Boys soccer: Wheaton North on frame against St. Francis

Sometimes you just need to follow the advice of a veteran teammate.

Junior Jarrett Baumgartner, playing in just his second game for Wheaton North, followed the suggestion of Erik Rozanski and turned it into the game-winning goal in the Falcons 2-0 victory over St. Francis in Thursday's Hillner Classic boys soccer game at Lake Park's East Campus in Roselle.

"I really just got mad because I kept putting crosses in and the runs just weren't coming in," Baumgartner said. "I wasn't hitting people's feet so Erik actually told me to take the next one. So I trusted him and took it myself and everything worked out."

Baumgartner eluded a couple defenders while dribbling deep into the box, and once he created a potential angle for a shot, he took it, squeezing it out of the reach of St. Francis goalkeeper Adam Thill with 22:43 remaining in the opening half.

"Jarrett is going to put his nose down and find a goal and that's what we gained this year in the speed and that nose for goals," Falcons coach Rob Stassen said. "He's going there with the attitude of 'Get out of my way because I'm coming through.'"

Wheaton North (2-0) created numerous other chances during the first half but proved unable to finish any of them.

"The mentality is to keep going," Rozanski said. "If you dwell on those misses you can't play to your full potential so you have to get over it as soon as possible. I think we did that."

The Falcons didn't necessarily miss its best attempts because of shooter error but rather because Thill was so good.

Stassen said it could've been a 10-0 game without some of his saves while St. Francis coach Kevin Ward was well aware of the talent his senior standout possesses.

"Adam Thill is a veteran and a returning varsity player and one of our seniors and leaders," Ward said. "When he steps up like that he can make a big difference and we're going to need him."

The Spartans were playing for the first time this fall. The Falcons were coming off a 9-0 victory against Schurz in their opener on Monday in Wheaton.

"The big thing I'm taking out of this is we pretty much know what we're dealing with this year, so now we have a better idea of what it's going to look like," Ward said. "So we're in assessment mode now basically, and we're young and inexperienced."

St. Francis (0-1) had a great opportunity to tie the game with about 20 minutes left when a throw-in took an uncharacteristic high hop off the natural turf and into the wind and landed at the feet of Guy DeFeo, but his quick shot was off target.

Frank Marisco had the most looks for the Spartans, and Nico Lajewski was involved with a couple as well, but neither of them could net the equalizer and eventually the Falcons broke through again the other way.

That insurance finally arrived for the Falcons when the naturally left-footed Baumgartner once again was determined to penetrate into the box and score, showing his nice footwork before blasting his second goal of the game and fourth of the young season.

"He's going off right now," Rozanski said. "We played (Olympic Development Program) together so we've got some chemistry from there. We've really been able to see what Jarrett can do and I'm excited to see what he can do this season."

While excited with his and his team's fast start, Baumgartner knows the Falcons have plenty of improving to do if they hope to achieve their goals.

"I think we have a lot of potential, because we have speed up top and we're solid in the back," he said "But we're so new because we lost 13 seniors. We still have work to do to become the team we want to be."