advertisement

Boys soccer: Following title, Crystal Lake South focused on future

Crystal Lake South will not forget its state championship 2018 season.

But now it's time for the dust to start collecting on that Class 2A state trophy as the Gators get back to work. They're looking to defend that title with plenty of new faces with personnel changes being one of Crystal Lake South's biggest obstacles to continued success this fall.

The Gators only return 3 starters, but they will have 9 seniors on the roster.

"There's always excitement as a coach with each season because new opportunities arise," Gators coach Brian Allen said. "We've got a great blend this year with some 4-year guys and some younger guys stepping into roles. They understand that this is not going to be last year's team and I don't expect them to. They've got to build their own identity within the culture we've already created here."

In his 13th season, Allen's coached hundreds of players and participated in countless games over the years, but coaching a defending state champion team is a new experience. There certainly aren't many programs like Naperville North, which will attempt to win a fourth consecutive 3A title this season.

"We've looked at what they've done there in not just getting to the top, but sustaining it," Allen said. "I've picked the brain of (Huskies coach Jim) Konrad and we're just continuing to build our culture and program the way we can to be the most successful. We're going to take that same approach to get better every week and hopefully be playing some of our best soccer by October."

Recently retired Wheaton Academy coach Jeff Brooke knows what it's like to go from winning a state title to staring anew, having done so when the Warriors won the Class 2A title in 2014.

"We honored the things that helped us win a state championship, but stressed the importance of reshaping our new group with the new season," Brooke said. "We found we seemed to draw a lot out of our opponents who wanted to knock us off. The competition was intense, but that is really what makes the game so good."

Unforgettable, amazing memories of 2018 aren't going away, but the focus truly is on 2019 now for the Gators, who welcome back senior forward Alex Canfield (33 goals, 7 assists last year), who was the Daily Herald Fox Valley All-Area Team Captain, and senior all-conference defender Evan Carlson to the starting lineup. Senior Sabien Raymond and sophomore Tom Coughlin split starting time and minutes last year at midfield and also return.

"Obviously last year is a memory that we'll all remember and it's kind of hard to move on, especially with all the seniors we had on the team," Carlson said. "But the new team is looking great. We've got a lot of new young talent so the team will look different but we should still have a great team again."

Senior Carson Hill will step into goal after watching last year's starter Matt McCaleb and penalty kicks hero Oscar Estrada last season, while sophomores Tomasz Slawek and Sam Bahnfleth and junior Pawel Dejworek are among the newcomers that will need to step up and fill some of the holes in the lineup.

"We graduated a lot, but we still have nine seniors back this year who are excited to be taking on new roles," Allen said. "It's all part of the journey and these guys are stepping up and the younger guys are hungry to help the team. I think if everybody kind of grows and we maximize our potential and give our best effort then we'll be satisfied no matter what happens."

The Gators will begin the season with a 15-game unbeaten streak and an 11-game winning streak, but that success did not come over night, as they fought through the inconstancies of a 12-11-2 season in 2017 in which they started 5-0 to get to where they were last season.

Will they struggle out of the gate this fall? And if they do, how will they fix it?

It certainly helps having a player like Canfield.

"Obviously, to get to the same place as we did last year you can never start by thinking of that end goal," he said. "We've got to take it one by one, playing each game. Even last year we knew there was room for improvement. Even when you get to that top level, there's always some way you can improve."

This year with a less experienced squad, learning quickly from mistakes will be key.

"We'll definitely take the guys under our wing when we need to," Canfield said. "We have a saying with our team and the 'we' is bigger than all our egos. However anybody is playing it's most important to be playing as a team."

Canfield knows he's going to be a heavily marked man and that the Gators are going to bring out the best from opponents. To prepare, he's working on his game and prepared for more challenges.

"I've been working on attacking defenders from both directions because my right foot is strong so it's more of going back and forth to make it tough for the defense to know where I'm going," he said. "And I think added pressure on us is a good thing. We know other teams really are going to want to beat us so we need to be ready."

Regardless of where this season takes the Gators, they'll always have 2018. But now's not the time for reminiscing.

"We carried a large roster last year but we've dropped to 16 to 17 guys so that's another different twist this year," Allen said. "So with a smaller bench everyone is going to be expected to be ready to go, so if someone goes down, the next person has got to be ready."

That doesn't sound like that'll be a problem for these Gators.

Fox Valley boys soccer at a glance

Top teams: Crystal Lake South, Hampshire, Jacobs, Larkin, Marmion, St. Charles East, St. Charles North, Streamwood, West Aurora

Top players: Brendan Adams, St. Charles East, sr., Alejandro Barrios, West Aurora, sr., Alex Canfield, Crystal Lake South, sr.. Evan Carlson, Crystal Lake South, sr., Sebastian Carranza, St. Charles East, so., Hernan Garcia, Bartlett, sr., Ryan Heileman, Hampshire, sr., Jose Ibarra, Streamwood, jr., Tucker Jahns, Kaneland, sr., Josh Johansen, St. Edward, sr., T.J. Laurich, Marmion, sr., Faizan Mohiuddin, St. Charles North, sr., Alex Nicastro, Jacobs, sr., Johnny O'Connor, Jacobs, sr., Edwin "Pee Wee" Peralta, Streamwood, sr., Tristan Samuelian, Burlington Central, jr., C.J. Sowers, Marmion, sr, Hugo Sztuk Vel Sztukowski, Hampshire, sr., Alek Zdravkovic, Larkin, sr.

Season skinny: Aurora Central Catholic lost 12 players from an 11-11-1 team. Aurora Christian's resurrected program begins year No. 4. Bartlett only returns 9 of its 30 goals from a 7-11-5 team. Batavia graduated 16 players from a 5-win, regional-champ team. Burlington Central is young, having graduated 26 players in two years. Cary-Grove (6-8-2) graduated 10 players. Crystal Lake South will defend its Class 2A title behind Alex Canfield and Evan Carlson, but graduation bit the Gators. Dundee-Crown's regional championship team (18-4-4) had 15 players graduate. Elgin lost 7 starters from a 17-win team. Elgin Academy's shooting for a postseason win. Geneva hopes to bounce back from a 4-win season with 12 returning varsity players. Hampshire is experienced and coming off an 11-5-5 season. Harvest Christian will share devotion books with opponents at home games. Huntley has strength in the midfield after going 2-16-2. Jacobs returns 10 starters from a 10-win team that competed for a FVC title. Kaneland's Tucker Jahns is one of the program's all-time best players. Larkin is expecting another excellent season with Alek Zdravkovic (32 goals). Marmion lost James Serrano (50 career goals) but returns key players from a sectional champion squad. Mooseheart now has a team. St. Charles East is celebrating 40 years of soccer. St. Charles North's strength lies in Gabriel D'Amico, Faizan Mohiuddin, Jared Sinnaeve and Thomas Weber. St. Edward is now 2A and starts 3 four-year players and 2 three-year players. Streamwood returns all its defenders, including Jose Ibarra, from a sectional championship team. South Elgin is a team to watch with new coach Jerzy Skowron and standout Nicholas Flores. West Aurora lost marquee players from an 18-win team and joins a new conference. Westminster Christian welcomes 13 new players.

  Hernan Garcia, left, is a player to watch at Bartlett. John Starks/jstarks@dailyherald.com
  Hampshire's Ryan Heileman, left, pictured battling Jacobs' Liam Armstrong for possession, is one of the players to watch this fall. John Starks/jstarks@dailyherald.com
Article Comments
Guidelines: Keep it civil and on topic; no profanity, vulgarity, slurs or personal attacks. People who harass others or joke about tragedies will be blocked. If a comment violates these standards or our terms of service, click the "flag" link in the lower-right corner of the comment box. To find our more, read our FAQ.