Patience pays for Warren
When Warren dropped four straight games in the preseason Wheaton North/South Shootout, one may have assumed that a long spring was headed Warren’s way.
But at that time the Warriors hadn’t figured out what they were doing on offense and defense.
“We run a fairly complicated offense and defense and it takes awhile to learn it,” Warren coach John Vignocchi said. “It takes at least a month, maybe six weeks and we’re now finally beginning to hit our stride with that stuff.”
The Warriors won a couple games against Chicago Public Schools but a better gauge of the team’s progression will come this week with contests against Notre Dame, Mundelein and Deerfield.
Defense has been the team’s biggest strength with Garrett Van Schaick, an Ohio Wesleyan recruit, leading the way, along with Jon Glende, junior Sean Kelly and keeper Austin Czisny.
“They’re very big and athletic and smart,” Vignocchi said. “Now we have to get our offense going, but with our defense being so fast and strong they can help make up for it.”
The Warriors returned all but one defenseman from last season and Vignocchi said the team is better right now than it was when last season finished. Now, he hopes the players can carry some confidence into their coming games.
“Maybe the rocky start was a learning process,” he said. “I’d like to put some wins together for some confidence, but at the same time you want to peak at the right time, but we also want to get a little better each day.”
Lightning, rivalry and a blowout: Grayslake North (8-2) certainly had a little bit of everything last week. The Knights led Lake Zurich 5-3 in the third quarter on Tuesday but a combination of lightning, hail and sleet forced the postponement of the game. It will be resumed on Friday.
Wednesday afternoon was all about rivalries as the Knights nipped Grayslake Central, 12-10. Dylan Cotter, Bryce Hermsen, Ben Smith, Shane Pech and Kevin Carter all played well defensively to help the Knights prevail.
Grayslake Central’s Jake Paust gave the Knights fits all afternoon and kept the Rams close with 4 goals and 2 assists, but ultimately Rich Downes, Dave Collins and Jose Kortenkamp consistently controlled the midfield and the tempo of the contest with Joey Amsler, Farhan Khan and Max Spencer also contributing. A.J. Fish had 4 goals and 2 assists and Colin Chatten and Matt Schlagetter both scored three times.
Finally, on Saturday, the Knights breezed past York, 17-3. Dylan Cotte had little trouble in goal and ran the clearing game for the winners. Fish contributed 4 assists and had 2 goals. Chatten scored 5 goals to give him 50 on the season and Chris Lizoote scored 3 goals after missing the previous five games.
Lucky No. 7: Bartlett improved to 7-0 on Saturday with a 13-1 victory against Belvidere. Fielding a JV team this spring, the Hawks will move up to varsity next year.
Bartlett coach Mike Steichen praised the play of midfielder Joe Petramala and attackmen Cody Linkenheld and Greg Tamburello on the offense as the three are the team’s leading scorers. Freshmen Mike Colaianne and Tyler Steichen have made be strong on defense while 6-foot-4, 285-pound Mike Terris has plugged up the goal and has 63 saves.
“I was concerned that because of our size we could have some difficulties,” Mike Steichen said. “But even though we’re small, we’re fast, plus we have four or give guys that have played for a long time. We might get knocked around a bit, but we’re flying around to our advantage.”
St. Charles gets Culver-ized: St. Charles knew Culver Academy (Ind.) was very good. It didn’t know the Eagles were this good, though.
With Walter O’Malley (’22) and George Steinbrenner (’48) as noted alumni, perhaps St. Charles was thinking of Culver as more of a baseball school.
In a game that was played during a steady rain, featured more than a 30-minute lightning delay, saw a broken crosse go flying over a goal and a goalkeeper’s mouthguard disappear into a puddle of mud, the hosts could not solve Culver’s offensive firepower, losing 16-4 on Friday night at the East Side Sports Complex in St. Charles.
“This is the best team we’re going to see all year, but you obviously have higher expectations than playing them 16-4,” St. Charles coach Andy Thompson said. “They were more athletic than we thought and they did just what we thought on offense. They had shooters though. They had guys that could really shoot.”
Culver (11-2) has won the state title in Indiana the last four years and is ranked No. 1 in the Midwest by Inside Lacrosse. The Eagles will travel to Maryland, Michigan and Ohio, as well as host a Midwest prep tournament this year. They were also upended 10-6 by Lyons Township on Saturday.
A combination of athleticism, speed, vision and patience made Culver seemingly impossible to defend.
“I didn’t realize how good their offense was going to be until we started playing,” St. Charles’ Trace Evans said. “Our goalie Pat McGushin is one of the best in nation and going to Stony Brook, and they put it wherever they wanted to on him. That’s how good their shooters were and how disciplined they were.”