DuPage Valley Conference preview:
Ho-hum, Naperville North
still the team to beat
By Matt Le Cren
Ty Konrad is the most highly touted player in Naperville North history and one of the best players in Illinois.
The senior forward committed to Ohio State after earning All-American honors last season, when the Chicagoland Soccer all-stater tallied 14 goals and a team-high 19 assists to help the Huskies win their third-consecutive Class 3A state championship.
Though former Chicagoland Soccer players of the year Tom Welch and Colin Iverson – the best goalkeeper and best defender, respectively in program history – have graduated, Naperville North returns eight starters from the squad that posted the first perfect season in Illinois history. The Huskies will likely start 11 seniors, making them the preseason favorite to become only the second Illinois school to win four-straight state titles.
Konrad, though, knows nothing is guaranteed.
“It will be difficult, for sure,” Konrad said. “It’s a hard run to make.
“There’s a lot of good teams in the state, but I think we’ve got a good group of guys and if we can keep our minds straight and keep working all season, then we should have a good chance.”
There’s little chance the Huskies won’t work hard. Their motto is “Nothing without work” and they’ve lived up to that the last three years.
Konrad, who will be just the fifth player in program history to play in the Big Ten, is the unquestioned leader now that Welch and Iverson have moved on. He is a two-year co-captain and shares the captaincy with senior midfielder Cesar Recendez.
Konrad, Recendez, forward Ali Khorfan and goalkeeper Jason Barba are four-year varsity players who have a chance of becoming the first players to win four-straight state titles. The only other school to win four in a row was Granite City South, which captured five straight from 1976-1980, an era when it was rare for freshmen to play on the varsity.
Naperville North returns its entire front line of Konrad, Khorfan and Bowling Green recruit Patrick Koenig along with its midfield of Recendez, Nata Rojas and Chicagoland Soccer all-stater Zach Smith plus defenders Myles Barry and Christian Romano.
So, where does that leave the rest of the DuPage Valley Conference teams, which now includes DeKalb? Probably praying for a miracle, though good luck in getting the Huskies to take anything for granted.
“I’m thinking we’ll hopefully be DVC champs,” Konrad said. “I don’t know much about DeKalb, but it should be good.
“(Playing DVC games) is so fun. Seeing people from other schools so you can talk later is just awesome.”
The Huskies, who have won the last five DVC crowns, have bragging rights until someone knocks them off. It’s been a long time since that happened.
Naperville Central was the last team to beat Naperville North, edging the Huskies 1-0 on Sept. 9, 2017. Since then, the Huskies have won 45-consecutive games and are an incredible 74-3-4 over the past three seasons.
But that’s all in the past. Romano is only looking forward.
“I’m excited for this year,” Romano said. “How it’s going to turn out, I honestly don’t know.
“I’m not too worried because I know we’ll put in the work where we need to, but I think it’s going to be a tough battle.”
So who has the best shot at knocking off the Huskies? That’s a good question. The most likely scenario is no one will because all of the other DVC teams are rebuilding. But Konrad had a guess.
“I would say (Naperville) Central just because it’s a rivalry,” Konrad said. “It’s always super difficult, no matter what. There’s just a lot of tension there.”
That’s because all of the kids know each other and most have played with and against each other in club. The Redhawks also have handed the Huskies some of their toughest upset losses over the last decade.
“I think it will be an interesting year,” Naperville Central coach Troy Adams said. “We have a very strong midfield.”
Indeed, the Redhawks are hungry after slogging through their first losing season since 2002. Three-year starters Owen Jarrell and Rohan Bhargava lead an impressive midfield that will include fellow senior Will Morgan, a Wisconsin-Whitewater recruit who is making his high school debut after playing three years of club soccer.
Also back is senior forward Nico Couropmitree, who played with the Redhawks his freshman and sophomore years before playing club last season.
Roman Krupka, a midfielder/forward, and sophomore Seth Lendzion, who saw time on the backline last year, are the other notable returners in what Adams terms “a nice core of about eight kids.”
Waubonsie Valley is a potential sleeper team. The Warriors won only four games last year but three came in the final five matches as Noah Glorioso went on a scoring tear after being moved from midfield to forward.
Glorioso is a Division I prospect who is primed for another big year and that gives Waubonsie coach Jose Garcia confidence.
“Noah Glorioso has been looking great,” Garcia said. “Last year toward the end of the season he had quite a few goals and made a pretty big impact on this team.”
Another senior who could make a big impact is Brandon Garduno.
“Brandon Garduno is doing well. He played defense and then in the midfield. He’s very versatile. You can put him wherever you need him.”
Senior Danny Fritz and sophomore Zach Stanley are the only other Warriors with significant varsity playing time but Garcia said many others are eager to step into larger roles.
“The numbers are looking great,” Garcia said. “A lot of the players are coming back and are a little bit more mature, so that’s always a positive. We’re trying to continue the momentum that we ended last season with.”
Considering their lack of experience, the Warriors figure to still be in rebuilding mode this fall, but Garcia has a different take.
“I feel like last year was a rebuilding year,” Garcia said. “I feel like this will be a breakout season because last year we kind of built some momentum at the end. I told the players I wish I’d had a couple more months with these guys.”
As for this year’s team, the Warriors have a star player up front in Glorioso and a competent backline, a combination which should keep them in games.
“Defensively we’re pretty smart and athletic,” Garcia said. “I think that’s going to stand out throughout the season, hopefully.”
What, or who, will standout at Metea Valley and Neuqua Valley this season?
At Metea, it will undoubtedly be senior goalkeeper Gandhi Cruz. The Chicagoland Soccer all-stater becomes the best goalie in the DVC now that he’s finally out of the shadow of Welch.
Cruz has been spectacular the past two seasons for the Mustangs and is drawing plenty of interest from college coaches at all levels. He should have plenty of chances to showcase his talents because the Mustangs graduated 90 percent of their offense from the most prolific scoring team in program history as well as the entire backline.
“He’s a tremendous leader, tremendous goalkeeper,” Metea coach Josh Robinson said. “The biggest thing for him is he’s going to have to make a lot of saves for us because we’re new in the back.
“There are some great kids who are hopefully going to come up big, but he’s going to come up big in some moments because we’re going to make mistakes.”
The only other returning starter is senior midfielder Joey Donovan, who missed significant time with an injury last fall. He is the last of four siblings – joining brothers Nate and Ryan and sister Lauryn – to play soccer at Metea. A Donovan has been on the roster every year since the school opened.
“They are really successful kids and the some of the best kids we’ve ever had as far as being good kids and good athletes,” Robinson said. “Their family has been instrumental to our success, and they have been great supporters.”
How much support Cruz and Donovan will have remains to be seen. Senior defender Abraham Antar, midfielder Davis Quarles and sophomore forward Colin Bastianoni - who impressed in a late-season call-up to varsity last fall – are the only other players with meaningful varsity experience, so that means there will be plenty of opportunities for newcomers to shine.
While Metea will be hard-pressed to repeat its 13-win season, Neuqua Valley is also rebuilding despite returning 10 players, most of whom played supporting roles or saw inconsistent action.
Neuqua coach Arnoldo Gonzalez kept 23 players on varsity, but that includes seven sophomores and a freshman.
“Some of them are going to benefit from being on this team and might end up being big for us,” Gonzalez said. “We are going to be rebuilding because it’s a very young group and not many of them were starters.
“We’re just hoping to continue to grow and in two years you’re saying, ‘OK, I’m starting 10 seniors.’”
This year, the seniors with an inside track to a starting role are forward Jaison Chisnell, midfielder Jack Bella, defender Mac Lehman and goalkeeper Luke Molnar. All but Lehman shared time with other players last season.
The sophomore class could end up impressing at some point. It includes midfielders Harshit Gupta and John Pochly, and forward Jack Georgi, all of whom had significant roles as freshmen. The midfield is so deep with potential that Gonzalez could elect to start four or five midfielders in any given game.
“I think our strongest point is going to be the middle of the field,” Gonzalez said. “I’m excited to get out there and see them play.”
At DeKalb, P.J. Hamilton is excited to see the DVC players after taking over the program.
The Barbs, who play their first season in the DVC, return six players. Several of them are planning to play in college, from a team that went 16-3-3 in 2019. The team figures to be particularly strong on the back end as defenders Jack Bettner and Emrys Draper and midfielders Luis Cabral, Mauro Talamantes, Colby Royer and T.J. Vilet enter their senior year primed for a new challenge. The DVC will present much stiffer competition than they are used to.
“We are excited to be joining one of the best soccer conferences in the state,” Hamilton said. “We look forward to the quality each opponent possesses and are embracing the opportunity to compete against some of the top schools in the state of Illinois.”
The addition of DeKalb throws a big unknown into the mix. The Barbs have not played the quality of opponents they will face in the DVC, but the DVC teams know nothing about DeKalb.
Unlike the other five teams, whose players have known one another for years, the Barbs have not mixed with their new brethren. The only tangential tie, which is meaningless to what will occur on the field, is that Vilet’s father, Tom, is a Naperville North alum and former high school friend of Jim Konrad.
“(The Barbs) have had a couple good years lately,” Jim Konrad said. “I’ve met their coach, great guy. I think they’re excited to be a part of it, and we’ll see what they have.”
Hamilton thinks the Barbs have enough to be competitive in the DVC and the postseason.
“There will be a lot of new things our squad will be faced with this season,” Hamilton said. “Our players will be playing in a new conference, playing different schools than in our past, in, but we have high expectations.
“The biggest benefit will be playing against the quality this conference possesses. We believe joining the DVC will help our players grow and compete at the highest level the state has to offer.”
Though Jim Konrad's team is the overwhelming favorite, he expects another tight race noting that the Huskies won 12 of their 26 games by one goal last fall.
Though Metea Valley's Robinson, whose team lost one of those games 1-0 on a penalty kick in a match that decided the DVC title, said that stat is misleading.
“I think what they do best and has led to their success is they feel very comfortable at 1-0,” Robinson said. “Where other people are like, ‘we’ve got one (goal), let’s not give up one,’ or are nervous and think it is too close, they play 1-0 like we play 4-0.”
Ultimately, that quality may be what enables Naperville North to once again stand out in a conference of unmatched historic quality, and one that may be better than ever with the addition of DeKalb.
“We’re excited to have DeKalb,” Robinson said. “The prestige of the conference is that it is an amazingly difficult conference. Find us a better conference top to bottom.
“But when you only play four games (in a conference season) it kind of loses a little bit of that polish. So we get to play one more game, which is great.”
Ho-hum, Naperville North
still the team to beat
By Matt Le Cren
Ty Konrad is the most highly touted player in Naperville North history and one of the best players in Illinois.
The senior forward committed to Ohio State after earning All-American honors last season, when the Chicagoland Soccer all-stater tallied 14 goals and a team-high 19 assists to help the Huskies win their third-consecutive Class 3A state championship.
Though former Chicagoland Soccer players of the year Tom Welch and Colin Iverson – the best goalkeeper and best defender, respectively in program history – have graduated, Naperville North returns eight starters from the squad that posted the first perfect season in Illinois history. The Huskies will likely start 11 seniors, making them the preseason favorite to become only the second Illinois school to win four-straight state titles.
Konrad, though, knows nothing is guaranteed.
“It will be difficult, for sure,” Konrad said. “It’s a hard run to make.
“There’s a lot of good teams in the state, but I think we’ve got a good group of guys and if we can keep our minds straight and keep working all season, then we should have a good chance.”
There’s little chance the Huskies won’t work hard. Their motto is “Nothing without work” and they’ve lived up to that the last three years.
Konrad, who will be just the fifth player in program history to play in the Big Ten, is the unquestioned leader now that Welch and Iverson have moved on. He is a two-year co-captain and shares the captaincy with senior midfielder Cesar Recendez.
Konrad, Recendez, forward Ali Khorfan and goalkeeper Jason Barba are four-year varsity players who have a chance of becoming the first players to win four-straight state titles. The only other school to win four in a row was Granite City South, which captured five straight from 1976-1980, an era when it was rare for freshmen to play on the varsity.
Naperville North returns its entire front line of Konrad, Khorfan and Bowling Green recruit Patrick Koenig along with its midfield of Recendez, Nata Rojas and Chicagoland Soccer all-stater Zach Smith plus defenders Myles Barry and Christian Romano.
So, where does that leave the rest of the DuPage Valley Conference teams, which now includes DeKalb? Probably praying for a miracle, though good luck in getting the Huskies to take anything for granted.
“I’m thinking we’ll hopefully be DVC champs,” Konrad said. “I don’t know much about DeKalb, but it should be good.
“(Playing DVC games) is so fun. Seeing people from other schools so you can talk later is just awesome.”
The Huskies, who have won the last five DVC crowns, have bragging rights until someone knocks them off. It’s been a long time since that happened.
Naperville Central was the last team to beat Naperville North, edging the Huskies 1-0 on Sept. 9, 2017. Since then, the Huskies have won 45-consecutive games and are an incredible 74-3-4 over the past three seasons.
But that’s all in the past. Romano is only looking forward.
“I’m excited for this year,” Romano said. “How it’s going to turn out, I honestly don’t know.
“I’m not too worried because I know we’ll put in the work where we need to, but I think it’s going to be a tough battle.”
So who has the best shot at knocking off the Huskies? That’s a good question. The most likely scenario is no one will because all of the other DVC teams are rebuilding. But Konrad had a guess.
“I would say (Naperville) Central just because it’s a rivalry,” Konrad said. “It’s always super difficult, no matter what. There’s just a lot of tension there.”
That’s because all of the kids know each other and most have played with and against each other in club. The Redhawks also have handed the Huskies some of their toughest upset losses over the last decade.
“I think it will be an interesting year,” Naperville Central coach Troy Adams said. “We have a very strong midfield.”
Indeed, the Redhawks are hungry after slogging through their first losing season since 2002. Three-year starters Owen Jarrell and Rohan Bhargava lead an impressive midfield that will include fellow senior Will Morgan, a Wisconsin-Whitewater recruit who is making his high school debut after playing three years of club soccer.
Also back is senior forward Nico Couropmitree, who played with the Redhawks his freshman and sophomore years before playing club last season.
Roman Krupka, a midfielder/forward, and sophomore Seth Lendzion, who saw time on the backline last year, are the other notable returners in what Adams terms “a nice core of about eight kids.”
Waubonsie Valley is a potential sleeper team. The Warriors won only four games last year but three came in the final five matches as Noah Glorioso went on a scoring tear after being moved from midfield to forward.
Glorioso is a Division I prospect who is primed for another big year and that gives Waubonsie coach Jose Garcia confidence.
“Noah Glorioso has been looking great,” Garcia said. “Last year toward the end of the season he had quite a few goals and made a pretty big impact on this team.”
Another senior who could make a big impact is Brandon Garduno.
“Brandon Garduno is doing well. He played defense and then in the midfield. He’s very versatile. You can put him wherever you need him.”
Senior Danny Fritz and sophomore Zach Stanley are the only other Warriors with significant varsity playing time but Garcia said many others are eager to step into larger roles.
“The numbers are looking great,” Garcia said. “A lot of the players are coming back and are a little bit more mature, so that’s always a positive. We’re trying to continue the momentum that we ended last season with.”
Considering their lack of experience, the Warriors figure to still be in rebuilding mode this fall, but Garcia has a different take.
“I feel like last year was a rebuilding year,” Garcia said. “I feel like this will be a breakout season because last year we kind of built some momentum at the end. I told the players I wish I’d had a couple more months with these guys.”
As for this year’s team, the Warriors have a star player up front in Glorioso and a competent backline, a combination which should keep them in games.
“Defensively we’re pretty smart and athletic,” Garcia said. “I think that’s going to stand out throughout the season, hopefully.”
What, or who, will standout at Metea Valley and Neuqua Valley this season?
At Metea, it will undoubtedly be senior goalkeeper Gandhi Cruz. The Chicagoland Soccer all-stater becomes the best goalie in the DVC now that he’s finally out of the shadow of Welch.
Cruz has been spectacular the past two seasons for the Mustangs and is drawing plenty of interest from college coaches at all levels. He should have plenty of chances to showcase his talents because the Mustangs graduated 90 percent of their offense from the most prolific scoring team in program history as well as the entire backline.
“He’s a tremendous leader, tremendous goalkeeper,” Metea coach Josh Robinson said. “The biggest thing for him is he’s going to have to make a lot of saves for us because we’re new in the back.
“There are some great kids who are hopefully going to come up big, but he’s going to come up big in some moments because we’re going to make mistakes.”
The only other returning starter is senior midfielder Joey Donovan, who missed significant time with an injury last fall. He is the last of four siblings – joining brothers Nate and Ryan and sister Lauryn – to play soccer at Metea. A Donovan has been on the roster every year since the school opened.
“They are really successful kids and the some of the best kids we’ve ever had as far as being good kids and good athletes,” Robinson said. “Their family has been instrumental to our success, and they have been great supporters.”
How much support Cruz and Donovan will have remains to be seen. Senior defender Abraham Antar, midfielder Davis Quarles and sophomore forward Colin Bastianoni - who impressed in a late-season call-up to varsity last fall – are the only other players with meaningful varsity experience, so that means there will be plenty of opportunities for newcomers to shine.
While Metea will be hard-pressed to repeat its 13-win season, Neuqua Valley is also rebuilding despite returning 10 players, most of whom played supporting roles or saw inconsistent action.
Neuqua coach Arnoldo Gonzalez kept 23 players on varsity, but that includes seven sophomores and a freshman.
“Some of them are going to benefit from being on this team and might end up being big for us,” Gonzalez said. “We are going to be rebuilding because it’s a very young group and not many of them were starters.
“We’re just hoping to continue to grow and in two years you’re saying, ‘OK, I’m starting 10 seniors.’”
This year, the seniors with an inside track to a starting role are forward Jaison Chisnell, midfielder Jack Bella, defender Mac Lehman and goalkeeper Luke Molnar. All but Lehman shared time with other players last season.
The sophomore class could end up impressing at some point. It includes midfielders Harshit Gupta and John Pochly, and forward Jack Georgi, all of whom had significant roles as freshmen. The midfield is so deep with potential that Gonzalez could elect to start four or five midfielders in any given game.
“I think our strongest point is going to be the middle of the field,” Gonzalez said. “I’m excited to get out there and see them play.”
At DeKalb, P.J. Hamilton is excited to see the DVC players after taking over the program.
The Barbs, who play their first season in the DVC, return six players. Several of them are planning to play in college, from a team that went 16-3-3 in 2019. The team figures to be particularly strong on the back end as defenders Jack Bettner and Emrys Draper and midfielders Luis Cabral, Mauro Talamantes, Colby Royer and T.J. Vilet enter their senior year primed for a new challenge. The DVC will present much stiffer competition than they are used to.
“We are excited to be joining one of the best soccer conferences in the state,” Hamilton said. “We look forward to the quality each opponent possesses and are embracing the opportunity to compete against some of the top schools in the state of Illinois.”
The addition of DeKalb throws a big unknown into the mix. The Barbs have not played the quality of opponents they will face in the DVC, but the DVC teams know nothing about DeKalb.
Unlike the other five teams, whose players have known one another for years, the Barbs have not mixed with their new brethren. The only tangential tie, which is meaningless to what will occur on the field, is that Vilet’s father, Tom, is a Naperville North alum and former high school friend of Jim Konrad.
“(The Barbs) have had a couple good years lately,” Jim Konrad said. “I’ve met their coach, great guy. I think they’re excited to be a part of it, and we’ll see what they have.”
Hamilton thinks the Barbs have enough to be competitive in the DVC and the postseason.
“There will be a lot of new things our squad will be faced with this season,” Hamilton said. “Our players will be playing in a new conference, playing different schools than in our past, in, but we have high expectations.
“The biggest benefit will be playing against the quality this conference possesses. We believe joining the DVC will help our players grow and compete at the highest level the state has to offer.”
Though Jim Konrad's team is the overwhelming favorite, he expects another tight race noting that the Huskies won 12 of their 26 games by one goal last fall.
Though Metea Valley's Robinson, whose team lost one of those games 1-0 on a penalty kick in a match that decided the DVC title, said that stat is misleading.
“I think what they do best and has led to their success is they feel very comfortable at 1-0,” Robinson said. “Where other people are like, ‘we’ve got one (goal), let’s not give up one,’ or are nervous and think it is too close, they play 1-0 like we play 4-0.”
Ultimately, that quality may be what enables Naperville North to once again stand out in a conference of unmatched historic quality, and one that may be better than ever with the addition of DeKalb.
“We’re excited to have DeKalb,” Robinson said. “The prestige of the conference is that it is an amazingly difficult conference. Find us a better conference top to bottom.
“But when you only play four games (in a conference season) it kind of loses a little bit of that polish. So we get to play one more game, which is great.”