academy and Wheaton North this season.
Highly regarded Wheaton Academy (4-0-1) won’t be fazed by the move from Class 2A to Class 3A this year, although their journey in the playoffs will be more difficult when it arrives.
But the Warriors are accustomed to playing a heavy big-school schedule, and this year is no different. They’ve already earned victories against Geneva, West Chicago and area rival Wheaton Warrenville South. Wheaton Academy hosts Maine West at 7 p.m. Wednesday night.
They’ll now look to sweep the two public Wheaton high schools as they travel to Wheaton North on Thursday.
Offense has been a problem for the Falcons (1-4-1). They’ve only scored one goal in their previous five games after a 2-0 win against Schurz to open the season. Meanwhile, the Warriors have collected 19 goals this season.
Wheaton North lost a tough one on Tuesday, dropping a 1-0 game at Wheaton Warrenville South on a Carlos Moyoti-Rosas goal. It was the third time they’ve come up short by a 1-0 score already this fall.
For Wheaton Academy, ranked no. 3 in the Chicagoland Soccer Top 25, Ty Seager and Jacob Kapitaniuk are the lone starters returning from last year’s Class 2A state champion team, but they’ve quickly brought their teammates up to speed.
Seager scored twice Friday as the Warriors rallied to tie Cuyahoga Valley Christian Academy (Ohio) 3-3 at Grace College in Indiana, where Wheaton Academy athletic director and girls soccer coach Dave Underwood played and coached.
“I think we might be under the radar a bit after graduating 9-of-11 starters, but we’ve had a great first week and came from behind to tie CVCA on the trip we do every year,” Warriors coach Jeff Brooke said. “We’re still trying to find a rhythm to the rotation, so to speak, and we’ve had a couple injuries, so the starting 11 has changed a bit every game.”
The nice thing about the Warriors this far this year is that they’re getting a lot of contributions from both the starting lineup and off the bench.
Luis Rocha, Grayson Harris, Christian Ziesemer, Ethan Stoneman, Elias McCloud and Isaac Anthony, among others, have really stepped up their games this fall.
Now they’ll look to go a perfect 2-0 against their namesake schools.
“We love playing the Wheaton schools,” Brooke said. “It’s a healthy rivalry and because of the close proximity it can be more fun. I think that both schools look forward to the crosstown rivalry.”
Wheaton North continue to be a work in progress under first-year coach Rob Stassen.
The Falcons, who broke a three-game losing streak with a 1-1 tie against York on Saturday, are trying try to learn new team roles and many players have taken on new positions this season.
One constant this season has been senior keeper Connor Reece, who has been a stalwart in goal and provided leadership for the backline. The team will continue to look for a way to score goals. Wheaton North is only 0-3-1 in games that they have allowed a single score.