Boys soccer: Wheaton Academy figures out Glenbard South
There was a collective groan from the Wheaton Academy fans when senior Grayson Harris needed assistance to limp off the field during Wednesday's Class 2A boys soccer sectional semifinal game against Glenbard South.
Harris had already scored twice and assisted on another goal as the Warriors were in command of the Raiders with a 3-0 lead and only 9:34 remaining.
Wheaton Academy closed out a 3-0 victory and earned a berth in Friday's championship game against Timothy Christian, a team the Warriors beat 9-1 on Aug. 24.
As for Harris' injury, it was only a cramp.
"It was nothing more than a double calf cramp, so I'm fine," he said. "It just took us awhile to figure out their strategy to hold 10 behind the ball. Once we calmed down we were able to break them down better and look for the open guy or maneuver through them."
Wheaton Academy (21-4-0), which beat Glenbard South 5-0 on Sept. 26, was held scoreless in the first half.
The Warriors finally broke through with 33:15 remaining when Luke Holwerda followed in Harris' shot for his 30th goal of the season.
"They really defended well in the first half and kind of stifled our attack," Holwerda said. "So at halftime our coaches motivated us and got us to move more and it really worked."
Holwerda continues to make big plays.
"I just work as hard as I can and keep practicing," he said. "I have some more confidence now being a senior and having played with these guys three or four years now. It's great to be on a team that I can trust and I know what to do when I get the ball and can focus on that."
Jack Kilgallon assisted Harris with 22:42 remaining to give the Warriors some breathing room while Harris' unassisted goal with 14:07 left all but sealed the victory.
"Once we got that first goal it opened things up because they needed to score to get back in it, so we had more space to push," Harris said. "With multiple scorers we're not scared to play it to whoever is open because we know they'll finish."
Increased movement without the ball proved to be the big difference in the second half.
"I thought we had a lot of dynamic movement off the ball which we talked about at halftime," Brooke said. "They had a successful strategy in the first half and we were too stagnant so we started making diagonal and overlapping runs."
"We had some breakdowns and they finished in the second half," Raiders coach Adam Szyszko said. "That's a quality side and they're going to take advantage of any breakdowns and they can score in bunches."
The loss ended one of the best seasons in program history at Glenbard South (12-8-1), which won a regional for just the second time.
"Our guys had a nice little run this year," Szyszko said. "It was a good performance and we've got a lot of people coming back, so hopefully it's good tidings as we go into the Upstate Eight."