No. 1 Redhawks look for motivation

Naperville Central has sat atop the Daily Herald's rankings for most of the year, but coach Jay Konrad's crew is struggling to find something that coaches rely upon any team having.

A fire in its belly.

"Our work rate has not been there," Konrad said, after his squad lost 2-1 to Downers Grove South, 1-0 to Naperville North, and tied 0-0 with Hinsdale Central.

"We haven't worked hard enough this year, not since we beat Neuqua Valley (2-1 on Sept. 6). But our attitude and effort were better against Hinsdale Central, and hopefully that's something we can build on."

Walking the walk: You can lead vocally, you can lead by example, and you can do both. St. Francis senior Greg Fetter leads by sticking his nose into every play he can, regardless of the fact that he's never close to being the biggest kid on the field.

"You can talk a good game, but you've got to show it on the field, and he certainly does," Spartans coach Tim Dailey said of Fetter. "He's gotten beaten up this year just because of the way he plays, but he has provided us with great on-field leadership."

Another Spartan with limited size but a high up-side has been freshman goalkeeper Ryan Suerte.

"We thought he could be good. He's quick, aggressive, and we like the way he moves," Dailey said. "All of our freshmen are getting better and better. They're learning."

The pieces are in place: Every once in a while a coach gets a team that seemingly has all the right pieces. Paul Kohorn might have one of those teams at Lisle this year.

The Lions improved to 14-1 on the season with Wednesday's 7-2 win over Beecher, outscoring opponents 79 to 10 through 15 games, and have their fans anticipating a deep run into the Class A playoffs.

A downstate berth would be the first in program history.

Offensively, according to Kohorn, "Konrad (Raclawski) and Viktor (Vajda) are running the show." Raclawski, the program's all-time leading scorer, moved from forward to midfield this year and leads the way with 17 goals and 12 assists. The senior never had more than 3 assists in any previous season.

Vajda has netted 7 goals to go with 11 assists, "and he controls the pace of the game so well," according to Kohorn. "He just sees the field so well."

Sophomore Grant Fitzgerald has 15 goals and 8 assists, freshman Arck Raclawski has 11 goals, and Ryan Donahue has 9 assists on the year. Kohorn credits his entire attack for its creativity this year.

In back, goalkeeper Jay Osika has been solid throughout behind defenders in Max Boheme, John Soukup, Alec Blechschmidt, Kyle Leonard, and Kyle Zomick that have helped Lisle to 9 shutouts on the year.

Buiilding: After graduating seniors en masse from last year's squad, Wheaton Warrenville South has looked to find its footing with an inexperienced group this year.

Coach Guy Callipari has seen the growing pains of slow progress at work for his crew this year. A 2-1 win over Batavia on Monday put the Tigers' record at 4-6-2 on the season.

"We've been competitive, and we've been on both the bad and good sides of games decided by one goal," Callipari said. "The inexperience of youth shown itself with a lack of discipline at times, but the good side of it has been the willingness to work, and learn, and stay the course."

Andrew Bellmer and David LeDonne have combined well in the attack, with Bellmer netting 9 goals and LeDonne posting 5 assists thus far. Goalkeeper Derek Babb has shown "flashes of brilliance" Callipari said, and has only lacked some consistency in net.

Waubonsie Valley is another young team striving to take an incremental step forward. The Warriors are 5-7-1 overall, and 3-2-1 in Upstate Eight Conference play.

"We're young and inconsistent," according to Warriors coach Angelo DiBernardo. "We've played very well at times, and sometimes we've shown signs of taking it to the next level - but we've had trouble creating and finishing."

Wildcats rising: Neuqua Valley had an impressive four-game run recently, shutting out St. Charles North, Larkin, Lyons Township, and Streamwood while putting 13 goals on the board in those four games.

"We've been playing good defense, attacking well, moving the ball well, and keeping teams on their heels," said Wildcats coach Jim Johns.

The Wildcats improved to 10-2-1 with Tuesday's win over South Elgin. Midfielders Bryan Ciesiulka and Bryan Dosch have shined recently, and goalkeeper Jack Turancik has been solid in net all season.

The Wildcats only two losses came in consecutive games, first in a 2-1 loss to Naperville Central, and then in a 4-3 loss to Lake Park. After a 1-1 tie with cross-town rival Waubonsie Valley, Neuqua Valley has posted five consecutive wins.

"It's a good team. We're passing much better, playing better team defense, and it just took us a little while to get it together," Johns said.

Lancers playing well: Coach Norm Hillner has a 10-4-2 squad on his hands, with balanced scoring that features Ken Miller, Dan Messina, and Edwin Castro leading the way.

Miller had a whale of a game in the Lancers' 4-3 win over Neuqua Valley this year.

"They put four goals in against us, and that hasn't occurred too often," said Wildcats coach Jim Johns. "Miller was tearing us up on the outside, and we couldn't adjust enough to take care of that."

"We're doing well," Hillner said. "We've gotten into a good rotation, fifteen deep, and the kids are working hard. For us to be successful, we have to play hard."

Defender Lucas Antioho has played exceptional soccer for the Lancers, and Mike Lupou has also shined in back.

Two more keys to the Lancers' success have been Matt Ahrens and Sam Hernandez. "Hernandez has been playing very well at midfield for us," Hillner said. "He's been a big part of any of our success."

Upsets: The area saw a pair of conference upsets on Tuesday, with York beating Hinsdale Central 4-1 in West Suburban Silver play, and Addison Trail taking the bus to Downers Grove and knocking off Downers Grove South 1-0 in the Gold division.