Waubonsie V. overdue against Metea V.
Rivalry has tilted recently with Mustangs' 4-0-1 streak
By Chris Walker
It’s been a while since Waubonsie Valley beat Metea Valley.
The Warriors hope to change that when they travel up Eola Rd. for a 6:30 p.m. DuPage Valley Conference on Tuesday; the Mustangs will look to earn their first victory of the season.
“It’s always fun to play in a rivalry,” Warriors coach Jose Garcia said. “They’re just down the block, and the boys always look forward to it.”
Waubonsie Valley hasn’t beaten the Mustangs since a 1-0 win. The Mustangs enjoy a 4-0-1 record in the last five meetings between the teams including three wins in 2018.
Last year, the teams tied 1-1. That was over 500 days ago.
“When we were playing DeKalb my assistant asked how we did when we last played them,” Mustangs coach Josh Robinson laughed. “I said it was 18 months ago, I can’t remember.”
It’s certainly going to be a unique season due to the time since the last season in 2019 and a crammed six-week shortened season.
The Mustangs (0-2, 0-1) are searching for both their first goal and victory. They’ve been on the cusp of both and could just as easily be 2-0 rather than the other way around, but that’s how this game goes sometimes.
“For the boys, they’re disappointed with the two, 1-0 losses,” Mustangs coach Josh Robinson said. “They moved the ball well, and I thought we knocked it around better, but couldn’t finish.”
They hit the post twice against DeKalb.
“We honestly walked away wondering how did we not win,” Robinson said. “We hit the post twice, but DeKalb worked really hard so credit for them to get the win.
"And on Saturday, 11 in the morning, 60 degrees and sunny as heck; it was fun to watch and compete. Wheaton Warrenville South got a nice goal off a corner and their goalie made something like nine saves, and some great ones, so it was frustrating to get a second 1-0 tough loss in a row. But we like a lot of the things we’re doing, and we’re doing some nice combination things.”
Waubonsie Valley (1-2-0, 0-1-0) has struggled finding the back of the net as well.
After getting blanked by Naperville Central, ranked no 18 in the Chicagoland Soccer Top 25, and no. 12 Streamwood to open the season, they registered win no. 1 with a 4-1 nonconference victory against East Aurora on Saturday.
Aaron Griffith, Gean Scarpelli, Alan Sanchez and Callum Keller scored for the Warriors.
“The first couple of games we were getting used to playing again,” Griffith said. “We were trying to find out tendencies, and it took a little while to get used to game speed again and going 100 percent against another team.”
Short-handed against the Redhawks in the season-opener, the Warriors yielded five goals but have seemingly progressed in a week’s time.
“That game was very rough,” Griffith said. “But we learned a lot from that game, and we had a pretty good bounce back against Streamwood even though we lost 2-0. We played a lot better. Then against East Aurora we kind of put all the pieces together and played really well. We’re improving, trying to learn from the mistakes.”
As a senior, Griffith said there’s less pressure since the omission of a state series eliminates that final painful loss. The end is near, but it’s different.
“I don’t think there’s too much pressure on the team,” he said. “There’s not too many seniors, and we’re just happy to be having fun playing again. With no playoffs or anything, you can’t put too much pressure on yourself. We’re working for the DVC championship, getting to play with our friends again at practice and games, and I get to hang out with the dudes.”
Unfortunately, Metea Valley lost one of their top players, in senior Jacob Tune, who tore his ACL in the 1-0 loss to DeKalb on March 9. They had already missed ne of their leading scorers, Alex Krehl, who is playing overseas with Getafe International MFA at the Madrid International Football Academy.
Junior Colin Bastianoni has been asked to play a different role in the midfield to compensate for the lack of scoring, while fellow senior midfielders Nick Sanchez and Drew Marquardt will look to link up with Bastianoni to control the ball and create scoring chances.
“Colin’s a playmaker and we’re asking him to score goals, and that’s not his game,” Robinson said. “He wants to distribute, so we’re asking him to do more and Drew (Marquardt) and Nick (Sanchez) are our catalysts in the midfield, playing a nice style.”
Robinson acknowledged that at the beginning of the year his seniors really were amped up about enjoying the experience of their final season wearing the Mustangs uniform. They understand the responsibility and the pride that comes with it, but also want to emphasize that the experience of playing high school soccer should be remembered fondly, especially after what everyone has gone through during the past 12 months.
“When I talked to the seniors the said they just want to be allowed to enjoy the experience,” Robinson said. “They said they know I’m going to hold them to a standard and to help us enjoy this the best they can. So we’re trying to support these guys because of everything they’ve been through.”
And now they’re playing pretty good soccer, especially for having so little time to prepare for a rugged, difficult schedule.
“It’s been a whirlwind with how things have been going,” Robinson said. “They’re working really hard and have competitive spirit. They’re disappointed they’re not getting the results, but they know they’ve played soccer well and how they’ve moved the ball is a good brand of soccer. There have been a ton of positives so far.”
A win on Tuesday would be a good one to add to that growing list.
Waubonsie Valley might have a thing or two to say about that, though.
“We’re trying to create a team, a young group and mesh together in a week and a half and that takes (more) time,” Garcia said. “But the kids are all in. They’e starting to figure it out and understand each other.
Like the Mustangs, the Warriors have already had to deal with injuries in a short time; they lost defender Adrien Mehra to a concussion Thursday.
“We’ve had maybe five players come out for injuries so far,” Garcia said. “I guess our bodies aren’t used to the rigorous game.”
Rivalry has tilted recently with Mustangs' 4-0-1 streak
By Chris Walker
It’s been a while since Waubonsie Valley beat Metea Valley.
The Warriors hope to change that when they travel up Eola Rd. for a 6:30 p.m. DuPage Valley Conference on Tuesday; the Mustangs will look to earn their first victory of the season.
“It’s always fun to play in a rivalry,” Warriors coach Jose Garcia said. “They’re just down the block, and the boys always look forward to it.”
Waubonsie Valley hasn’t beaten the Mustangs since a 1-0 win. The Mustangs enjoy a 4-0-1 record in the last five meetings between the teams including three wins in 2018.
Last year, the teams tied 1-1. That was over 500 days ago.
“When we were playing DeKalb my assistant asked how we did when we last played them,” Mustangs coach Josh Robinson laughed. “I said it was 18 months ago, I can’t remember.”
It’s certainly going to be a unique season due to the time since the last season in 2019 and a crammed six-week shortened season.
The Mustangs (0-2, 0-1) are searching for both their first goal and victory. They’ve been on the cusp of both and could just as easily be 2-0 rather than the other way around, but that’s how this game goes sometimes.
“For the boys, they’re disappointed with the two, 1-0 losses,” Mustangs coach Josh Robinson said. “They moved the ball well, and I thought we knocked it around better, but couldn’t finish.”
They hit the post twice against DeKalb.
“We honestly walked away wondering how did we not win,” Robinson said. “We hit the post twice, but DeKalb worked really hard so credit for them to get the win.
"And on Saturday, 11 in the morning, 60 degrees and sunny as heck; it was fun to watch and compete. Wheaton Warrenville South got a nice goal off a corner and their goalie made something like nine saves, and some great ones, so it was frustrating to get a second 1-0 tough loss in a row. But we like a lot of the things we’re doing, and we’re doing some nice combination things.”
Waubonsie Valley (1-2-0, 0-1-0) has struggled finding the back of the net as well.
After getting blanked by Naperville Central, ranked no 18 in the Chicagoland Soccer Top 25, and no. 12 Streamwood to open the season, they registered win no. 1 with a 4-1 nonconference victory against East Aurora on Saturday.
Aaron Griffith, Gean Scarpelli, Alan Sanchez and Callum Keller scored for the Warriors.
“The first couple of games we were getting used to playing again,” Griffith said. “We were trying to find out tendencies, and it took a little while to get used to game speed again and going 100 percent against another team.”
Short-handed against the Redhawks in the season-opener, the Warriors yielded five goals but have seemingly progressed in a week’s time.
“That game was very rough,” Griffith said. “But we learned a lot from that game, and we had a pretty good bounce back against Streamwood even though we lost 2-0. We played a lot better. Then against East Aurora we kind of put all the pieces together and played really well. We’re improving, trying to learn from the mistakes.”
As a senior, Griffith said there’s less pressure since the omission of a state series eliminates that final painful loss. The end is near, but it’s different.
“I don’t think there’s too much pressure on the team,” he said. “There’s not too many seniors, and we’re just happy to be having fun playing again. With no playoffs or anything, you can’t put too much pressure on yourself. We’re working for the DVC championship, getting to play with our friends again at practice and games, and I get to hang out with the dudes.”
Unfortunately, Metea Valley lost one of their top players, in senior Jacob Tune, who tore his ACL in the 1-0 loss to DeKalb on March 9. They had already missed ne of their leading scorers, Alex Krehl, who is playing overseas with Getafe International MFA at the Madrid International Football Academy.
Junior Colin Bastianoni has been asked to play a different role in the midfield to compensate for the lack of scoring, while fellow senior midfielders Nick Sanchez and Drew Marquardt will look to link up with Bastianoni to control the ball and create scoring chances.
“Colin’s a playmaker and we’re asking him to score goals, and that’s not his game,” Robinson said. “He wants to distribute, so we’re asking him to do more and Drew (Marquardt) and Nick (Sanchez) are our catalysts in the midfield, playing a nice style.”
Robinson acknowledged that at the beginning of the year his seniors really were amped up about enjoying the experience of their final season wearing the Mustangs uniform. They understand the responsibility and the pride that comes with it, but also want to emphasize that the experience of playing high school soccer should be remembered fondly, especially after what everyone has gone through during the past 12 months.
“When I talked to the seniors the said they just want to be allowed to enjoy the experience,” Robinson said. “They said they know I’m going to hold them to a standard and to help us enjoy this the best they can. So we’re trying to support these guys because of everything they’ve been through.”
And now they’re playing pretty good soccer, especially for having so little time to prepare for a rugged, difficult schedule.
“It’s been a whirlwind with how things have been going,” Robinson said. “They’re working really hard and have competitive spirit. They’re disappointed they’re not getting the results, but they know they’ve played soccer well and how they’ve moved the ball is a good brand of soccer. There have been a ton of positives so far.”
A win on Tuesday would be a good one to add to that growing list.
Waubonsie Valley might have a thing or two to say about that, though.
“We’re trying to create a team, a young group and mesh together in a week and a half and that takes (more) time,” Garcia said. “But the kids are all in. They’e starting to figure it out and understand each other.
Like the Mustangs, the Warriors have already had to deal with injuries in a short time; they lost defender Adrien Mehra to a concussion Thursday.
“We’ve had maybe five players come out for injuries so far,” Garcia said. “I guess our bodies aren’t used to the rigorous game.”