McManus hits his peak
St. Ignatius senior F ends his prep career on a high note
By Patrick Z. McGavin
CHICAGO — The rain cuts sideways from the burst of wind over the field at St. Ignatius on the final Friday in October. It makes for very interesting soccer, the ball curving and floating and not always responding the way the players on the field anticipate.
It is the championship game of the Class 3A St. Ignatius regional between the host program and highly ranked Morton. St. Ignatius senior forward Ethan McManus re-enters the game in the 64th minute with Morton up 1-0.
McManus is the leading scorer on a team filled with strong finishers. With time running out, the onus is on him and the rest of his team to try and equalize or watch their season end.
A rare Morton defensive mistake sets up a Wolfpack throw-in. Defender Chauncey Flowers delivers a sharp ball against the conditions; the ball takes a peculiar and unexpected bounce.
McManus reacts to the play and gets on the ball. He drills a one-touch inside the near post that breathes new life into the Wolfpack.
“They got the hustle goal, a good play on their part,” Morton coach Mike Caruso said.
But Morton is relentless and goes a goal up 5 minutes later. Though St. Ignatius creates some tantalizing chances, Morton tacks on an insurance goal in the 78th minute for the 3-1 victory.
St. Ignatius' year ended with a 15-5-3 record and a strong list of accomplishments, most significantly claiming a share of the Chicago Catholic League North Division title with Fenwick.
The end is a natural time for reflection. The regional final offered a good chance at summarizing a season of consistent growth.
“I think this year there was a lot I will remember,” McManus said.
“The fact that we played Morton early in the season and lost 5-0 (in the Red Devil Cup at Hinsdale Central) and then we played them today and it was 1-1 with 10 minutes to go, I definitely felt really accomplished after that game.”
He paused for a moment.
“It’s sad the season is over, and I won’t be able to play high school soccer again," McManus said. "(But) knowing that we ended that last game working as hard we possibly could to tie that game up makes me really happy.”
McManus scored both of the Wolfpack’s goals in the state tournament. Two days before the regional final, the senior drilled home a header in the fourth minute that held up in the ninth-seeded Wolfpack’s 1-0 regional semifinal victory over no. 7 Downers Grove North.
For the season he scored a team-best 18 goals and recorded five assists. The last time a St. Ignatius player scored 18 goals in a season was 1997 —— the year McManus was born. He recorded four game-winning goals and assisted on another game-winner. He recorded two hat tricks this year (and five in his two-year varsity career).
McManus was a major reason the Wolfpack ripped off a 12-1-0 run that nullified the team’s 1-2-3 start. He scored at least one goal in 6-of-7 conference games.
He also overcame a slow start after dealing with the consequences of a quad injury that caused him to miss the opening game of the year against Lemont, and dealt with change when St. Ignatius coach Ryan Kearns experimented with multiple lineups to find the right mix.
Starting or coming off the bench made little difference to McManus.
“I’ve found I do work really well coming fresh off the bench,” he said. “I like to get a feel for the game first. When I started, I got those first minutes to really figure out the defense.
“Once I get pulled out and come back in fresh, I’ve been known to score multiple goals.”
His relationship with the game is a kind of love affair. He played youth soccer growing up. A friend who played on a Chicago club team and convinced him to try out. He did and made the U12 traveling program and was immediately drawn to the increased competitiveness and the opportunity to braid his outgoing, enthusiastic personality to a sport that privileged effort and determination.
“I always found that I had a nose for the goal, and I really liked being good at playing soccer,” he said. "I played baseball and basketball all throughout grade school, but I didn’t really like it.
“I felt more of a connection with soccer.”
A heartbreak was inextricably bound to his early formative experiences. When McManus first started playing, he alternated between his natural forward position and goalie. That changed when he was in the third grade.
“I let up the game-winning goal in the championship game, and I never put gloves on again," he said. "I’ve been a forward ever since.”
He deepened his skills and commitment by playing on the middle school team at the University of Chicago Laboratory School. He loved his side and had a lot of friends. But when it came time to select a high school, St. Ignatius offered a more traditional campus and wider curriculum and activities to draw upon.
“(The Wolfpack) had a football team, and the soccer team had beaten [University High] a couple of years in a row,” he said.
He still played club with most of his friends in middle school, so he still had plenty of chances to see them.
“I needed to go somewhere else,” he said.
His first two years at St. Ignatius overlapped with the final run of the great St. Ignatius coach James Luzzi, who founded the soccer program in 1970 and was its only coach for 44 years. McManus played on the sophomore team as a freshman. He immediately demonstrated his knack for scoring and playmaking.
In his sophomore year — the last of Luzzi’s remarkable run — the varsity was a team for the ages at St. Ignatius. The Wolfpack reached the Class 2A state title game before losing in double overtime to Chicago Public League power Washington.
“I tried out for the varsity, but we were very deep that year,” McManus said.
Current St. Ignatius coach Kearns was Luzzi’s top assistant.
“Ethan was a cusp player as a sophomore,” Kearns said. “When we went downstate he was a sophomore, and he was probably the last guy to not make the varsity team.
“He stayed on the [sophomore] team and played, and I think that was the right decision because he got in considerable time. On the varsity that year we had Bryan Long, our leading scorer, and he was not going to play ahead of Bryan.”
McManus scored a team-best 11 goals as a freshman on the sophomore team; he led the underclass team with 13 goals his sophomore year.
Luzzi retired after the state runner-up finish and Kearns took over the program.
Now a varsity player, McManus had to adjust to the quickness of the game and learn how to utilize his skills within the framework of the team attack.
“Ethan’s a different player than Bryan, and he had to learn how to adapt. He had to learn to not just turn and take guys on and put us in a bad position by turning the ball over as the other teams were countering,” Kearns said.
McManus learned how to assimilate his game to the bigger, faster and more experienced players. He also came of age emotionally. As a younger player he blew up and lost his cool and was prone to the accumulation of yellow cards.
“Mostly for dissent,” he said.
After not making the varsity as a sophomore he considered playing club full-time. His close friend, Conner Hatzopoulos, a defender, pleaded with him to stay with the high school game.
He had the fortitude to glide over his disappointment and play for others. As a result he blossomed.
“I’ve always been able to use both feet, something that has come naturally to me,” he said. “I’ve always figured there are multiple ways to score, and I have to be strong in all of those areas.”
He learned how to channel negative impulses and convert them into positive actions.
“When I’m in there, there is nothing I want to do more than get the ball in the net,” he said. “Even if it’s not me that puts it there, I want it there. I’ll do whatever I can to really find that pass or find that opening. I’m just a very hard worker when it comes to finishing and helping my team.”
The 13 goals he scored as a junior tended to be misleading, Kearns said, because they came against weaker Chicago Catholic League competition. The transformation in his game this year was stepping up against elite competition and scoring in games that truly mattered, as the state tournament games against Downers Grove North and Morton attested.
“He’s just fast with his feet, and he sticks to certain technical moves that have been successful for him,” Kearns said. “He started to score in those clutch games.
“He’s turning and finishing, and that’s exactly what happened in the Downers game and the Morton game. It wasn’t the third touch he was finishing. It was the first.”
McManus ended his prep career with all-conference and all-section recognition.
The next part of his soccer career remains somewhat in limbo. After playing the last five years with the Chicago Magic, McManus has shifted to the Chicago Fire Juniors program. He intends to play club in the spring. An elite student, he scored a 34 on his ACT and has a 3.6 grade point average. A math and science specialist, he wants to study chemical engineering or finance in college.
“He certainly has the ability to be successful at the college level if he continues to adapt at this rate,” Kearns said. “We saw serious growth from the beginning of the year to the end. He just has to find his niche, and he has time.”
Until he makes his decision on a college, McManus is giving back to the game that has facilitated his own growth and maturity. After he watches English Premier League games Saturday mornings, he volunteers as a coach with a group of U10 players in a Chicago AYSO league.
“It’s a nice age because kids are not very sure if they want to continue playing soccer past those years,” he said. “I like to share my passion with the kids and help them get better when they’re young so they can decide if they want to play soccer in the future.”
St. Ignatius senior F ends his prep career on a high note
By Patrick Z. McGavin
CHICAGO — The rain cuts sideways from the burst of wind over the field at St. Ignatius on the final Friday in October. It makes for very interesting soccer, the ball curving and floating and not always responding the way the players on the field anticipate.
It is the championship game of the Class 3A St. Ignatius regional between the host program and highly ranked Morton. St. Ignatius senior forward Ethan McManus re-enters the game in the 64th minute with Morton up 1-0.
McManus is the leading scorer on a team filled with strong finishers. With time running out, the onus is on him and the rest of his team to try and equalize or watch their season end.
A rare Morton defensive mistake sets up a Wolfpack throw-in. Defender Chauncey Flowers delivers a sharp ball against the conditions; the ball takes a peculiar and unexpected bounce.
McManus reacts to the play and gets on the ball. He drills a one-touch inside the near post that breathes new life into the Wolfpack.
“They got the hustle goal, a good play on their part,” Morton coach Mike Caruso said.
But Morton is relentless and goes a goal up 5 minutes later. Though St. Ignatius creates some tantalizing chances, Morton tacks on an insurance goal in the 78th minute for the 3-1 victory.
St. Ignatius' year ended with a 15-5-3 record and a strong list of accomplishments, most significantly claiming a share of the Chicago Catholic League North Division title with Fenwick.
The end is a natural time for reflection. The regional final offered a good chance at summarizing a season of consistent growth.
“I think this year there was a lot I will remember,” McManus said.
“The fact that we played Morton early in the season and lost 5-0 (in the Red Devil Cup at Hinsdale Central) and then we played them today and it was 1-1 with 10 minutes to go, I definitely felt really accomplished after that game.”
He paused for a moment.
“It’s sad the season is over, and I won’t be able to play high school soccer again," McManus said. "(But) knowing that we ended that last game working as hard we possibly could to tie that game up makes me really happy.”
McManus scored both of the Wolfpack’s goals in the state tournament. Two days before the regional final, the senior drilled home a header in the fourth minute that held up in the ninth-seeded Wolfpack’s 1-0 regional semifinal victory over no. 7 Downers Grove North.
For the season he scored a team-best 18 goals and recorded five assists. The last time a St. Ignatius player scored 18 goals in a season was 1997 —— the year McManus was born. He recorded four game-winning goals and assisted on another game-winner. He recorded two hat tricks this year (and five in his two-year varsity career).
McManus was a major reason the Wolfpack ripped off a 12-1-0 run that nullified the team’s 1-2-3 start. He scored at least one goal in 6-of-7 conference games.
He also overcame a slow start after dealing with the consequences of a quad injury that caused him to miss the opening game of the year against Lemont, and dealt with change when St. Ignatius coach Ryan Kearns experimented with multiple lineups to find the right mix.
Starting or coming off the bench made little difference to McManus.
“I’ve found I do work really well coming fresh off the bench,” he said. “I like to get a feel for the game first. When I started, I got those first minutes to really figure out the defense.
“Once I get pulled out and come back in fresh, I’ve been known to score multiple goals.”
His relationship with the game is a kind of love affair. He played youth soccer growing up. A friend who played on a Chicago club team and convinced him to try out. He did and made the U12 traveling program and was immediately drawn to the increased competitiveness and the opportunity to braid his outgoing, enthusiastic personality to a sport that privileged effort and determination.
“I always found that I had a nose for the goal, and I really liked being good at playing soccer,” he said. "I played baseball and basketball all throughout grade school, but I didn’t really like it.
“I felt more of a connection with soccer.”
A heartbreak was inextricably bound to his early formative experiences. When McManus first started playing, he alternated between his natural forward position and goalie. That changed when he was in the third grade.
“I let up the game-winning goal in the championship game, and I never put gloves on again," he said. "I’ve been a forward ever since.”
He deepened his skills and commitment by playing on the middle school team at the University of Chicago Laboratory School. He loved his side and had a lot of friends. But when it came time to select a high school, St. Ignatius offered a more traditional campus and wider curriculum and activities to draw upon.
“(The Wolfpack) had a football team, and the soccer team had beaten [University High] a couple of years in a row,” he said.
He still played club with most of his friends in middle school, so he still had plenty of chances to see them.
“I needed to go somewhere else,” he said.
His first two years at St. Ignatius overlapped with the final run of the great St. Ignatius coach James Luzzi, who founded the soccer program in 1970 and was its only coach for 44 years. McManus played on the sophomore team as a freshman. He immediately demonstrated his knack for scoring and playmaking.
In his sophomore year — the last of Luzzi’s remarkable run — the varsity was a team for the ages at St. Ignatius. The Wolfpack reached the Class 2A state title game before losing in double overtime to Chicago Public League power Washington.
“I tried out for the varsity, but we were very deep that year,” McManus said.
Current St. Ignatius coach Kearns was Luzzi’s top assistant.
“Ethan was a cusp player as a sophomore,” Kearns said. “When we went downstate he was a sophomore, and he was probably the last guy to not make the varsity team.
“He stayed on the [sophomore] team and played, and I think that was the right decision because he got in considerable time. On the varsity that year we had Bryan Long, our leading scorer, and he was not going to play ahead of Bryan.”
McManus scored a team-best 11 goals as a freshman on the sophomore team; he led the underclass team with 13 goals his sophomore year.
Luzzi retired after the state runner-up finish and Kearns took over the program.
Now a varsity player, McManus had to adjust to the quickness of the game and learn how to utilize his skills within the framework of the team attack.
“Ethan’s a different player than Bryan, and he had to learn how to adapt. He had to learn to not just turn and take guys on and put us in a bad position by turning the ball over as the other teams were countering,” Kearns said.
McManus learned how to assimilate his game to the bigger, faster and more experienced players. He also came of age emotionally. As a younger player he blew up and lost his cool and was prone to the accumulation of yellow cards.
“Mostly for dissent,” he said.
After not making the varsity as a sophomore he considered playing club full-time. His close friend, Conner Hatzopoulos, a defender, pleaded with him to stay with the high school game.
He had the fortitude to glide over his disappointment and play for others. As a result he blossomed.
“I’ve always been able to use both feet, something that has come naturally to me,” he said. “I’ve always figured there are multiple ways to score, and I have to be strong in all of those areas.”
He learned how to channel negative impulses and convert them into positive actions.
“When I’m in there, there is nothing I want to do more than get the ball in the net,” he said. “Even if it’s not me that puts it there, I want it there. I’ll do whatever I can to really find that pass or find that opening. I’m just a very hard worker when it comes to finishing and helping my team.”
The 13 goals he scored as a junior tended to be misleading, Kearns said, because they came against weaker Chicago Catholic League competition. The transformation in his game this year was stepping up against elite competition and scoring in games that truly mattered, as the state tournament games against Downers Grove North and Morton attested.
“He’s just fast with his feet, and he sticks to certain technical moves that have been successful for him,” Kearns said. “He started to score in those clutch games.
“He’s turning and finishing, and that’s exactly what happened in the Downers game and the Morton game. It wasn’t the third touch he was finishing. It was the first.”
McManus ended his prep career with all-conference and all-section recognition.
The next part of his soccer career remains somewhat in limbo. After playing the last five years with the Chicago Magic, McManus has shifted to the Chicago Fire Juniors program. He intends to play club in the spring. An elite student, he scored a 34 on his ACT and has a 3.6 grade point average. A math and science specialist, he wants to study chemical engineering or finance in college.
“He certainly has the ability to be successful at the college level if he continues to adapt at this rate,” Kearns said. “We saw serious growth from the beginning of the year to the end. He just has to find his niche, and he has time.”
Until he makes his decision on a college, McManus is giving back to the game that has facilitated his own growth and maturity. After he watches English Premier League games Saturday mornings, he volunteers as a coach with a group of U10 players in a Chicago AYSO league.
“It’s a nice age because kids are not very sure if they want to continue playing soccer past those years,” he said. “I like to share my passion with the kids and help them get better when they’re young so they can decide if they want to play soccer in the future.”