North Stars, Cadets coming on strong
There's been a lot of change for the St. Charles North boys soccer team since the start of the season.
Gone, for the most part, are the team-bonding mohawks that were dyed blue. Gone is any worries that the North Stars wouldn't be as good as last year's state-qualifying team.
Although its too early to predict what is going to happen to the North Stars in the postseason, the regular season has been nothing but positive.
The North Stars are 12-3-1, 4-1 in the Upstate Eight Conference. They have won their last five games and haven't lost since Neuqua Valley handed them their lone loss in conference play.
"We dropped a couple games we felt we shouldn't have dropped, but nonetheless, it's a solid record," St. Charles North coach Eric Willson said. "We are concentrating on conference now, that's the main focus for us. We'd like to be able to catch Neuqua -- we are going to need some help in the UEC with that -- but all we can do is take care of ourselves and win every game we play."
The North Stars played their first home night game of the season Tuesday, when they beat Lake Park, 4-0. Next up under the lights is rival St. Charles East Saturday.
"The guys were really excited about (it)," Willson said of the North Stars playing a night game. "You go through a full varsity season and only playing under the lights on the road…not that it was a massive North crowd, but it was still on the home field and still under the lights, so I think they were pretty pumped up."
Marmion:ŒCadets coach Kevin O'Connor called it at the beginning of the season.
O'Connor said he had a feeling his Cadets were going to bond, and as a result, were going to play well together and have a solid season.
"They love playing together and being together off the field," O'Connor said. "That's a coach's dream. All 17 players are close-knit."
Marmion is 12-6-1 (through Wednesday's games) and is just about where it thought it would be at this point in the season.
"I'm OK with our record because we've played some really strong competition," O'Connor said. "We are looking for that consistency factor."
Even better for the Cadets is their Suburban Catholic Conference record of 5-0 (though Wednesday's games). They play every conference team once a year and still have to play St. Edward. They've topped the top two teams in the conference, St. Francis and Marian Central, so it appears they are in good shape to win the title.
"The win against Marian was huge," O'Connor said of the Cadets' victory that allowed them to hit the 10-win mark this season. "That put us in the driver's seat."
Marian won the conference title last year. The Cadets went undefeated for five years in the conference from 1997-2002, which was the last season they won it.
Offensively, the Cadets are led by Armando Hermosillo, Sam Duffield and Pablo Del Toro. Defensively, Taylor Weiss, Luke Friedman and Doug Conroy lead the way.