Scouting DuPage County boys soccer
Top local teams: Benet, Downers Grove South, Glenbard North, Hinsdale Central, Naperville Central, Naperville North, St. Francis, Wheaton Academy.
Top players: Ethan Akkawi (Downers Grove North, sr., F), Jimmy Allen (Timothy Christian, jr., F), Isaac Anthony (Wheaton Academy, sr., MF/F), Brett Babcock (Waubonsie Valley, sr., D), Peter Becht (Downers Grove South, sr., MF), Zach Crescezno (St. Francis, sr., F), Bennett Curtis (Benet, sr. MF), Griffin Geisler (Naperville Central, sr., D), Saul Hernandez (Willowbrook, sr., F), Tom Kania (Addison Trail, sr., MF), Danny Koeller (Glenbard North, sr., MF), Josh Kolzow (Neuqua Valley, sr., MF), Mitch Konrad (Napervile North, jr., D), Uriel Marinez (Addison Trail, sr., D), Elias McCloud (Wheaton Academy, sr., MF), Connor Mote (Benet, sr., MF), Librado Olivares (Glenbard East, sr., MF), Michael Pfaff (Wheaton North, sr., D), Nick Rohl (Downers Grove South, sr., F), Carlos Rojas (Wheaton Warrenville South, sr., MF), Jake Semba (Hinsdale Central, sr., MF), Drew Sonnefeldt (Lisle, sr., D), Eduardo Suarez (West Chicago, sr., F), Chris Sullivan (Naperville North, sr., F), Matthew Waters (Glenbard South, sr., F), Nate Zain (Naperville Central, jr., MF)
Outlook: The DuPage Valley Conference appears to be as tough as ever. Will Naperville North be able to defend its title? Will Glenbard North continue its recent upswing? How will Lake Park, Neuqua Valley and Wheaton North fare with new or relatively new coaches?
Glenbard North had a breakthrough season last fall, winning its first regional since 2004. The Panthers return seven starters, including Danny Koeller, Livre Enema and Jacob Scheufler. They'll need to overcome the loss of all-state goalkeeper Nathan Chalus and center back Daniel Jaimes. “We have a number of kids who have 3-4 years of varsity experience on this year's squad, which should serve us well in an extremely competitive conference,” coach Gregg Koeller said.
Lake Park welcomes alumnus Sean Crosby (2005) as its new coach. “Our biggest strength is probably our midfield core and attacking presence,” Crosby said. “The size and skill we have across the entire midfield helps us defend and win balls in front of our back line.” Seniors Lorenza Costa and Alessandro Montes will look to lead the midfield.
Metea Valley got hot at the right time late last year to finish the season strong but also graduated 12 seniors from a 10-11-1 team, including a couple of longtime cogs on its back line, Ryan Donovan and Brandon Howard. The Mustangs will need to redevelop that back line as well as replace their goalkeeper while also improving their scoring proficiency in order to find success in the DVC.
Naperville Central was having a rare off year last season before going on an incredible run that culminated with winning a sectional title. The Redhawks lost in the supersectional to finish 12-11-0, but such a deep playoff run should have them hungry for more success this season. Wesley Sprague will take over in goal while a variety of talented midfielders and forwards should make the Redhawks a dangerous team.
Naperville North may have the area's top player in Chris Sullivan. “He is clever with the ball and a deadly finisher,” Huskies coach Jim Konrad said. With a strong season there's a chance Sullivan could become the school's all-time assist leader or just the fifth player at the school to surpass 50 goals scored. Center back Mitch Konrad and outside backs Ethan Harvey and Andrew Klaiber should make it difficult for opponents to score. Perhaps the biggest concern for the Huskies is in the midfield, where Jack Barry, Will Ritzmann and Jack Bromagen will be asked to lead the way.
Neuqua Valley may be the team to look out for this year since the Wildcats welcome back 12 seniors, including seven starters. The team does have to find someone to solidify the back line's last line of defense, since goalkeeper is the lone area where they lack experience. Senior midfielders Josh Kolzow and Calum Nettleton give the team a strong presence in the midfield for a team that went a solid 5-3 and tied for third in the DVC last fall but was just 10-9-1 overall.
Waubonsie Valley expects to be far more successful than its 3-1-14 season in 2015. “I'm excited to start the season,” Warriors coach Jose Garcia said. “Our midfield was young last year and now they are coming back with more experience.” Brett Babcock returns to lead the defense while juniors Stephan Spano and Giacomo Parrino are expected to man the midfield. “Our players are hard workers who are very talented and know how to put themselves in a position to succeed despite a challenging DVC.”
Wheaton Warrenville South returns eight players from last year's 6-13-2 team. “Our midfield will return the greatest number of players and their experience will allow us to acclimate through the middle and offensive third of the field,” Tigers coach Guy Callipari said. Seniors Charlie Kerby, Carlos Rosas, Adam Kelly and Natie Friedle are the top returning Tigers, while a mix of talented newcomers will look to control the midfield.
Wheaton North will be young, but that's not necessarily a bad thing. Plus, coach Rob Stassen is in his second season, so his returning players have a year of experience playing for him. Junior midfielders Joe Simon and Jorge Petino and senior forwards Aniel Patel and Jack Prendiville will look to control the ball and finish scoring chances to help the team finish better than last year's 5-13-2 mark. “I'm looking forward to this group challenging for every second on the field,” Stassen said. “They have a lot of fun playing together and their field and game IQ is increasing daily. By the end of the season they should be challenging for a regional place.”
Now in his 13th season at Glenbard East, coach Josh Adler has reason to be excited about his squad. “The returning group gained a ton of experience last year as primarily sophomores and juniors,” he said. “They have a decent set of skills and knowledge of the game and are very hungry to try and prove themselves this season.” Seniors Librado Olivares, Pawel Wilisowski and Belgoni Basunda are back to lead the Rams. West Chicago already has gotten off to a strong start, knocking off Geneva and Marmion and tying Wheaton Academy. The Wildcats have plenty of talent but just need to find a way to piece it together. Once again they're not the biggest team, but they have many talented players who can control and move the ball to present problems to opponents.
Addison Trail has been on the rise in the West Suburban Gold and this could be a special season for the Blazers, who went 12-7-2 last year and return five players who have been playing at the varsity level already for a few years. “We have excellent team speed and a very experienced group of soccer players,” Blazers coach Ryan Dini said. Chemistry will be key for the Blazers. Can they find it and use it to shut down prime opponents? Seniors Tom Kania, Brian Ramos, Enrique Luna and Uriel Martinez all return.
Downers Grove South could have a special season with Peter Becht and Nick Rohl leading the way. “We are very strong in the midfield and forward positions with several key returning players from a successful 2015 team,” Mustangs coach Jon Stapleton said. Hinsdale South welcomes new coach Danny Markaric, who makes the transition from Riverside-Brookfield. The Hornets were just 1-5 in conference last year. Willowbrook will rely heavily on its upperclassmen with seven seniors and eight juniors, including senior forward Saul Hernandez, who has shown he can finish. Whether the Warriors can control possession enough to thwart opponents, especially with a tough schedule, will prove whether or not they're successful.
Downers Grove North is hoping for some of the success it had last year in the West Suburban Silver, but to sustain it longer into the postseason. The Trojans opened 2015 with nine consecutive victories, faced some adversity, regrouped but proved unable to make a deep playoff run. Glenbard West looks to improve on its conference standings after a winless 0-6 campaign last season. The Hilltoppers finished 6-7-1 outside of conference last fall. The team is expecting big-time leadership from defender John Dugan and forward Connor Strait. “(We're) relying on a large group of juniors with the addition of three sophomores,” Hilltoppers coach Maciej Kusmierz said. York is coming off a 6-8-4 season but should be better since a lot of its players return, including Joe Reinhofer, David Knurek, Edgar Roman, Alex Vujoviic and Christian Waldschmidt. Hinsdale Central's great regular season didn't extend into the playoffs, but the Red Devils still finished 18-2-1 overall. They're the team to beat in the conference with 24 straight wins in conference and four straight undefeated conference seasons.
Benet looks to be full of talent, and the Redwings will see what they can do early in the Best of West tournament in early September. The Redwings are coming off a successful 15-5-1 season, but one that ended abruptly and earlier than expected in the regional finals against Mt. Carmel. With Bennett Curtis and Connor Mote among others returning, the Redwings expectations once again are high in Lisle.
Montini once again will be a very young and small team, but coach Barry Briggs is excited about the team's youth. “We expect big things from freshman Joshua Gonzaga this year, as well as sophomore Anthony Burger,” he said. “We hope they will begin producing on offense right from the start of the season.” Look for seniors Brandon Beahan and Chris Parrilli to lead the attack and for Michael Orr to anchor the backline in front of goalkeeper Connor Chiaramonti.
St. Francis only has a few seniors returning from last year's 16-2-4 team that won a sectional title. The Spartans may have to do a little rebuilding this fall, but you shouldn't count them out as coach Kevin Ward has made this program believe, especially after the success they had a year ago.
The Metro Suburban Conference boasts teams that have won state titles in the past two years in Timothy Christian and Wheaton Academy. Both those schools should be in the running for a conference title this fall.
Fenton welcomes new coach Jim Johns. The Bison were 11-6-1 last year and return seniors Gerardo Lopez, Andres Barriga and Alioune Mbaye. “We have good skills and good depth on the team and 10 seniors,” Johns said. The team has raised expectations after suffering just one loss in conference last year, while also winning a regional title.
Glenbard South returns 12 seniors with varsity experience as well as four sophomores who saw action last year, so the Raiders should be able to use the struggles from last year's 4-16-0 squad as motivation for a better season. “We play a tough conference schedule with Fenton, Riverside-Brookfield and Wheaton Academy,” Raiders coach Adam Szyszko said. “We also play a tough non-conference schedule versus many 3A teams so record-wise we won't be pretty, but come tournament time, we'll be a tough out.” Timothy Christian makes the jump to Class 2A after winning 19 games and a Class 1A title last year. Only four players were lost from that squad to graduation so this could be another special year, with Jimmy Allen and Joshua Anderson back to lead an experienced group that has tasted success. Junior midfielder Michael Marten continues to develop into an outstanding player who distributed 15 assists last year.
Wheaton Academy graduated one of the all-time best area players in Ty Seager. The loss of Seager and others accounted for more than 50 goals from last year's 17-4-1 team. Seager will certainly be missed, but with Elias McCloud and Isaac Anthony back for another year, as well as 10 other seniors, along with some talented newcomers and juniors, the Warriors should be competitive once again. “We can have a strong season if we play with a quick tempo and defend better than people are expecting of us,” Warriors coach Jeff Brooke said. “Our pace must be impressive and our fitness memorable. If we can do these things then I think we will catch a lot of people off guard this fall.”
IC Catholic Prep continues to develop its young program and “young” is the key word. The Knights only have a couple of seniors, although they do have nine juniors. Nearly half the team consists of underclassmen, so they'll continue to look to make small strides.
Lisle expects to battle once again for a conference title and make a deep run in the playoffs. “Our biggest strengths are quickness, skills set, athleticism and depth at keeper,” Lisle coach Paul Kohorn said. Senior defenders Drew Sonnefeldt and Jamie Saddler give the team strength on the back line while junior Justin Brinegan will control the midfield.
— Chris Walker