New-thrill feel in place for Class 3A finals
By Steve Nemeth
Split the IHSA Class 3A Boys Soccer State Finals in half and you’ll find one side ready to start its legacy at this level and the other side eager to finally expand on an existing one.
Both Morton and Edwardsville are looking to add 3A hardware to already impressive trophy cases while St. Patrick and West Chicago have yet to claim 3A mementos.
In the case of the latter Wildcats, this will be the school’s first trophy for boys soccer, period. St. Patrick took fourth in 2018 but that was in Class AA, so success this weekend marks a new achievement.
There's little surprise that the finalists have all been in the Chicagoland Soccer spotlight based on the final pre-playoff rankings.
Hoffman Estates High School’s Garber Stadium serves as the setting for the seventh year and Friday’s 5 p.m. semifinal has no. 8 West Chicago (22-2-3) facing an Edwardsville crew (20-4-1) that was rated no. 5 in the Illinois 10. The 7 p.m. semifinal pits top-ranked Morton (22-3-2) against no. 4 St. Patrick (25-3-2).
Saturday’s third place match is set for 5 p.m. with a approximate 7 p.m. start for the championship.
While Edwardsville certainly boasts a state finals tradition, coach Mark Heiderscheid and Company want to renew that legacy. Yes the Tigers’ trophy case has hardware from seven state finals, but the most recent is from 2013 -- the second of a pair of first place trophies.
This year’s success has vaulted Heiderscheid well over the 300-career win milestone but the veteran boss now in his 20th year downplays anything other than the present season.
“In so many ways this is a completely different group from other years, and I know they’re not so much concerned with history. It’s all about the opportunity in front of them,” Heiderscheid noted. “I might be the one more appreciative of what it takes to win the Southwestern Conference, a regional or sectional, because I remember there might have been one thing that kept us from getting over a hump.”
For the 2019 Tigers it was shaking off having fallen short right before the postseason. Ignore a 4-3-0 start that included a narrow 1-0 loss to the downstate version of Morton, Edwardsville put together a nice 10-match win streak. An extremely rare off-day defensively during a visit to Collinsville resulted in a 5-4 setback that took a little luster off the Tigers’ Southwestern championship (9-1-0).
Then Missouri powerhouse Christian Brothers capped the regular season battling to a 0-0 deadlock by shutting down Edwardsville’s potent attack for only the second time all year. As opposed to the two scoreless showings, the Tigers compiled 10 shutouts.
The 70 goals (2.8 per game average) far exceeded the 24 goals allowed (0.96 avg.).
Boasting the most senior-laden roster of the field with 15 members of the Class of 2020 plus eight juniors and two sophomores, Edwardsville has a been-there, done-that mentality that negates any concern over the long trek northward. It’s similar to the turnaround required this past Tuesday for the 3-2 win over Lincoln-Way West in the Bradley-Bourbonnais Supersectional.
The perfect postseason so far reinforces Heiderscheid’s belief that there was even some benefit to those last two regular season matches.
“Even though we ended the (September) Morton (Ill.) Invitational with two losses, those were tight games where we went straight to PKs. If you’re too successful, it can be hard to convince the kids of the need to keep improving,” Heiderscheid noted. “We got our motivation back in time for the playoffs.”
Going into the season Gabe Noll was expected to have an advantage over fellow senior Tyler Frolik when it came to the goalie slot. However, doing double-duty kicking for the EHS football team took a physical toll that enabled Frolik to turn the tables and take the lead role.
With coach's son Jack Heiderscheid in the middle, the Tigers defense has been anchored by a trio that includes senior Kadin Lieberman and fellow junior Parker Matthews.
Edwardsville has tremendous depth in the midfield with two stellar senior regulars in Jakob Doyle and Logan Loftus. The collective muscle in midfield also includes the senior trio of Kurt Wright, Alan Ebert and Adam Sneed.
The shining stars are up-top in IHSSCA All-State honoree Cooper Nolan plus Section 12 selection Brennan Weller.
“Both provide a lot of punch up-top and make it easy to rotate in others like John (Matthew) and Connor (Kelley),” Heiderscheid said.
Six Tigers have compiled 145 points: Nolan (20 goals/7 assists – 47 points), Weller (15/5 – 35), (Doyle (11/4 – 26), Wright (2/10 – 14), Kelley (6/1 – 13) and Loftus (3/4 – 10).
West Chicago continues it’s “no school Friday” celebration mode with a morning pep assembly that doubles as the send-off for the Wildcats’ historic season.
“These guys have brought a lot of joy to the student body, our faculty/staff, our alumni, and our community with how they developed such a winning mentality,” coach Jose Villa said. “But they’ve earned it all.”
Understandable and not to diminish the past, but current students can’t relate to the boys volleyball team’s fourth place finish back in 2000-01. Or the run of chess prowess that sandwiched a state title (1995-96) between a second (1994-95) and third place (1996-97) run or the 1991-92 third place in girls swimming or the 3A football crown from 1974-75.
Capitalizing on a match cancellation, Villa and the Wildcats jumped on a chance to open the season hosting three-time defending state champion Naperville North.
“We made a couple mistakes including an own goal, but the way the boys stepped up to that challenge set the tone for us,” Villa said.
That 2-2 stalemate was part of an 11-match unbeaten string that included winning Addison Trail’s Joe Novy Invitational and taking the top rung on the Upstate Eight Conference ladder.
Then came a four-match span that included a 1-0 loss to fellow 3A finalist St. Patrick in the PepsiCo, a scoreless league draw at Glenbard South, plus a 0-0 home deadlock with AA finalist Benet.
“That was clearly the toughest stretch for us,” Villa acknowledged. “Even though we knew it was never going to be a walk in the park, we really felt the target that was on our backs.”
What followed was 10 victories over the next 12 outings including the current six-game win streak. Opposite those three times the Wildcats were blanked, West Chicago compiled 16 shutouts -- the most among the 3A finalists -- and yielding 16 goals in 27 contests (0.59 average) which made the 71-goal total(2.63 average) look better.
West Chicago figured to build around Chicagoland Soccer 2018 Watch List member Jessie Hernandez, but convincing club players like Ben Suddeth and Jahir Martinez to don the navy blue and white contributed to a new school single-season standard for wins.
Suddeth gained IHSSCA All-State acclaim as a defender while Martinez and Hernandez got Section 10 recognition. The latter duo are the heart of a quintet producing 151 points: Martinez (13/15 – 41), Moises Morfin (14/8 – 36), Hernandez (12/7 – 31), Diego Cortes (8/9 – 25) and Ivan Palacios (7/4 – 18).
Both senior Luis Parra and junior David Kuehn have proven more than capable in net, but with Kuehn owning three straight postseason shutouts, he’ll take the lead.
“No question Ben is the leader and organizer in back, a great asset who leads on and off the field,” Villa said. “Luke (Stary) is fearless, aggressive and a compliment to Ben. Alejandro (Cadena) and Alexis (Arroyo) on the outside can provide overlapping help but drop back quickly when needed.”
Martinez is “the engine in the middle” according to Villa and the Wildcats’ combination of offense and defense flexibility includes Tristan Alfaro, Morfin, and Hernandez.
Morton, as in the Berwyn-Cicero version, has the most recent 3A success based on a third place showing in 2015 at Hoffman Estates. That was a solid encore to the Mustangs’ 2011 championship which fit nicely into the trophy case that contained two other items: a fourth place trophy in AA in 2006 and the runnerup statue from the 1973 single-class days.
Jim Bageanis was an assistant for the two 3A appearances and on the verge as the head man for the last two years guiding Morton to 23-1-2 in 2017 and 20-3-2 last year.
But 2019 is the year he and the Mustangs kept Naperville North from being added to the inevitability of death and taxes. It came as a measure of revenge for 2017 when that lone loss was a 1-0 supersectional setback courtesy of North.
However Morton must come up with a second win over St. Patrick after edging the Shamrocks via shootout for a PepsiCo bracket title Oct. 13. That was part of a good week with the Mustangs notching a 2-0 win two days later over Leyden to claim the West Suburban Conference Gold Division banner.
Having started off with a 14-match unbeaten string (12-0-2), Morton would love to end the year with 10-straight wins using the combination of timely scoring -- 55 goals in 27 matches (2.03 average) -- with stingy defense (24 goals allowed, .89 average with 10 clean-sheets).
“They say it’s hard to beat a team twice. Perhaps, but we’ll try to do it for a third time having beaten Naperville North (2-1 August 31 to end a 47-match unbeaten streak and 3-1 in a four-shot supersectional shootout after a 3-3 tie) and Proviso East,” Bageanis noted. “It’s just a matter of going step-by-step as we did in meeting other goals: winning in the Pepsi, the conference, the regional, sectional and so on.”
Despite the graduation of Chicagoland Soccer 2018 All-Stater Adrian Barrera, the Mustangs are not without power. Jesus Perez also made that All-State squad while Cristian Perez and Saul Juarez both made the 2018 All-State Watch List. Edwin Zizumbo made this year’s IHSSCA All-State unit; Cristian Perez and Juarez were named All-Section 2.
Bageanis is quick to note that Andres Calderon has come up big in goal, including several notable PK saves and point-blank stops including the prior meeting with St. Patrick. The senior goalie thwarted Naperville North standout Tyler Konrad on the first attempt in the supersectional which boosted Morton’s hopes sky high.
“Juarez has been solid all year keeping our shape defensively and operating more like a sweeper. Adrian Salto has been an unexpected surprise while Juan Ramirez and Juan Hernandez have been lockdown defenders.
Last year Zizumba was coming back from a broken foot so becoming a most dangerous attacker this year isn’t a total surprise. Cristian Perez is credited with dictating the pace of the game while Jesus Perez is really a forward, but moved to outside mid for the betterment of the team according to Bageanis.
Five Mustangs have accounted for 186 points starting with Zizumbo’s eye-popping 73 (31/11) ahead of Cristian Perez (12/18 – 42), Jesus Perez (11/13 – 35), Giovanni Alvarez (8/8 – 24) and Erick Paulino (6 – 12).
St. Patrick sports the ultimate offensive attack based on numbers regardless of class level. Sixth-year coach Kyle McClure insists luck has nothing to do with the Shamrocks evolving program. In his tenure his program’s victory progression is 2-4-11-23-24-25.
Just as impressive as scoring 125 goals in 30 outings (4.16 avg.) to counter allowing 33 (1.1 avg.). No one has kept St. Patrick off the scoreboard this year while the defense does boast 11 clean-sheets.
“Actually we haven’t been shutout in two years and our philosophy really is that our best defense is the strength of our offense,” McClure stated. “We’ll score four or five.”
Actually the Shamrocks hit five or more 12 times.
McClure traces the development back to the fourth place finish in 2017 and the semifinal loss to eventual AA champion Solorio.
“We’ve got five seniors who are four-year varsity starters. That’s pretty special,” McClure contends.
That quintet is Jonathan Rodriguez, LuisAngel Saucedo, Angel “Richie” Adame and Aaron Moreno-Lopez.
Both Rodriguez and scoring sensation Joshua Torres (school record 37 goals) were Chicagoland Soccer 2018 All-Staters with Adame being named on the Watch List. Torres’ proclivity for scoring overshadows his set-up skills according to McClure, who also cited Rodriguez's throw-in talent as a major weapon.
This year’s IHSSCA honors have Torres All-State with Adame and Rodriguez All-Section 1.
Bolstering the defense is junior keeper Jorge Cebrero, who got Honorable Mention Section 1 acclaim.
“He has really good timing, really good hands and very good feet. So we don’t worry even when he has the ball on his foot,” McClure said.
The confidence on defense is such that McClure has used either a 3-5-2 or 4-3-3 formation as matches have dictated.
“At 6-foot-2, Adam (Przytula) is a dominating center back along with 6-0 Collin (Kroeger),” McClure said. “Narcizo (Ibarra) adds more stability.”
The point parade goes: Torres (37/18 – 92), Moreno-Lopez (16/21 which ties school assist record – 53), Rodriguez (10/16 – 36), Jaden Buelvas (15/6 – 36), Sebastian Estrada (12/5 – 29), Saucedo (7/7 – 21), Przytula (8/3 – 19), to Ivan Guerrero (4/3 – 11). That's a whopping 297 points from eight players.
Although originally from Chicago, thanks to his father’s military service, Buelvas honed his talents in Germany and the sophomore transfer has become another weapon.
So being labeled an underdog doesn’t phase McClure when mention is made of the shootout defeat courtesy of Morton in the Pepsi or a 1-0 loss to West Chicago.
“Our thinking is those are good things for us. It puts the pressure on them to find a way to do it again when we’re playing our best soccer now,” McClure insists. “We’ve got tremendous speed and combine that with solid possession. Our only losses or ties came on either grass or smaller fields.”
Neither of which is a concern this weekend.
By Steve Nemeth
Split the IHSA Class 3A Boys Soccer State Finals in half and you’ll find one side ready to start its legacy at this level and the other side eager to finally expand on an existing one.
Both Morton and Edwardsville are looking to add 3A hardware to already impressive trophy cases while St. Patrick and West Chicago have yet to claim 3A mementos.
In the case of the latter Wildcats, this will be the school’s first trophy for boys soccer, period. St. Patrick took fourth in 2018 but that was in Class AA, so success this weekend marks a new achievement.
There's little surprise that the finalists have all been in the Chicagoland Soccer spotlight based on the final pre-playoff rankings.
Hoffman Estates High School’s Garber Stadium serves as the setting for the seventh year and Friday’s 5 p.m. semifinal has no. 8 West Chicago (22-2-3) facing an Edwardsville crew (20-4-1) that was rated no. 5 in the Illinois 10. The 7 p.m. semifinal pits top-ranked Morton (22-3-2) against no. 4 St. Patrick (25-3-2).
Saturday’s third place match is set for 5 p.m. with a approximate 7 p.m. start for the championship.
While Edwardsville certainly boasts a state finals tradition, coach Mark Heiderscheid and Company want to renew that legacy. Yes the Tigers’ trophy case has hardware from seven state finals, but the most recent is from 2013 -- the second of a pair of first place trophies.
This year’s success has vaulted Heiderscheid well over the 300-career win milestone but the veteran boss now in his 20th year downplays anything other than the present season.
“In so many ways this is a completely different group from other years, and I know they’re not so much concerned with history. It’s all about the opportunity in front of them,” Heiderscheid noted. “I might be the one more appreciative of what it takes to win the Southwestern Conference, a regional or sectional, because I remember there might have been one thing that kept us from getting over a hump.”
For the 2019 Tigers it was shaking off having fallen short right before the postseason. Ignore a 4-3-0 start that included a narrow 1-0 loss to the downstate version of Morton, Edwardsville put together a nice 10-match win streak. An extremely rare off-day defensively during a visit to Collinsville resulted in a 5-4 setback that took a little luster off the Tigers’ Southwestern championship (9-1-0).
Then Missouri powerhouse Christian Brothers capped the regular season battling to a 0-0 deadlock by shutting down Edwardsville’s potent attack for only the second time all year. As opposed to the two scoreless showings, the Tigers compiled 10 shutouts.
The 70 goals (2.8 per game average) far exceeded the 24 goals allowed (0.96 avg.).
Boasting the most senior-laden roster of the field with 15 members of the Class of 2020 plus eight juniors and two sophomores, Edwardsville has a been-there, done-that mentality that negates any concern over the long trek northward. It’s similar to the turnaround required this past Tuesday for the 3-2 win over Lincoln-Way West in the Bradley-Bourbonnais Supersectional.
The perfect postseason so far reinforces Heiderscheid’s belief that there was even some benefit to those last two regular season matches.
“Even though we ended the (September) Morton (Ill.) Invitational with two losses, those were tight games where we went straight to PKs. If you’re too successful, it can be hard to convince the kids of the need to keep improving,” Heiderscheid noted. “We got our motivation back in time for the playoffs.”
Going into the season Gabe Noll was expected to have an advantage over fellow senior Tyler Frolik when it came to the goalie slot. However, doing double-duty kicking for the EHS football team took a physical toll that enabled Frolik to turn the tables and take the lead role.
With coach's son Jack Heiderscheid in the middle, the Tigers defense has been anchored by a trio that includes senior Kadin Lieberman and fellow junior Parker Matthews.
Edwardsville has tremendous depth in the midfield with two stellar senior regulars in Jakob Doyle and Logan Loftus. The collective muscle in midfield also includes the senior trio of Kurt Wright, Alan Ebert and Adam Sneed.
The shining stars are up-top in IHSSCA All-State honoree Cooper Nolan plus Section 12 selection Brennan Weller.
“Both provide a lot of punch up-top and make it easy to rotate in others like John (Matthew) and Connor (Kelley),” Heiderscheid said.
Six Tigers have compiled 145 points: Nolan (20 goals/7 assists – 47 points), Weller (15/5 – 35), (Doyle (11/4 – 26), Wright (2/10 – 14), Kelley (6/1 – 13) and Loftus (3/4 – 10).
West Chicago continues it’s “no school Friday” celebration mode with a morning pep assembly that doubles as the send-off for the Wildcats’ historic season.
“These guys have brought a lot of joy to the student body, our faculty/staff, our alumni, and our community with how they developed such a winning mentality,” coach Jose Villa said. “But they’ve earned it all.”
Understandable and not to diminish the past, but current students can’t relate to the boys volleyball team’s fourth place finish back in 2000-01. Or the run of chess prowess that sandwiched a state title (1995-96) between a second (1994-95) and third place (1996-97) run or the 1991-92 third place in girls swimming or the 3A football crown from 1974-75.
Capitalizing on a match cancellation, Villa and the Wildcats jumped on a chance to open the season hosting three-time defending state champion Naperville North.
“We made a couple mistakes including an own goal, but the way the boys stepped up to that challenge set the tone for us,” Villa said.
That 2-2 stalemate was part of an 11-match unbeaten string that included winning Addison Trail’s Joe Novy Invitational and taking the top rung on the Upstate Eight Conference ladder.
Then came a four-match span that included a 1-0 loss to fellow 3A finalist St. Patrick in the PepsiCo, a scoreless league draw at Glenbard South, plus a 0-0 home deadlock with AA finalist Benet.
“That was clearly the toughest stretch for us,” Villa acknowledged. “Even though we knew it was never going to be a walk in the park, we really felt the target that was on our backs.”
What followed was 10 victories over the next 12 outings including the current six-game win streak. Opposite those three times the Wildcats were blanked, West Chicago compiled 16 shutouts -- the most among the 3A finalists -- and yielding 16 goals in 27 contests (0.59 average) which made the 71-goal total(2.63 average) look better.
West Chicago figured to build around Chicagoland Soccer 2018 Watch List member Jessie Hernandez, but convincing club players like Ben Suddeth and Jahir Martinez to don the navy blue and white contributed to a new school single-season standard for wins.
Suddeth gained IHSSCA All-State acclaim as a defender while Martinez and Hernandez got Section 10 recognition. The latter duo are the heart of a quintet producing 151 points: Martinez (13/15 – 41), Moises Morfin (14/8 – 36), Hernandez (12/7 – 31), Diego Cortes (8/9 – 25) and Ivan Palacios (7/4 – 18).
Both senior Luis Parra and junior David Kuehn have proven more than capable in net, but with Kuehn owning three straight postseason shutouts, he’ll take the lead.
“No question Ben is the leader and organizer in back, a great asset who leads on and off the field,” Villa said. “Luke (Stary) is fearless, aggressive and a compliment to Ben. Alejandro (Cadena) and Alexis (Arroyo) on the outside can provide overlapping help but drop back quickly when needed.”
Martinez is “the engine in the middle” according to Villa and the Wildcats’ combination of offense and defense flexibility includes Tristan Alfaro, Morfin, and Hernandez.
Morton, as in the Berwyn-Cicero version, has the most recent 3A success based on a third place showing in 2015 at Hoffman Estates. That was a solid encore to the Mustangs’ 2011 championship which fit nicely into the trophy case that contained two other items: a fourth place trophy in AA in 2006 and the runnerup statue from the 1973 single-class days.
Jim Bageanis was an assistant for the two 3A appearances and on the verge as the head man for the last two years guiding Morton to 23-1-2 in 2017 and 20-3-2 last year.
But 2019 is the year he and the Mustangs kept Naperville North from being added to the inevitability of death and taxes. It came as a measure of revenge for 2017 when that lone loss was a 1-0 supersectional setback courtesy of North.
However Morton must come up with a second win over St. Patrick after edging the Shamrocks via shootout for a PepsiCo bracket title Oct. 13. That was part of a good week with the Mustangs notching a 2-0 win two days later over Leyden to claim the West Suburban Conference Gold Division banner.
Having started off with a 14-match unbeaten string (12-0-2), Morton would love to end the year with 10-straight wins using the combination of timely scoring -- 55 goals in 27 matches (2.03 average) -- with stingy defense (24 goals allowed, .89 average with 10 clean-sheets).
“They say it’s hard to beat a team twice. Perhaps, but we’ll try to do it for a third time having beaten Naperville North (2-1 August 31 to end a 47-match unbeaten streak and 3-1 in a four-shot supersectional shootout after a 3-3 tie) and Proviso East,” Bageanis noted. “It’s just a matter of going step-by-step as we did in meeting other goals: winning in the Pepsi, the conference, the regional, sectional and so on.”
Despite the graduation of Chicagoland Soccer 2018 All-Stater Adrian Barrera, the Mustangs are not without power. Jesus Perez also made that All-State squad while Cristian Perez and Saul Juarez both made the 2018 All-State Watch List. Edwin Zizumbo made this year’s IHSSCA All-State unit; Cristian Perez and Juarez were named All-Section 2.
Bageanis is quick to note that Andres Calderon has come up big in goal, including several notable PK saves and point-blank stops including the prior meeting with St. Patrick. The senior goalie thwarted Naperville North standout Tyler Konrad on the first attempt in the supersectional which boosted Morton’s hopes sky high.
“Juarez has been solid all year keeping our shape defensively and operating more like a sweeper. Adrian Salto has been an unexpected surprise while Juan Ramirez and Juan Hernandez have been lockdown defenders.
Last year Zizumba was coming back from a broken foot so becoming a most dangerous attacker this year isn’t a total surprise. Cristian Perez is credited with dictating the pace of the game while Jesus Perez is really a forward, but moved to outside mid for the betterment of the team according to Bageanis.
Five Mustangs have accounted for 186 points starting with Zizumbo’s eye-popping 73 (31/11) ahead of Cristian Perez (12/18 – 42), Jesus Perez (11/13 – 35), Giovanni Alvarez (8/8 – 24) and Erick Paulino (6 – 12).
St. Patrick sports the ultimate offensive attack based on numbers regardless of class level. Sixth-year coach Kyle McClure insists luck has nothing to do with the Shamrocks evolving program. In his tenure his program’s victory progression is 2-4-11-23-24-25.
Just as impressive as scoring 125 goals in 30 outings (4.16 avg.) to counter allowing 33 (1.1 avg.). No one has kept St. Patrick off the scoreboard this year while the defense does boast 11 clean-sheets.
“Actually we haven’t been shutout in two years and our philosophy really is that our best defense is the strength of our offense,” McClure stated. “We’ll score four or five.”
Actually the Shamrocks hit five or more 12 times.
McClure traces the development back to the fourth place finish in 2017 and the semifinal loss to eventual AA champion Solorio.
“We’ve got five seniors who are four-year varsity starters. That’s pretty special,” McClure contends.
That quintet is Jonathan Rodriguez, LuisAngel Saucedo, Angel “Richie” Adame and Aaron Moreno-Lopez.
Both Rodriguez and scoring sensation Joshua Torres (school record 37 goals) were Chicagoland Soccer 2018 All-Staters with Adame being named on the Watch List. Torres’ proclivity for scoring overshadows his set-up skills according to McClure, who also cited Rodriguez's throw-in talent as a major weapon.
This year’s IHSSCA honors have Torres All-State with Adame and Rodriguez All-Section 1.
Bolstering the defense is junior keeper Jorge Cebrero, who got Honorable Mention Section 1 acclaim.
“He has really good timing, really good hands and very good feet. So we don’t worry even when he has the ball on his foot,” McClure said.
The confidence on defense is such that McClure has used either a 3-5-2 or 4-3-3 formation as matches have dictated.
“At 6-foot-2, Adam (Przytula) is a dominating center back along with 6-0 Collin (Kroeger),” McClure said. “Narcizo (Ibarra) adds more stability.”
The point parade goes: Torres (37/18 – 92), Moreno-Lopez (16/21 which ties school assist record – 53), Rodriguez (10/16 – 36), Jaden Buelvas (15/6 – 36), Sebastian Estrada (12/5 – 29), Saucedo (7/7 – 21), Przytula (8/3 – 19), to Ivan Guerrero (4/3 – 11). That's a whopping 297 points from eight players.
Although originally from Chicago, thanks to his father’s military service, Buelvas honed his talents in Germany and the sophomore transfer has become another weapon.
So being labeled an underdog doesn’t phase McClure when mention is made of the shootout defeat courtesy of Morton in the Pepsi or a 1-0 loss to West Chicago.
“Our thinking is those are good things for us. It puts the pressure on them to find a way to do it again when we’re playing our best soccer now,” McClure insists. “We’ve got tremendous speed and combine that with solid possession. Our only losses or ties came on either grass or smaller fields.”
Neither of which is a concern this weekend.