Season preview:
DuPage Valley Conference
By Matt Le Cren
USA Today and Top Drawer Soccer announced the 2018 American Family Insurance All-USA preseason boys soccer team on August 15.
Three of the 22 players on the list – Tom Welch, Ty Konrad and Colin Iverson – play for Naperville North.
That will give you some idea of how tough a task the rest of the DuPage Valley Conference will have in stopping Naperville North in winning the league championship for the 26th time.
The Huskies, who seek their third-straight Class 3A state championship, graduated a big senior class from the team that was declared national champions by MaxPreps. But 10 players return, including nine who played on the Naperville-based Galaxy SC squad that won the U.S. Youth Soccer Under-17 national championship last month in Texas.
Welch wasn’t one of the nine. The 6-foot-8 senior goalkeeper, who was the Gatorade Illinois Player of the Year for 2017, didn’t touch a soccer ball in the offseason while playing AAU basketball.
Welch recently committed to play on the hoops on the lakefront at Loyola.
“It’s going to be tough, at least for a few weeks,” Welch said of his transition back to soccer. “If you watch practice you’ll see I’m not as good as I was last year yet.
“It takes me a little bit of getting used to, but give me three weeks, and I’ll be back (in form).”
That form was nearly impeccable last season as Welch posted an 0.38 goals-against average and 19 shutouts for the Huskies, who finished 27-1-1 in repeating as state champs.
No one expects a dip in Welch’s performance.
“He really is (special),” Iverson said. “There’s no other way to put it. He’s a rock out there.
“(It gives us) so much (confidence). It allows us to play our game and be able to do our thing because we know Tom is going to stop almost every shot that’s put against him.”
The Bowling Green-bound Iverson and fellow defenders like junior Cesar Recendez are adept at not giving up many shots, at least inside the 18. That’s another reason why Welch is expected to break the school record for career shutouts.
Iverson also plays a big role in the offense, especially on set pieces. He scored the only goal in last season’s 1-0 state title game win over Libertyville and finished with 15 goals and eight assists.
While the Huskies graduated the bulk of their midfield, they return plenty of talent, including junior forward Konrad, who had nine goals and 10 assists last fall and won the Golden Ball as the top player at the U.S. Youth Soccer National Championships for the Galaxy.
“We’ve still got a lot of talent,” Welch said. “Our starting lineup is really good.
“We’re not as deep as we were last year, but we still have the talent to do something big. Coach (Jim) Konrad always works his magic to find the best lineup.
“We’ve got Colin and me coming back as leaders and a bunch of other people. I’m just excited to get after it.”
So is Jim Konrad, who enters his 15th season with 250 career wins. He is confident with the group he has but takes nothing for granted.
“We play a great schedule every year, and we’re always going to get teams’ best efforts,” Jim Konrad said. “That does nothing but help us.
“If things are too smooth sailing during the year it’s tough to make a good run at the end. Obviously our focus is winning the DVC and hopefully making a deep run again in the state tournament.”
The DVC is smaller than it has ever been with five teams after the departure of Wheaton Warrenville South, Wheaton North, Glenbard North and Lake Park.
But quality trumps quantity as the schools that remain are arguably the five strongest. With every team playing only four league games, a single blemish will likely knock a team from the race, meaning the intensity will be ratchetted up another notch.
“The pressure is on,” Welch said. “It was on last year, but the pressure to perform is nice.
“It’s something we want. Everyone gives us their best shot and that’s going to make us get better and prepare us for the tournament.”
So who has the goods to be North’s top challenger?
The consensus of league coaches is Metea Valley, which has its largest and most experienced group of returning players ever. The Mustangs rebounded from a rare down season in 2016 to win a regional championship in 2017 and saw Evan Lang emerge as a breakout talent.
Lang enters his senior campaign on a high note. The small but crafty veteran bagged 15 goals last fall and was a key member of the Galaxy’s national championship team, scoring the game-winning goal in a 4-2 overtime win in the final.
But Metea has plenty of weapons. Senior James Lynch was one of the top playmakers in the area, finishing with 10 goals and 14 assists, forwards Jaylen Brooks and Shareef Amor are dangerous up-top and holding midfielder Matt Berry earned all-DVC honors.
“It’s exciting to have such a large group back and to have six or seven starters returning,” Metea coach Josh Robinson said. “That’s a special thing.”
Five Mustangs enter their third season as varsity starters, and there is talent all over the field. The defense boasts two returning starters in Anthony Sanchez and Erik Severson and the midfield has junior Joey Donovan, the youngest of a trio of soccer-playing brothers to come through the Aurora school.
On top of that, Metea has junior goalkeeper Gandhi Cruz, whom Robinson calls the second-best goalie in the state (behind Welch).
Yet for all that talent, Metea can’t win its first DVC title without knocking off Naperville North.
“Until somebody steps up and is able to beat them, it’s them, not just in the area but in the state,” Robinson said.
Even if North retains its throne, the other teams have hope in the playoffs, where any of the five could face a DVC opponent. Before that, Naperville North and Naperville Central could meet in the Best of the West final, and Waubonsie Valley and Metea could do battle in the Warrior Invitational, meaning there is a possibility of a third matchup between two DVC teams in the postseason.
“You could finish at the bottom of our conference and be a 7 or 8 seed in the sectional because you’ve had great success otherwise,” Robinson said. “It will be competitive throughout out, which will be exciting.”
With fewer games and a compressed schedule, each match must be savored ever more by players and fans.
“Even though it’s compact, I think it’s awesome because it’s all local schools,” Robinson. “We all know each other and I think there is a lot of pride in knowing how competitive and strong the five of us are.”
Indeed, a current DVC school has won a sectional championship in each of the past 11 seasons. Neuqua valley captured sectional crowns in 2007, 2008 and 2009, while Naperville Central did so in 2011, 2012, 2013 and 2015 and Naperville North prevailed in 2010, 2014, 2016 and 2017.
So don’t count Naperville Central out of the mix. The Redhawks have been known to pull upsets of the Huskies, including in the playoffs.
This year could see another such surprise, for the Redhawks boast a stout defense that gave up just 19 goals last season, eight of which came in two games.
Center backs Cameron Strang, who won the Golden Boot as the top scorer at the national championships for Galaxy, and Jake Crawford are back, as are goalkeepers Brad Palagi and Ethan Conners.
“We’ll be a better defensive team than we were last year,” Naperville Central coach Troy Adams said. “Jake started 14 games at three different positions last year.
“His leadership skills are awesome. He talks more than any other player we’ve had in the back in quite a while.”
Strang is a two-way threat who is every bit as dangerous on restarts as Iverson is for North. He matches Iverson in height and experience if not renown.
“He has a knack for finding the ball,” Adams said. “Some of the kids were laughing the other day and saying, why even try going up and getting it? They will try, but it’s tough.”
Strang’s penchant for knocking home headers will be particularly vital this year for a team that graduated two-thirds of its front line, its top scorer and two top playmakers.
“We probably didn’t do a good enough job last year taking advantage of it,” Adams said. “That’s definitely something that this year we’d like to be able to exploit and help us score.”
While the offense will be a question mark, Central’s midfield should be solid with returning third-year varsity players Owen Jarrell and Rohan Bhargava as well as Ivan Dosen, a senior who saw action off the bench in every game in 2017. Bhargava was on the Galaxy team.
Neuqua Valley and Waubonsie Valley are in a rebuilding mode but both had talented midfielders on the Galaxy team.
Neuqua’s representative was senior Jose Navarro, who wasn’t a top scorer last season but will be the linchpin of an extremely young team.
“Last year he didn’t have many goals, but still (people) talked about him,” Neuqua coach Arnoldo Gonzalez said. “Why? Because he doesn’t need to score goals to be talked about because he has other qualities.
“He’s a working horse. He’s a beast in the middle and his vision of the game is just unreal.”
Navarro will team with one of the few other returning players, senior midfielder David Kuhn. That combination will be the Wildcats’ main strength.
“I think we’re going to be pretty strong in the midfield,” Gonzalez said. “I think (Navarro) is going to do well with David Kuhn because David needs someone to work off of, someone that is going to create. And (Navarro) will have David there to create.”
Those two will need to create a lot because defense could be an issue for the Wildcats. The backline will be completely new, staffed by players who haven’t played many minutes with each other.
Gonzalez said he expects to see some high-scoring games as the youngsters gain experience at the varsity level. That might mean some losses early on, but the future appears bright.
A deep and talented freshman class has Gonzalez excited for the future. Three of them – Harshit Gupta, John Pochyly and Jack Georgi – could see significant playing time this fall.
Waubonsie Valley is even greener than Neuqua, with only one returning starter and a handful of seniors on the roster.
The starter is senior attacking midfielder Noah Glorioso, who was on the Galaxy title team. The only other players with significant varsity experience are goalkeepers Rohan Hindia and Vince Rullo.
“It’s kind of a rebuilding year,” Waubonsie coach Jose Garcia said. “We’re a young team.
“It’s going to be a true test for our boys for us to step up to the challenge. We’re definitely capable of doing that.
“There’s plenty of talent. It’s just a matter of can we get the nerves out of our system before those league games.”
Of course, the vast amount of job openings means a bunch of young players have the opportunity to make a name for themselves. Junior Dan Morgan and freshman Zach Stanley are two of those potential players for the Warriors. Both have the versatility to play multiple positions.
No matter how the DVC race ends, the quality of play should be high once again, as the Galaxy teammates square off against each other at the high school level. The DVC coaches are unanimous in applauding the national championship and what it represents for Naperville-area soccer.
“I think it’s great,” Garcia said. “That goes to show that high school soccer is not what most (club) coaches are telling their players.
“There is some quality soccer being played (in the high schools). I’m glad the kids are making a statement with that by winning the national championship.”
Robinson concurred.
“For high school soccer kids to go and win a national title is really awesome,” Robinson said. “Every single person that is coaching in this area now, they’re soccer lifers.
“They’re working at high-level clubs as well or have played Division I soccer. It’s not just somebody watching over some kids playing soccer like it was 15 years ago.
“When kids come to high school soccer they get quality training, tons of touches every day. I think the experience is positive, and I think people are recognizing that.”
That includes the players, especially those at Naperville North, who attempting to become only the third school in Illinois history to win three-straight state titles.
“It’s the goal,” Iverson said. “It’s definitely a lot of pressure but a lot of us just came off a national championship so I think we’re all locked in and ready.
“(A three-peat) is something we all really crave, and I think we can definitely do it if we all just play our game.”
DuPage Valley Conference
By Matt Le Cren
USA Today and Top Drawer Soccer announced the 2018 American Family Insurance All-USA preseason boys soccer team on August 15.
Three of the 22 players on the list – Tom Welch, Ty Konrad and Colin Iverson – play for Naperville North.
That will give you some idea of how tough a task the rest of the DuPage Valley Conference will have in stopping Naperville North in winning the league championship for the 26th time.
The Huskies, who seek their third-straight Class 3A state championship, graduated a big senior class from the team that was declared national champions by MaxPreps. But 10 players return, including nine who played on the Naperville-based Galaxy SC squad that won the U.S. Youth Soccer Under-17 national championship last month in Texas.
Welch wasn’t one of the nine. The 6-foot-8 senior goalkeeper, who was the Gatorade Illinois Player of the Year for 2017, didn’t touch a soccer ball in the offseason while playing AAU basketball.
Welch recently committed to play on the hoops on the lakefront at Loyola.
“It’s going to be tough, at least for a few weeks,” Welch said of his transition back to soccer. “If you watch practice you’ll see I’m not as good as I was last year yet.
“It takes me a little bit of getting used to, but give me three weeks, and I’ll be back (in form).”
That form was nearly impeccable last season as Welch posted an 0.38 goals-against average and 19 shutouts for the Huskies, who finished 27-1-1 in repeating as state champs.
No one expects a dip in Welch’s performance.
“He really is (special),” Iverson said. “There’s no other way to put it. He’s a rock out there.
“(It gives us) so much (confidence). It allows us to play our game and be able to do our thing because we know Tom is going to stop almost every shot that’s put against him.”
The Bowling Green-bound Iverson and fellow defenders like junior Cesar Recendez are adept at not giving up many shots, at least inside the 18. That’s another reason why Welch is expected to break the school record for career shutouts.
Iverson also plays a big role in the offense, especially on set pieces. He scored the only goal in last season’s 1-0 state title game win over Libertyville and finished with 15 goals and eight assists.
While the Huskies graduated the bulk of their midfield, they return plenty of talent, including junior forward Konrad, who had nine goals and 10 assists last fall and won the Golden Ball as the top player at the U.S. Youth Soccer National Championships for the Galaxy.
“We’ve still got a lot of talent,” Welch said. “Our starting lineup is really good.
“We’re not as deep as we were last year, but we still have the talent to do something big. Coach (Jim) Konrad always works his magic to find the best lineup.
“We’ve got Colin and me coming back as leaders and a bunch of other people. I’m just excited to get after it.”
So is Jim Konrad, who enters his 15th season with 250 career wins. He is confident with the group he has but takes nothing for granted.
“We play a great schedule every year, and we’re always going to get teams’ best efforts,” Jim Konrad said. “That does nothing but help us.
“If things are too smooth sailing during the year it’s tough to make a good run at the end. Obviously our focus is winning the DVC and hopefully making a deep run again in the state tournament.”
The DVC is smaller than it has ever been with five teams after the departure of Wheaton Warrenville South, Wheaton North, Glenbard North and Lake Park.
But quality trumps quantity as the schools that remain are arguably the five strongest. With every team playing only four league games, a single blemish will likely knock a team from the race, meaning the intensity will be ratchetted up another notch.
“The pressure is on,” Welch said. “It was on last year, but the pressure to perform is nice.
“It’s something we want. Everyone gives us their best shot and that’s going to make us get better and prepare us for the tournament.”
So who has the goods to be North’s top challenger?
The consensus of league coaches is Metea Valley, which has its largest and most experienced group of returning players ever. The Mustangs rebounded from a rare down season in 2016 to win a regional championship in 2017 and saw Evan Lang emerge as a breakout talent.
Lang enters his senior campaign on a high note. The small but crafty veteran bagged 15 goals last fall and was a key member of the Galaxy’s national championship team, scoring the game-winning goal in a 4-2 overtime win in the final.
But Metea has plenty of weapons. Senior James Lynch was one of the top playmakers in the area, finishing with 10 goals and 14 assists, forwards Jaylen Brooks and Shareef Amor are dangerous up-top and holding midfielder Matt Berry earned all-DVC honors.
“It’s exciting to have such a large group back and to have six or seven starters returning,” Metea coach Josh Robinson said. “That’s a special thing.”
Five Mustangs enter their third season as varsity starters, and there is talent all over the field. The defense boasts two returning starters in Anthony Sanchez and Erik Severson and the midfield has junior Joey Donovan, the youngest of a trio of soccer-playing brothers to come through the Aurora school.
On top of that, Metea has junior goalkeeper Gandhi Cruz, whom Robinson calls the second-best goalie in the state (behind Welch).
Yet for all that talent, Metea can’t win its first DVC title without knocking off Naperville North.
“Until somebody steps up and is able to beat them, it’s them, not just in the area but in the state,” Robinson said.
Even if North retains its throne, the other teams have hope in the playoffs, where any of the five could face a DVC opponent. Before that, Naperville North and Naperville Central could meet in the Best of the West final, and Waubonsie Valley and Metea could do battle in the Warrior Invitational, meaning there is a possibility of a third matchup between two DVC teams in the postseason.
“You could finish at the bottom of our conference and be a 7 or 8 seed in the sectional because you’ve had great success otherwise,” Robinson said. “It will be competitive throughout out, which will be exciting.”
With fewer games and a compressed schedule, each match must be savored ever more by players and fans.
“Even though it’s compact, I think it’s awesome because it’s all local schools,” Robinson. “We all know each other and I think there is a lot of pride in knowing how competitive and strong the five of us are.”
Indeed, a current DVC school has won a sectional championship in each of the past 11 seasons. Neuqua valley captured sectional crowns in 2007, 2008 and 2009, while Naperville Central did so in 2011, 2012, 2013 and 2015 and Naperville North prevailed in 2010, 2014, 2016 and 2017.
So don’t count Naperville Central out of the mix. The Redhawks have been known to pull upsets of the Huskies, including in the playoffs.
This year could see another such surprise, for the Redhawks boast a stout defense that gave up just 19 goals last season, eight of which came in two games.
Center backs Cameron Strang, who won the Golden Boot as the top scorer at the national championships for Galaxy, and Jake Crawford are back, as are goalkeepers Brad Palagi and Ethan Conners.
“We’ll be a better defensive team than we were last year,” Naperville Central coach Troy Adams said. “Jake started 14 games at three different positions last year.
“His leadership skills are awesome. He talks more than any other player we’ve had in the back in quite a while.”
Strang is a two-way threat who is every bit as dangerous on restarts as Iverson is for North. He matches Iverson in height and experience if not renown.
“He has a knack for finding the ball,” Adams said. “Some of the kids were laughing the other day and saying, why even try going up and getting it? They will try, but it’s tough.”
Strang’s penchant for knocking home headers will be particularly vital this year for a team that graduated two-thirds of its front line, its top scorer and two top playmakers.
“We probably didn’t do a good enough job last year taking advantage of it,” Adams said. “That’s definitely something that this year we’d like to be able to exploit and help us score.”
While the offense will be a question mark, Central’s midfield should be solid with returning third-year varsity players Owen Jarrell and Rohan Bhargava as well as Ivan Dosen, a senior who saw action off the bench in every game in 2017. Bhargava was on the Galaxy team.
Neuqua Valley and Waubonsie Valley are in a rebuilding mode but both had talented midfielders on the Galaxy team.
Neuqua’s representative was senior Jose Navarro, who wasn’t a top scorer last season but will be the linchpin of an extremely young team.
“Last year he didn’t have many goals, but still (people) talked about him,” Neuqua coach Arnoldo Gonzalez said. “Why? Because he doesn’t need to score goals to be talked about because he has other qualities.
“He’s a working horse. He’s a beast in the middle and his vision of the game is just unreal.”
Navarro will team with one of the few other returning players, senior midfielder David Kuhn. That combination will be the Wildcats’ main strength.
“I think we’re going to be pretty strong in the midfield,” Gonzalez said. “I think (Navarro) is going to do well with David Kuhn because David needs someone to work off of, someone that is going to create. And (Navarro) will have David there to create.”
Those two will need to create a lot because defense could be an issue for the Wildcats. The backline will be completely new, staffed by players who haven’t played many minutes with each other.
Gonzalez said he expects to see some high-scoring games as the youngsters gain experience at the varsity level. That might mean some losses early on, but the future appears bright.
A deep and talented freshman class has Gonzalez excited for the future. Three of them – Harshit Gupta, John Pochyly and Jack Georgi – could see significant playing time this fall.
Waubonsie Valley is even greener than Neuqua, with only one returning starter and a handful of seniors on the roster.
The starter is senior attacking midfielder Noah Glorioso, who was on the Galaxy title team. The only other players with significant varsity experience are goalkeepers Rohan Hindia and Vince Rullo.
“It’s kind of a rebuilding year,” Waubonsie coach Jose Garcia said. “We’re a young team.
“It’s going to be a true test for our boys for us to step up to the challenge. We’re definitely capable of doing that.
“There’s plenty of talent. It’s just a matter of can we get the nerves out of our system before those league games.”
Of course, the vast amount of job openings means a bunch of young players have the opportunity to make a name for themselves. Junior Dan Morgan and freshman Zach Stanley are two of those potential players for the Warriors. Both have the versatility to play multiple positions.
No matter how the DVC race ends, the quality of play should be high once again, as the Galaxy teammates square off against each other at the high school level. The DVC coaches are unanimous in applauding the national championship and what it represents for Naperville-area soccer.
“I think it’s great,” Garcia said. “That goes to show that high school soccer is not what most (club) coaches are telling their players.
“There is some quality soccer being played (in the high schools). I’m glad the kids are making a statement with that by winning the national championship.”
Robinson concurred.
“For high school soccer kids to go and win a national title is really awesome,” Robinson said. “Every single person that is coaching in this area now, they’re soccer lifers.
“They’re working at high-level clubs as well or have played Division I soccer. It’s not just somebody watching over some kids playing soccer like it was 15 years ago.
“When kids come to high school soccer they get quality training, tons of touches every day. I think the experience is positive, and I think people are recognizing that.”
That includes the players, especially those at Naperville North, who attempting to become only the third school in Illinois history to win three-straight state titles.
“It’s the goal,” Iverson said. “It’s definitely a lot of pressure but a lot of us just came off a national championship so I think we’re all locked in and ready.
“(A three-peat) is something we all really crave, and I think we can definitely do it if we all just play our game.”