Boys soccer notes: South Elgin heats up heading into Thunderhawk Cup; Wheaton Academy shines vs. challenging schedule
South Elgin will take a three-game winning streak into Tuesday’s Thunderhawk Cup game against Bartlett at 6:30 p.m.
The Storm (6-3-2) blanked Jacobs 4-0 on Saturday, getting a pair of goals from Alan Munoz. Rudy Frias and Kobe Nava also scored, and Nava, Roman Ruiz and Momo Gonzalez had assists. Goalkeeper Ryan Weynschenk only needed to make a single save.
Bartlett (3-8) also recently faced Jacobs, losing 5-2 on Sept. 10. The Hawks have lost three of their last four.
The South Elgin Booster Club will be selling concessions while donations of old blankets and towels (no comforters), toys of any kind, and food (Pedigree adult and puppy/kitten) will be accepted for Anderson Humane. Donations can also be made at www.omella.com/mkdx1.
South Elgin coach Jerzy Skowron adopted his dog Butkus from Anderson Humane and some of his girls soccer players volunteer at the animal shelter in South Elgin.
“We’re trying to spread the love,” Skowron said. “The Chicago Rush West local club will also be here and they’ll play at halftime and serve as honorary ball boys and girls.”
Wheaton Academy rolls on
Wheaton Academy (6-3-2) clung to a 1-0 late lead on Saturday at Chicago U-High but could not hold on for the victory, surrendering a goal in the 71st minute and settling for a 1-1 tie.
“We are learning and growing as a team,” Warriors coach Jeff Brooke said. “We are seeing how good we can become while working through some areas to improve. We will need to tighten up in the back and be a bit more technical in our finishing in order to be our best version.”
It was another productive week for Jackson Snider and Mason Brooke. Snider scored three times while Brooke had six goals.
“Mason and Jackson have done a great job combining to create dynamic chances for us this fall,” Jeff Brooke said. “Both of them are built on hard work and intense competition. Their partnership in the final third has helped us compete at a high level. Mason has found the goal 15 times and continues to chase the record books at Wheaton Academy.”
The Warriors aren’t shying away from competition, giving St. Laurence, the top-ranked team in the state, a good run before falling 2-1, on Sept. 12.
“St. Laurence was such a good test,” Jeff Brooke said. “They keep the ball, play with pace, and send numbers in creative ways. We grew as a team defensively and saw our ability to compete as a unified group. Now we just need to hit a higher level of play to be dangerous in the back half of the schedule.”
Heating up in Hinsdale
Hinsdale Central won its first three games of the season, lost its next three, then after stopping their losing streak, the Red Devils have won three in a row again.
“To put it simply, there’s nothing that you can say to explain how our season has gone,” Hinsdale Central coach Mike Wiggins said. “There have been so many variables that it’s kind of hard to make sense of it.”
Heat and rain threw off practice times and game schedules while injuries forced a shift in the lineup. Despite that, the Red Devils hung with highly regarded New Trier on Sept. 3, losing 2-0 after battling for 68 scoreless minutes.
“Defensively that was probably as good as we’ve been and we just had a stretch of a couple minutes where they got a couple loose balls and put them away,” Wiggins said. “That was a Thursday and then Friday was canceled because of the heat. On Saturday all games at Naperville North (Tournament of Champions) were canceled and on Monday we didn’t have practice because the campus was closed for work on the building. So then Tuesday comes and I haven’t seen the guys in four days and we’ve got a conference game, Downers Grove North, and it was like we hadn’t been together for four days.”
After losing 3-0 to Downers Grove North on Sept. 8, the Red Devils dropped a 1-0 decision to Metea Valley on Sept. 10.
Their current winning streak began after they rallied for a 3-1 win over Proviso West last Tuesday thanks to the heroics of senior Alex Griebenow who scored three goals in a six-minute span.
“That was for us, in the way that we run our program for the end of the year, that was six minutes of time that made us better not because he scored three goals,” Wiggins said. “That helped, but it was the collective effort to get us in position and a credit to the effort of the group to get us there, which was pretty remarkable.”
On the road again last Thursday, the Red Devils found themselves trailing 3-0 at Batavia before bouncing back and winning an old-fashioned slugfest, 8-5.
“Batavia assistant coach Tom O’Reilly was my first-ever assistant in 1994 and we’ve been good friends for a long time and I told our guys if anybody knows me, it’s Tom and they are going to come out and be competitive,” Wiggins said. “I don’t think it was because we had a letdown, it was more to Batavia’s credit. They didn’t quit and they earned those goals and we didn’t back down either and got the last one.”
On Saturday, the Red Devils jumped ahead 2-0, lost their lead, but escaped with their third straight win thanks to a goal from Javier Sandoval.
Recent matches have given Wiggins a lot of information on this year’s squad while he’s also had the fortune of spending some time with the 1975 state champion squad, with team members in town recently for the class of 1976 reunion.
“We don’t prepare our guys for the big game and don’t take it easy on the not-so-big game,” Wiggins said. “We don’t put a heavy emphasis on one game and less than the other. We have some really talented, coachable players, guys who really listen and understand. I’ve shared with them the 50-year anniversary of the 1975 team winning state and to see those guys at their reunion and hear those stories, there’s an incredible amount of pride with our alumni and it’s not just in soccer.”