Season preview: St. Patrick
By Dave Owen
Saint Patrick’s quick emergence as an elite boys soccer program has certainly opened some eyes.
The Shamrocks’ run to a 23-6-1 record and fourth place at the Class AA state tournament last fall marked a huge jump from 17 wins in the previous three years combined.
Now comes another huge jump – with the private school program’s success, the IHSA multiplier waiver has been removed. The Shamrocks willto compete at the Class 3A level this postseason.
Having endured plenty of obstacles already to emerge as a state contender, St. Patrick is accentuating the positive.
The Shamrocks won two games his first year in 2014 and have resembled the stock chart for Amazon.com ever since. They doubled to four wins in 2015, a near-triple to 11 victories in 2016, and then last year’s magical season.
“It’s been unbelievable,” senior co-captain Herbert Carrera said. “My freshman year we won four games, and I was very disappointed because I thought we had a better program than that. Then obviously the next year we more than doubled our wins, and since then it’s been ‘Wow, this is crazy; we can’t have a better season than this.’ Hopefully we can do more this year.
“Obviously everyone’s excited about this year because now we know what we’re capable of,” Carrera added. “But everyone also knows you have to be down to earth because we actually got bumped up to 3A so the competition is going to be a lot tougher. We just have to stay down to earth and keep grinding.”
And while major ingredients in the 2017 success like captains Chris Modrzejewski, Finn Elsmo and Nate Anderson and goalkeeper Chris Troyke have graduated, St. Patrick remains loaded.
That continued muscle begins on offense.
“Offensively, we should be very strong again,” McClure said. “Although we lose our All-State leading goal scorer Chris Modrzejewski (34 goals), our next four points leaders are all back.”
That group of finishers is led by junior Luis Angel Saucedo, who had 25 goals and six assists last fall en route to all-sectional and all-conference honors.
“His goal total is even more impressive when you consider that he didn’t take any free kicks or penalty kicks,” McClure said. “Luis is one of the fastest and toughest players in the state, and he has excellent finishing skills around the net.”
Sophomore Joshua Torres instantly emerged as a creative force as a freshman last year, also earning all-ESCC honors.
“Joshua tallied eight goals and an incredible 21 assists as a freshman, the most assists of any freshman in the state,” McClure said. “Joshua is small in stature, but has deceiving speed and excellent explosiveness. His field vision and passing ability are second to none.”
Torres’ huge debut season is fueling predictions of even bigger things.
“If he stays healthy, expect Joshua to have more assists than any sophomore in the state this season,” McClure said.
Senior forward Carrera (11 goals, six assists) provides scoring punch and much more.
“Herbert is a highly skilled player with excellent ball control,” McClure said. “Great field vision, good passing ability, and he’s also effective at winning balls in the air.
“A very versatile player (with) good leadership skills and an excellent work ethic. If he stays healthy, expect Herbert to have a break-out season.”
The Shamrocks’ fourth-leading returning scorer is even better at denying scoring threats than creating them.
Junior defender Jonathan “Pollo” Rodriguez notched four goals and 12 assists last fall. And his contributions all over the field are immeasurable.
“Pollo is the only ESCC soccer player to ever be selected All Conference as both a freshman an d a sophomore,” McClure said.
“Pollo is an athletic beast: strong, fast, and has an excellent vertical. He has one of the longest throw-ins of any player in the state. Although we have played him mostly at defense, Pollo is very versatile and can play any position on the field at a very high level.”
Junior Adam Pryztula (seven goals last fall) will shift from midfielder to defender.
“Adam is a physically imposing player with great body control,” McClure said. “He is good in the air and at drawing fouls from opponents. He also is a very good decision-maker with good foot skills and passing ability.”
Juan Leon and Collin Kroeger are two other juniors in the mix at defender spots.
"Juan is a strong, physical defender who is very good in the air," McClure said. "He has a great attitude, excellent mindset.
"Collin has excellent field awareness and is a great decision-maker. He has good speed and uses his body well to frustrate attackers."
Seniors bidding for defender spots are Brian Nunez, Cecil Sylvester and Diego Rivera. All three bring unique skills.
"Brian is physically strong and good in the air," McClure said. "He has good recovery speed and an excellent work ethic.
"Cecil has great speed and field awareness (and) always displays an excellent attitude.
"Diego has very good foot skills, good speed and excellent athletic endurance," McClure added. "He has a very competitive mindset."
That defensive corps will complement sophomore Jorge Cebrero, St. Patrick’s new starting goalkeeper.
“He backed up ESCC All-Conference senior goalkeeper Chris Troyke last year,” McClure said. “Due to our success, he did get to see substantial varsity minutes as a freshman.
“Jorge is small in stature, but makes up for it with excellent technique and foot skills.”
Senior Alex Jamroz offers another strong option at goalkeeper.
“Alex will back-up Jorge at the goalkeeper spot to start the season. Alex excelled as our JV goalie last season. He doesn’t have the technique or foot skills of Jorge, but he is strong, physical, and aggressive and fearless.”
At midfield, the Shamrocks will benefit from the talents of a 2017 standout defender.
Junior Sebastian Modrzejewski’s nickname ‘Bash’ sums up his impact on the field. An ESCC all-conference pick last year as a defender (one goal and four assists), he moves to midfielder in 2018.
“Bash is a strong, aggressive, physical player great on both sides of the ball,” McClure said. “He’s very good at winning balls in the air and also has an excellent outside shot -- a very versatile player.”
He shifts upfield to join two returning standouts in the midfield: juniors Angel ‘Richie’ Adame (four goals, six assists last year) and Aaron Moreno-Lopez (four goals, nine assists in 2017).
“Richie is a highly skilled player, with excellent field vision and passing ability,” McClure said. “Great ball control and a very competitive mindset. He shows good leadership on the field.
“Aaron has excellent field awareness, vision, and passing ability,” McClure added. “He shows good leadership on the field and has a very high soccer IQ. He excels at taking both free kicks and corner kicks.”
The midfield mix will feature four other players, one from each class.
Senior Nathan LaBoe and junior Malcolm McGee were both on varsity last season.
“Nathan has excellent field vision and passing ability,” McClure said. “He’s a very unselfish teammate, and also has very good foot skills.
“Malcolm is a strong, physical athlete with good speed, excellent explosiveness (and a) very competitive mindset.”
Freshman Ivan Guerrero and sophomore Sebastian Estrada also figure to make major contributions at midfield in their varsity debut seasons.
“Ivan was the only player out of a strong freshman class to make varsity this fall,” McClure said. “Ivan has excellent foot skills and passing ability.
“Sebastian (Estrada) is a highly skilled player with very good field vision and passing ability. He has good physicality and can also effectively shoot from distance.”
Forward Erik Garcia (six goals last season) also saw action at midfielder in 2017.
“Erik is an excellent athlete,” McClure said. “He is strong with great body control, and is excellent at winning balls in the air. He also has a strong shot and good finishing ability.”
Senior Patrick Kubecki also returns at a forward spot.
“Patrick has one of the strongest legs on the team,” McClure said. “A great outside shot and crossing ability, and he’s a strong, physical player.”
With a tough act to follow from last season, some early season adjustments are expected.
“Our biggest potential weakness is our overall team defense,” McClure said. “Our backline, as well as a young sophomore goalkeeper, have a lot of room to grow. We also had great senior leadership last year, and that will leave a potential void this year.”
But a younger nucleus remains talented.
“We expect to start the season with only two senior starters,” McClure said. “The rest of the starting line-up will likely consist of seven juniors and two sophomores.
“However, although this is still a young starting line-up compared to other top teams, most of our juniors have been varsity starters since they were freshmen, so we are expecting them to play like seniors this season.”
Seniors like Herrera will attempt to provide whatever guidance is needed.
“This is my last year here, and I’ll be a captain of the team,” Herrera said. “I know I have to give it my all knowing that this is my last chance to do as much as I can for this team and also guiding the underclassmen that maybe don’t understand the importance of big games.”
With plenty of physical talent, the Shamrocks are focusing on the mental side of the game.
“Our biggest key to success will be our ability to handle adversity,” McClure said. “We have sometimes a tendency to turn negative when things aren’t going our way.
“We need to work on our resiliency. When you play really good teams they are going to capitalize off of mistakes. We need to keep a positive mindset, learn from them, and keep battling.”
Carrera echoes that emphasis.
“I think discipline (will be key) because we have a really young team,” Carrera said, “and sometimes we get overconfident and feel like we don’t have to work as hard. So we have to get that out of our system and know that we have to work hard every day no matter who the opponent is.
“Other than that, I think our style of play is good enough that we can beat any team.
“We went to state last year but 3A will be really tough,” Carrera added. “We set goals for ourselves every year. Two years ago it was to win a regional, and we accomplished that. Last year was to win a sectional, and we went way past that. This year our main focus is to win a regional, and then see what happens.
“We were expecting to get bumped up (to 3A) next year. But I think the team’s taking it well. We know what we’re capable of. We know we can compete against the bigger schools with our style of play. We just like the challenge of how far we can take ourselves.”
It's doubtful anyone will doubt that after the Shamrocks improved to 2-0-0 on the new season after they topped Taft by a surprising 7-1 tally Saturday (Aug. 25) morning.
An Eagles tweet after the game may turn out to have said it best.
"They are the real deal."
By Dave Owen
Saint Patrick’s quick emergence as an elite boys soccer program has certainly opened some eyes.
The Shamrocks’ run to a 23-6-1 record and fourth place at the Class AA state tournament last fall marked a huge jump from 17 wins in the previous three years combined.
Now comes another huge jump – with the private school program’s success, the IHSA multiplier waiver has been removed. The Shamrocks willto compete at the Class 3A level this postseason.
Having endured plenty of obstacles already to emerge as a state contender, St. Patrick is accentuating the positive.
The Shamrocks won two games his first year in 2014 and have resembled the stock chart for Amazon.com ever since. They doubled to four wins in 2015, a near-triple to 11 victories in 2016, and then last year’s magical season.
“It’s been unbelievable,” senior co-captain Herbert Carrera said. “My freshman year we won four games, and I was very disappointed because I thought we had a better program than that. Then obviously the next year we more than doubled our wins, and since then it’s been ‘Wow, this is crazy; we can’t have a better season than this.’ Hopefully we can do more this year.
“Obviously everyone’s excited about this year because now we know what we’re capable of,” Carrera added. “But everyone also knows you have to be down to earth because we actually got bumped up to 3A so the competition is going to be a lot tougher. We just have to stay down to earth and keep grinding.”
And while major ingredients in the 2017 success like captains Chris Modrzejewski, Finn Elsmo and Nate Anderson and goalkeeper Chris Troyke have graduated, St. Patrick remains loaded.
That continued muscle begins on offense.
“Offensively, we should be very strong again,” McClure said. “Although we lose our All-State leading goal scorer Chris Modrzejewski (34 goals), our next four points leaders are all back.”
That group of finishers is led by junior Luis Angel Saucedo, who had 25 goals and six assists last fall en route to all-sectional and all-conference honors.
“His goal total is even more impressive when you consider that he didn’t take any free kicks or penalty kicks,” McClure said. “Luis is one of the fastest and toughest players in the state, and he has excellent finishing skills around the net.”
Sophomore Joshua Torres instantly emerged as a creative force as a freshman last year, also earning all-ESCC honors.
“Joshua tallied eight goals and an incredible 21 assists as a freshman, the most assists of any freshman in the state,” McClure said. “Joshua is small in stature, but has deceiving speed and excellent explosiveness. His field vision and passing ability are second to none.”
Torres’ huge debut season is fueling predictions of even bigger things.
“If he stays healthy, expect Joshua to have more assists than any sophomore in the state this season,” McClure said.
Senior forward Carrera (11 goals, six assists) provides scoring punch and much more.
“Herbert is a highly skilled player with excellent ball control,” McClure said. “Great field vision, good passing ability, and he’s also effective at winning balls in the air.
“A very versatile player (with) good leadership skills and an excellent work ethic. If he stays healthy, expect Herbert to have a break-out season.”
The Shamrocks’ fourth-leading returning scorer is even better at denying scoring threats than creating them.
Junior defender Jonathan “Pollo” Rodriguez notched four goals and 12 assists last fall. And his contributions all over the field are immeasurable.
“Pollo is the only ESCC soccer player to ever be selected All Conference as both a freshman an d a sophomore,” McClure said.
“Pollo is an athletic beast: strong, fast, and has an excellent vertical. He has one of the longest throw-ins of any player in the state. Although we have played him mostly at defense, Pollo is very versatile and can play any position on the field at a very high level.”
Junior Adam Pryztula (seven goals last fall) will shift from midfielder to defender.
“Adam is a physically imposing player with great body control,” McClure said. “He is good in the air and at drawing fouls from opponents. He also is a very good decision-maker with good foot skills and passing ability.”
Juan Leon and Collin Kroeger are two other juniors in the mix at defender spots.
"Juan is a strong, physical defender who is very good in the air," McClure said. "He has a great attitude, excellent mindset.
"Collin has excellent field awareness and is a great decision-maker. He has good speed and uses his body well to frustrate attackers."
Seniors bidding for defender spots are Brian Nunez, Cecil Sylvester and Diego Rivera. All three bring unique skills.
"Brian is physically strong and good in the air," McClure said. "He has good recovery speed and an excellent work ethic.
"Cecil has great speed and field awareness (and) always displays an excellent attitude.
"Diego has very good foot skills, good speed and excellent athletic endurance," McClure added. "He has a very competitive mindset."
That defensive corps will complement sophomore Jorge Cebrero, St. Patrick’s new starting goalkeeper.
“He backed up ESCC All-Conference senior goalkeeper Chris Troyke last year,” McClure said. “Due to our success, he did get to see substantial varsity minutes as a freshman.
“Jorge is small in stature, but makes up for it with excellent technique and foot skills.”
Senior Alex Jamroz offers another strong option at goalkeeper.
“Alex will back-up Jorge at the goalkeeper spot to start the season. Alex excelled as our JV goalie last season. He doesn’t have the technique or foot skills of Jorge, but he is strong, physical, and aggressive and fearless.”
At midfield, the Shamrocks will benefit from the talents of a 2017 standout defender.
Junior Sebastian Modrzejewski’s nickname ‘Bash’ sums up his impact on the field. An ESCC all-conference pick last year as a defender (one goal and four assists), he moves to midfielder in 2018.
“Bash is a strong, aggressive, physical player great on both sides of the ball,” McClure said. “He’s very good at winning balls in the air and also has an excellent outside shot -- a very versatile player.”
He shifts upfield to join two returning standouts in the midfield: juniors Angel ‘Richie’ Adame (four goals, six assists last year) and Aaron Moreno-Lopez (four goals, nine assists in 2017).
“Richie is a highly skilled player, with excellent field vision and passing ability,” McClure said. “Great ball control and a very competitive mindset. He shows good leadership on the field.
“Aaron has excellent field awareness, vision, and passing ability,” McClure added. “He shows good leadership on the field and has a very high soccer IQ. He excels at taking both free kicks and corner kicks.”
The midfield mix will feature four other players, one from each class.
Senior Nathan LaBoe and junior Malcolm McGee were both on varsity last season.
“Nathan has excellent field vision and passing ability,” McClure said. “He’s a very unselfish teammate, and also has very good foot skills.
“Malcolm is a strong, physical athlete with good speed, excellent explosiveness (and a) very competitive mindset.”
Freshman Ivan Guerrero and sophomore Sebastian Estrada also figure to make major contributions at midfield in their varsity debut seasons.
“Ivan was the only player out of a strong freshman class to make varsity this fall,” McClure said. “Ivan has excellent foot skills and passing ability.
“Sebastian (Estrada) is a highly skilled player with very good field vision and passing ability. He has good physicality and can also effectively shoot from distance.”
Forward Erik Garcia (six goals last season) also saw action at midfielder in 2017.
“Erik is an excellent athlete,” McClure said. “He is strong with great body control, and is excellent at winning balls in the air. He also has a strong shot and good finishing ability.”
Senior Patrick Kubecki also returns at a forward spot.
“Patrick has one of the strongest legs on the team,” McClure said. “A great outside shot and crossing ability, and he’s a strong, physical player.”
With a tough act to follow from last season, some early season adjustments are expected.
“Our biggest potential weakness is our overall team defense,” McClure said. “Our backline, as well as a young sophomore goalkeeper, have a lot of room to grow. We also had great senior leadership last year, and that will leave a potential void this year.”
But a younger nucleus remains talented.
“We expect to start the season with only two senior starters,” McClure said. “The rest of the starting line-up will likely consist of seven juniors and two sophomores.
“However, although this is still a young starting line-up compared to other top teams, most of our juniors have been varsity starters since they were freshmen, so we are expecting them to play like seniors this season.”
Seniors like Herrera will attempt to provide whatever guidance is needed.
“This is my last year here, and I’ll be a captain of the team,” Herrera said. “I know I have to give it my all knowing that this is my last chance to do as much as I can for this team and also guiding the underclassmen that maybe don’t understand the importance of big games.”
With plenty of physical talent, the Shamrocks are focusing on the mental side of the game.
“Our biggest key to success will be our ability to handle adversity,” McClure said. “We have sometimes a tendency to turn negative when things aren’t going our way.
“We need to work on our resiliency. When you play really good teams they are going to capitalize off of mistakes. We need to keep a positive mindset, learn from them, and keep battling.”
Carrera echoes that emphasis.
“I think discipline (will be key) because we have a really young team,” Carrera said, “and sometimes we get overconfident and feel like we don’t have to work as hard. So we have to get that out of our system and know that we have to work hard every day no matter who the opponent is.
“Other than that, I think our style of play is good enough that we can beat any team.
“We went to state last year but 3A will be really tough,” Carrera added. “We set goals for ourselves every year. Two years ago it was to win a regional, and we accomplished that. Last year was to win a sectional, and we went way past that. This year our main focus is to win a regional, and then see what happens.
“We were expecting to get bumped up (to 3A) next year. But I think the team’s taking it well. We know what we’re capable of. We know we can compete against the bigger schools with our style of play. We just like the challenge of how far we can take ourselves.”
It's doubtful anyone will doubt that after the Shamrocks improved to 2-0-0 on the new season after they topped Taft by a surprising 7-1 tally Saturday (Aug. 25) morning.
An Eagles tweet after the game may turn out to have said it best.
"They are the real deal."