Fremd tops Warren for third-place finish
After enduring a tough postseason, Fremd’s boys soccer team wasn’t about to let down, especially upon reaching the Final Four.
And then the Vikings kept on fighting, even after they were a near miss in reaching the primary goal of a state championship.
Fremd’s determination was rewarded Saturday night as Brian Hindle’s late tying goal led to penalty kicks at Lincoln-Way North High School. The Vikings battled through 8 rounds of them, finally getting past Warren 2-1 with a 7-6 edge in penalty kicks to capture third place in Class 3A.
Morton ended up topping Naperville Central 1-0 in overtime in the championship game.
“It defines the way we’ve played in the playoffs — to be resilient,” Fremd coach Steve Keller said. “We found a way, and who would have thought it?
“We talked to the boys about the kicks and told them that you have to hit them.”
Vikings goalkeeper Colton Caesius made 2 of his 5 saves in the PK’s and made a big diving stop on the eighth kick. Jon Magnusson followed up with the winning kick for Fremd.
“It started with the first person, all the way down to me,” Magnusson said. “I just put the ball into the net to win it. I think we realized we needed to pull together to win this one. We couldn’t take fourth place — we needed third.”
Fremd (17-6-2) seemed headed for a loss to Warren (22-4-3) until the final minute of regulation. After a foul outside the top of the box, Hindle — known for more assists — delivered a free kick that found the goals.
“At the end we picked things up,” said Hindle, who finished a standout career with 9 goals and 19 assists this season. “I was able to put it home. Without a doubt, I knew it was going in. It’s my senior year and I wanted to put it in for my teammates.”
Nick Wegrzynowicz put Warren up 1-0 in the 63rd minute. He scored on a header off a corner kick from junior Daniel Szczepanek (20 goals, 22 assists).
“No one was marking me so I made a run, jumped as high as I could to get it in,” Wegrzynowicz said. “I placed it into the right corner and had a good look at it.”
Warren keeper Brady Walsh made 11 stops and endured a second straight game of penalty kicks, yet still had positive thoughts after two straight tough losses.
“Four teams come down here, and we wanted to win it all,” Walsh said. “I’ll take fourth place over not getting down here at all. Going into PK’s ... it’s hard, but I’ll take this experience over the alternative.”
“I thought we played well and didn’t play our best game (against Fremd),” said Warren coach Jason Ahonen said. We just happened to be (0-2) this weekend. I wouldn’t take anything away from the experience except what it says on the trophy.
“It’s been a good ride. We could’ve been done two to three weeks ago like most other schools. We made the trip and had the experience. At the end of the day, high school sports is all about memories.”