Hinsdale South scores with 'ultimate goal'
Hornets gave maximum effort against competitive schedule
By Dave Owen
Taking on every challenge sometimes can produce tough results on the scoreboard. Hinsdale South can attest to that.
The strong and deep West Suburban Conference Gold Division produced regular tests for the Hornets, and a competitive nonconference schedule devoid of easy opponents provided no breaks.
The 1-19-1 record that resulted can be tempered by additional facts: 12 one-goal losses; more than 50 percent of games played against 10-plus-win opponents; losses to 10 ranked opponents.
Among that list of foes are Class 3A top-five seeds Downers Grove South, Lake Park, Hersey and Leyden, plus a Lemont team that is seeded No. 1 in a Class 2A sectional.
“We tried to come out every game like it was a new season,” Hinsdale South standout junior midfielder Mike Noble said. “We knew if we really put our minds to it that we could play with any team and compete with anybody. We showed that with DGS (Downers Grove South) and games where we kept it to 2-1 or 1-0.
“We did have one of the hardest schedules we could get in our state, because a lot of teams were highly ranked. But our coach (James VanDenburgh) tried to keep us motivated, which he did, and we always fought to the final whistle each game.”
Having to play top-ranked Morton three times this fall (including the season-concluding Morton Regional semifinal loss) didn’t help the team’s record. But regardless of the opponent, VanDenburgh kept things in the right perspective for the Hornets.
“We remind ourselves every time we play Morton that we get better,” VanDenburgh said. “Because they play soccer at such a high level, it forces us to step up our game.
“Looking at the bigger picture, every year that I coach, the more I realize that player development is what is really important. So we emphasize player development, team unity, and get our players to buy into our formula for success (motivation + ambition + spirit + team = success).
“Our ultimate goal is to develop better soccer players and better people. With that in mind, we do experience success.”
The challenges of 2014 obscured excellent play by a defensive unit that included co-captain Lucas Carlson and Austin West.
“Lucas did a great job orchestrating our total team defense and leading from the back,” VanDenburgh said. “Along with Austin West, he’s one of the best pure defenders I’ve coached.
“Austin actually came to our summer soccer camp as an eighth-grader. I’ve enjoyed seeing him become a bigger, better, faster, stronger soccer player as well as a respectable young man.”
The solid and sometimes spectacular play of senior goalkeeper Alec Carpenter also helped the Hornets held opponents to one goal or less in 10 games this fall (of the 21-game schedule).
“Alec has improved every year and most notably, grew into a leader of men as co-captain,” VanDenburgh said. “I respect Alec’s intelligence, his athletic ability, and his demeanor.”
Alec Raatz (like Carlson a three-year varsity player) and Dan Jaworski were two other standouts in the senior class.
“We had a great group of seniors this year,” VanDenburgh said. “Out of the 12 total seniors, 10 played all four years in the program, eight were heavy contributors on varsity, and all will be missed.
“There is no doubt that we were in almost every game we played because of our disciplined defense. However, with the strength of our schedule, we understand the possibility of not winning many games especially without a potent offense. That will be another focus for next year.”
Defensively, junior Paul Figus joined classmate Mykolas Meilus as team standouts in 2014. Figus expects bigger things for the Hornets next fall.
“In our sophomore year we had a really good record (tied for third in the WSC Gold) and played really well,” he said, “so next year’s looking good for us.”
Improvement offensively will be essential after suffering 14 shutout losses this fall. But talent is on board.
Freshman Karel Ondra showed flashes of excellence in his varsity debut season, and junior forwards/midfielders Chris Metcalf, Zach Duffy, Dino Vessol and Noble will also return.
“We’ll be keeping mostly our whole offense, and we’ll all be a year older with more experience,” Noble said. “So I think next year will be a better season for us.”
Help will come from a Junior Varsity 1 team that finished with a 5-9-2 record and made excellent progress during the fall.
“What really stood out most about this group of players was that it didn’t matter what the score was, winning or losing, these guys were still fighting and giving it everything that they had,” JV 1 coach Mike Gross said. “Their competitiveness and willingness to get better will be crucial at the varsity level.”
Several individuals in that group showed particular promise.
One of them was goalkeeper Chris Meyers. Carpenter’s excellent play kept Meyers on the JV squad most of the year. But with Carpenter sidelined for the Sept. 12 game against Downers Grove North, Meyers moved up to varsity to fill in and excelled in a 1-0 loss.
That start was an extension of his consistent play all year at the JV level.
“Chris Meyers was a leader on and off the field this year,” Gross said. “He made a ton of growth from the start of summer camp until the end of the season and continues to get better. He is solid in the net and made a lot of point-blank, reactionary saves to keep us in games.”
Christian Lopez and Ryan Wooten were two sophomore field players who excelled for the JV team and also saw time on varsity.
Lopez could play a prominent role defensively down the road.
“Christian Lopez has great leadership,” Gross said. “He took charge in the back and helped to control the defense. He reads the game well and was able to break up a lot of plays because of this.
“His size is especially important for him as well. He won countless defensive headers and was a threat on corners. As the year went on, he started to carry the ball into the midfield and looked to get into the attack which provided another outlet for our offense to be dangerous.”
Wooten will add speed and fundamentals to the Hornets offensive attack.
“Ryan Wooten has a great understanding of the way that the game is supposed to be played and can play different styles,” Gross said. “He is able to move the ball quickly and demand it back from his teammates when it is needed, but also can hold the ball and beat defenders.
“His speed is his biggest asset. He is always one of the faster players on the field and is able to exploit open space with his pace. He had a knack for making the right plays in our attacking third of the field, whether it was to shoot or make the final pass.”
While freshman Ondra immediately stepped into a key role on varsity, another member of the Class of 2018 has offensive potential.
“Ryan Kuhlman was a freshman this year, but had a huge impact on our (JV 1) team as a forward,” Gross said. “His soccer IQ is off the charts as he always seemed to be in the right place at the right time.
“He isn’t the biggest player on the field, but is still extremely dangerous in the air. He can hold the ball with defenders on him while waiting for teammates to join the attack, and can pick up the ball at midfield and beat multiple defenders to get himself into a position to get off a shot.”
The influx of new talent adds to VanDenburgh’s optimism for next year.
“Every coach and player expects to improve next season,” VanDenburgh said. “All of our efforts will be to show how resilient we are by responding to one of the toughest seasons in recent history.”
Several factors will play into that goal.
“Part of the solution will be the players that developed under coach Mike Gross,” VanDenburgh said. “We will expect players like Chris Meyers, Ryan Wooten, Christian Lopez, Jack Glimco, and Bartosz Majerczyk to step up and play at a higher level next year.
“Another part will be the players returning for another year on varsity. We are expecting big things from Mick Meilus, Mike Noble, Chris Metcalf and Karel Ondra.”
The Hornets varsity veterans hope to lead the way, as this year’s many close losses ideally turn into many more wins.
“It’s mostly going to be seniors next year, but we have a lot of chemistry with the sophomores too,” Figus said. “So I feel we’ll play a lot better and just be an overall better team.”
Hornets gave maximum effort against competitive schedule
By Dave Owen
Taking on every challenge sometimes can produce tough results on the scoreboard. Hinsdale South can attest to that.
The strong and deep West Suburban Conference Gold Division produced regular tests for the Hornets, and a competitive nonconference schedule devoid of easy opponents provided no breaks.
The 1-19-1 record that resulted can be tempered by additional facts: 12 one-goal losses; more than 50 percent of games played against 10-plus-win opponents; losses to 10 ranked opponents.
Among that list of foes are Class 3A top-five seeds Downers Grove South, Lake Park, Hersey and Leyden, plus a Lemont team that is seeded No. 1 in a Class 2A sectional.
“We tried to come out every game like it was a new season,” Hinsdale South standout junior midfielder Mike Noble said. “We knew if we really put our minds to it that we could play with any team and compete with anybody. We showed that with DGS (Downers Grove South) and games where we kept it to 2-1 or 1-0.
“We did have one of the hardest schedules we could get in our state, because a lot of teams were highly ranked. But our coach (James VanDenburgh) tried to keep us motivated, which he did, and we always fought to the final whistle each game.”
Having to play top-ranked Morton three times this fall (including the season-concluding Morton Regional semifinal loss) didn’t help the team’s record. But regardless of the opponent, VanDenburgh kept things in the right perspective for the Hornets.
“We remind ourselves every time we play Morton that we get better,” VanDenburgh said. “Because they play soccer at such a high level, it forces us to step up our game.
“Looking at the bigger picture, every year that I coach, the more I realize that player development is what is really important. So we emphasize player development, team unity, and get our players to buy into our formula for success (motivation + ambition + spirit + team = success).
“Our ultimate goal is to develop better soccer players and better people. With that in mind, we do experience success.”
The challenges of 2014 obscured excellent play by a defensive unit that included co-captain Lucas Carlson and Austin West.
“Lucas did a great job orchestrating our total team defense and leading from the back,” VanDenburgh said. “Along with Austin West, he’s one of the best pure defenders I’ve coached.
“Austin actually came to our summer soccer camp as an eighth-grader. I’ve enjoyed seeing him become a bigger, better, faster, stronger soccer player as well as a respectable young man.”
The solid and sometimes spectacular play of senior goalkeeper Alec Carpenter also helped the Hornets held opponents to one goal or less in 10 games this fall (of the 21-game schedule).
“Alec has improved every year and most notably, grew into a leader of men as co-captain,” VanDenburgh said. “I respect Alec’s intelligence, his athletic ability, and his demeanor.”
Alec Raatz (like Carlson a three-year varsity player) and Dan Jaworski were two other standouts in the senior class.
“We had a great group of seniors this year,” VanDenburgh said. “Out of the 12 total seniors, 10 played all four years in the program, eight were heavy contributors on varsity, and all will be missed.
“There is no doubt that we were in almost every game we played because of our disciplined defense. However, with the strength of our schedule, we understand the possibility of not winning many games especially without a potent offense. That will be another focus for next year.”
Defensively, junior Paul Figus joined classmate Mykolas Meilus as team standouts in 2014. Figus expects bigger things for the Hornets next fall.
“In our sophomore year we had a really good record (tied for third in the WSC Gold) and played really well,” he said, “so next year’s looking good for us.”
Improvement offensively will be essential after suffering 14 shutout losses this fall. But talent is on board.
Freshman Karel Ondra showed flashes of excellence in his varsity debut season, and junior forwards/midfielders Chris Metcalf, Zach Duffy, Dino Vessol and Noble will also return.
“We’ll be keeping mostly our whole offense, and we’ll all be a year older with more experience,” Noble said. “So I think next year will be a better season for us.”
Help will come from a Junior Varsity 1 team that finished with a 5-9-2 record and made excellent progress during the fall.
“What really stood out most about this group of players was that it didn’t matter what the score was, winning or losing, these guys were still fighting and giving it everything that they had,” JV 1 coach Mike Gross said. “Their competitiveness and willingness to get better will be crucial at the varsity level.”
Several individuals in that group showed particular promise.
One of them was goalkeeper Chris Meyers. Carpenter’s excellent play kept Meyers on the JV squad most of the year. But with Carpenter sidelined for the Sept. 12 game against Downers Grove North, Meyers moved up to varsity to fill in and excelled in a 1-0 loss.
That start was an extension of his consistent play all year at the JV level.
“Chris Meyers was a leader on and off the field this year,” Gross said. “He made a ton of growth from the start of summer camp until the end of the season and continues to get better. He is solid in the net and made a lot of point-blank, reactionary saves to keep us in games.”
Christian Lopez and Ryan Wooten were two sophomore field players who excelled for the JV team and also saw time on varsity.
Lopez could play a prominent role defensively down the road.
“Christian Lopez has great leadership,” Gross said. “He took charge in the back and helped to control the defense. He reads the game well and was able to break up a lot of plays because of this.
“His size is especially important for him as well. He won countless defensive headers and was a threat on corners. As the year went on, he started to carry the ball into the midfield and looked to get into the attack which provided another outlet for our offense to be dangerous.”
Wooten will add speed and fundamentals to the Hornets offensive attack.
“Ryan Wooten has a great understanding of the way that the game is supposed to be played and can play different styles,” Gross said. “He is able to move the ball quickly and demand it back from his teammates when it is needed, but also can hold the ball and beat defenders.
“His speed is his biggest asset. He is always one of the faster players on the field and is able to exploit open space with his pace. He had a knack for making the right plays in our attacking third of the field, whether it was to shoot or make the final pass.”
While freshman Ondra immediately stepped into a key role on varsity, another member of the Class of 2018 has offensive potential.
“Ryan Kuhlman was a freshman this year, but had a huge impact on our (JV 1) team as a forward,” Gross said. “His soccer IQ is off the charts as he always seemed to be in the right place at the right time.
“He isn’t the biggest player on the field, but is still extremely dangerous in the air. He can hold the ball with defenders on him while waiting for teammates to join the attack, and can pick up the ball at midfield and beat multiple defenders to get himself into a position to get off a shot.”
The influx of new talent adds to VanDenburgh’s optimism for next year.
“Every coach and player expects to improve next season,” VanDenburgh said. “All of our efforts will be to show how resilient we are by responding to one of the toughest seasons in recent history.”
Several factors will play into that goal.
“Part of the solution will be the players that developed under coach Mike Gross,” VanDenburgh said. “We will expect players like Chris Meyers, Ryan Wooten, Christian Lopez, Jack Glimco, and Bartosz Majerczyk to step up and play at a higher level next year.
“Another part will be the players returning for another year on varsity. We are expecting big things from Mick Meilus, Mike Noble, Chris Metcalf and Karel Ondra.”
The Hornets varsity veterans hope to lead the way, as this year’s many close losses ideally turn into many more wins.
“It’s mostly going to be seniors next year, but we have a lot of chemistry with the sophomores too,” Figus said. “So I feel we’ll play a lot better and just be an overall better team.”