Waubonsie V. wins another
nail-biter, tops Batavia
Olmstead goal all home team needs in Warriors Invitational win
By Chris Walker
AURORA – One thing that you can certainly say about this year’s Waubonsie Valley team is that its games are usually going to go down to the wire.
For the 10th time in its last 11 times taking the field, Waubonsie Valley’s game was decided by a single goal -- the Warriors edged Batavia 1-0 in the Warrior Invitational on Wednesday night.
“This was another good challenge for us and hopefully we can learn from it and take some things and move on to our next game,” Warriors coach Jose Garcia said. “Batavia played well. We had some mistakes in the back that they could’ve capitalized on, and we’ll talk about those before our next game (DuPage Valley contest against Naperville North on Thursday). And we’ll try to fix that ... going into the rest of our games and then onto regionals.”
On the season, all but three of Waubonsie Valley’s 15 games have been decided in a single-goal decision or tie.
The lone offensive highlight that forced the scoreboard operator to hit the button marked "home" occurred with 25:33 remaining in the first half. It featured some nifty 1-on-1 moves from Jack Olmstead who was able to dribble a bit in the middle of the penalty box before firing in his game-winning shot.
Olmstead was named the Chicagoland Soccer Man of the Match for making the play of the game.
“I kind of saw that he (goalkeeper Treven Ritko-Siros) kept trying to cut off the angle, and I like to do the give-and-go down the line,” Olmstead said. “I saw he was giving me the space so I decided to take it. I kind of let the ball go a little bit, but went through it and the ball dropped to my foot; and I put my head through and tried to tuck it there near post.”
Waubonsie Valley (9-5-1) made the goal hold up and kept its chances alive to win its own invite. While the Warriors have a difficult DVC game to look forward to before that, they will play Lake Park on Saturday in the tournament and with a win there would play again Saturday night for the championship.
“The one goal held up, and this was one of those games where I wanted to give a lot of opportunities to my players with it being nonconference and with a busy week,” Garcia said. “Saturday will be another busy day where we’ll have one game for sure and hopefully another. So I was just trying to give some kids some rest because it’s such a rough week, especially with Naperville North coming up for a big conference game. It’s hard to keep the kids fresh when you have this many games in a week.”
Batavia (3-10-2) certainly made the Warriors work for the victory, although Olmstead said some of the offensive chances by the Bulldogs were the result of sloppy play in the midfield by the hosts.
“All of their chances came off of our counterattacks so we didn’t really actually give them many of their chances, they created them,” he said. “Not to take anything away from them, they’re obviously a good team. But our sloppy play in the midfield, with dribbling too much, which I was a culprit of too, is something we need to work on. As the game went on, we started working the ball near the end and made smarter choices, but we just couldn’t put any other shots home.”
Strong play by Dan Schweiger in goal, as well as defenders Brett Babcock, Max Wenstrup and Charles Zehnal among others, solidified things for the Warriors.
“We showed we can move the ball pretty well, and we’ve had some of these 1-0 games, but we’re working hard and don’t care as long as we win,” Wenstrup said. “If we keep finishing our chances like Jack showed, which is a perfect example, we’ll be fine. We’re getting better. We have better chemistry now than when we started the season and playing tough teams has pushed us and made us a better team.”
The same problem that has plagued the Batavia since they opened the season with a 2-0 loss to West Aurora on Aug. 23, beset them again on Wednesday – they couldn’t finish any of their scoring opportunities.
“That’s been the way it has been all year,” Bulldogs coach Mark Gianfrancesco said. “We’re playing games, we’re getting the better end of possession, movement and chances, but just struggling to finish. Every game we’ve been in, other than maybe the Elgin game, which was probably the best team we’ve played, we’ve had the better run of the play against most of the teams.”
The offensive positive for the Bulldogs is that they're continuing to create chances.
Erik Faessler had a cross that caromed off a defender in the 45th minute and right into Waubonsie Valley goalkeeper Schweiger’s hands.
Will Smith’s header in the 47th sliced just a bit too far right.
Faessler’s volley in the 52nd just missed.
Mason Pifer pushed a shot just wide left in the 65th, another attempt by Smith was punched out by Schweiger in the 72nd and Nolan Garvin’s shot was blocked by Zehnal in the 76th minute.
Finally there was a bit of a breakaway, thanks to a Faessler pass to Joe Corno in the final minute, but Corno couldn’t get much muscle behind his shot, which went directly toward Schweiger.
“It’s frustrating. We’re just keeping the boys’ spirits up, trying to pick up the positive stuff, because they’re doing some good stuff,” Gianfrancesco said. “If any of those (shots) fall for us at any point it’s going to be trouble for the other team because they’re just right there on the doorstep and that’s just tough.”
Despite now being winless in eight-straight games (0-6-2), the Bulldogs continue to play hard and Gianfrancesco remains hopeful that they’ll ultimately breakthrough by the time the state playoffs begin.
“The efforts there, even with the record they’re going for it and I can go game by game, blow by blow and that’s really in a nutshell the season right there,” he said. “You saw it and that’s what we’ve been doing and sticking with it and working the ball around and getting chances, not on frame, or at the goalie or over, or just wide.
“I got to give it to the boys for really being resilient and playing from game to game. They’re not really thinking about the record and stuff like that. They’ve been really focused so I’ve been proud of them for that.”
Gianfrancesco knows that the slate will be wiped clean in another week. He also remembers last year, when at the same field at Waubonsie Valley, his Bulldogs entered the playoffs with a losing record in the regular season, only to defeat Marmion and Neuqua Valley to win a regional title. They proceeded to almost upset Naperville Central, before losing in overtime in a sectional semifinal.
The precedent has been set and the Bulldogs will look to wear the underdog cape again this year.
“These guys have it in them to do that again,” Gianfrancesco said. “The problem is we can’t score. At least last year, we were scoring.”
But, if Wednesday was an accurate indication, they were creating a lot of chances and when you do that in soccer, amazing things sometimes happen, including upsets and Cinderella stories.
As for the first half, both teams started off strong on their respective attacks.
Nathan Black had a shot in the opening minute for Batavia that was cleared by Schweiger while Corno delivered a header on frame a couple minutes later that Schweiger also was forced to snag. Black also had a 25-yard free-kick that curled around the wall but went right to Schweiger.
Stephan Spano had a quick header attempt in the early going for the Warriors, and Zehnal had a cross that was cleared midway through the half.
Connor Craney, Corno and Smith also produced decent scoring chances in the first half but either were off target or denied by Schweiger.
Although they play in different conferences, once again the matchup proved to be a memorable one
It marked the first time the Warriors had beaten the Bulldogs since they won three-straight regular season games from 2011 to 2013 in the Upstate Eight Conference, although the Bulldogs did beat them in the 2011 Class 3A Waubonsie Valley Regional championship as standout Ian Larson assisted on both goals in a 2-1 victory during his freshman season.
The teams tied 1-1 in 2010.
They could meet again in the Bolingbrook sectional semifinal on Oct. 25, but a few different upsets would likely need to take place for that to happen.
Starting lineups
Batavia
GK Treven Ritko-Siros
D Erik Faessler
D Nathan Black
D Miguel Garcia
D Trevor Hockings
D Will Smith
M Sal Garcia
M Brandon Knapp
M Adler Palos
F Joe Corno
F Connor Craney
Waubonsie Valley
GK Dan Schweiger
D Brett Babcock
D Max Wenstrup
D Charles Zehnal
M Jack Olmstead
M Giacomo Parrino
M Scotty Heinen
M Mitch Mueller
M Stephen Spano
F Darius Grassi
F Raul Roman
Man of the Match – Jack Olmstead, M, Waubonsie Valley
nail-biter, tops Batavia
Olmstead goal all home team needs in Warriors Invitational win
By Chris Walker
AURORA – One thing that you can certainly say about this year’s Waubonsie Valley team is that its games are usually going to go down to the wire.
For the 10th time in its last 11 times taking the field, Waubonsie Valley’s game was decided by a single goal -- the Warriors edged Batavia 1-0 in the Warrior Invitational on Wednesday night.
“This was another good challenge for us and hopefully we can learn from it and take some things and move on to our next game,” Warriors coach Jose Garcia said. “Batavia played well. We had some mistakes in the back that they could’ve capitalized on, and we’ll talk about those before our next game (DuPage Valley contest against Naperville North on Thursday). And we’ll try to fix that ... going into the rest of our games and then onto regionals.”
On the season, all but three of Waubonsie Valley’s 15 games have been decided in a single-goal decision or tie.
The lone offensive highlight that forced the scoreboard operator to hit the button marked "home" occurred with 25:33 remaining in the first half. It featured some nifty 1-on-1 moves from Jack Olmstead who was able to dribble a bit in the middle of the penalty box before firing in his game-winning shot.
Olmstead was named the Chicagoland Soccer Man of the Match for making the play of the game.
“I kind of saw that he (goalkeeper Treven Ritko-Siros) kept trying to cut off the angle, and I like to do the give-and-go down the line,” Olmstead said. “I saw he was giving me the space so I decided to take it. I kind of let the ball go a little bit, but went through it and the ball dropped to my foot; and I put my head through and tried to tuck it there near post.”
Waubonsie Valley (9-5-1) made the goal hold up and kept its chances alive to win its own invite. While the Warriors have a difficult DVC game to look forward to before that, they will play Lake Park on Saturday in the tournament and with a win there would play again Saturday night for the championship.
“The one goal held up, and this was one of those games where I wanted to give a lot of opportunities to my players with it being nonconference and with a busy week,” Garcia said. “Saturday will be another busy day where we’ll have one game for sure and hopefully another. So I was just trying to give some kids some rest because it’s such a rough week, especially with Naperville North coming up for a big conference game. It’s hard to keep the kids fresh when you have this many games in a week.”
Batavia (3-10-2) certainly made the Warriors work for the victory, although Olmstead said some of the offensive chances by the Bulldogs were the result of sloppy play in the midfield by the hosts.
“All of their chances came off of our counterattacks so we didn’t really actually give them many of their chances, they created them,” he said. “Not to take anything away from them, they’re obviously a good team. But our sloppy play in the midfield, with dribbling too much, which I was a culprit of too, is something we need to work on. As the game went on, we started working the ball near the end and made smarter choices, but we just couldn’t put any other shots home.”
Strong play by Dan Schweiger in goal, as well as defenders Brett Babcock, Max Wenstrup and Charles Zehnal among others, solidified things for the Warriors.
“We showed we can move the ball pretty well, and we’ve had some of these 1-0 games, but we’re working hard and don’t care as long as we win,” Wenstrup said. “If we keep finishing our chances like Jack showed, which is a perfect example, we’ll be fine. We’re getting better. We have better chemistry now than when we started the season and playing tough teams has pushed us and made us a better team.”
The same problem that has plagued the Batavia since they opened the season with a 2-0 loss to West Aurora on Aug. 23, beset them again on Wednesday – they couldn’t finish any of their scoring opportunities.
“That’s been the way it has been all year,” Bulldogs coach Mark Gianfrancesco said. “We’re playing games, we’re getting the better end of possession, movement and chances, but just struggling to finish. Every game we’ve been in, other than maybe the Elgin game, which was probably the best team we’ve played, we’ve had the better run of the play against most of the teams.”
The offensive positive for the Bulldogs is that they're continuing to create chances.
Erik Faessler had a cross that caromed off a defender in the 45th minute and right into Waubonsie Valley goalkeeper Schweiger’s hands.
Will Smith’s header in the 47th sliced just a bit too far right.
Faessler’s volley in the 52nd just missed.
Mason Pifer pushed a shot just wide left in the 65th, another attempt by Smith was punched out by Schweiger in the 72nd and Nolan Garvin’s shot was blocked by Zehnal in the 76th minute.
Finally there was a bit of a breakaway, thanks to a Faessler pass to Joe Corno in the final minute, but Corno couldn’t get much muscle behind his shot, which went directly toward Schweiger.
“It’s frustrating. We’re just keeping the boys’ spirits up, trying to pick up the positive stuff, because they’re doing some good stuff,” Gianfrancesco said. “If any of those (shots) fall for us at any point it’s going to be trouble for the other team because they’re just right there on the doorstep and that’s just tough.”
Despite now being winless in eight-straight games (0-6-2), the Bulldogs continue to play hard and Gianfrancesco remains hopeful that they’ll ultimately breakthrough by the time the state playoffs begin.
“The efforts there, even with the record they’re going for it and I can go game by game, blow by blow and that’s really in a nutshell the season right there,” he said. “You saw it and that’s what we’ve been doing and sticking with it and working the ball around and getting chances, not on frame, or at the goalie or over, or just wide.
“I got to give it to the boys for really being resilient and playing from game to game. They’re not really thinking about the record and stuff like that. They’ve been really focused so I’ve been proud of them for that.”
Gianfrancesco knows that the slate will be wiped clean in another week. He also remembers last year, when at the same field at Waubonsie Valley, his Bulldogs entered the playoffs with a losing record in the regular season, only to defeat Marmion and Neuqua Valley to win a regional title. They proceeded to almost upset Naperville Central, before losing in overtime in a sectional semifinal.
The precedent has been set and the Bulldogs will look to wear the underdog cape again this year.
“These guys have it in them to do that again,” Gianfrancesco said. “The problem is we can’t score. At least last year, we were scoring.”
But, if Wednesday was an accurate indication, they were creating a lot of chances and when you do that in soccer, amazing things sometimes happen, including upsets and Cinderella stories.
As for the first half, both teams started off strong on their respective attacks.
Nathan Black had a shot in the opening minute for Batavia that was cleared by Schweiger while Corno delivered a header on frame a couple minutes later that Schweiger also was forced to snag. Black also had a 25-yard free-kick that curled around the wall but went right to Schweiger.
Stephan Spano had a quick header attempt in the early going for the Warriors, and Zehnal had a cross that was cleared midway through the half.
Connor Craney, Corno and Smith also produced decent scoring chances in the first half but either were off target or denied by Schweiger.
Although they play in different conferences, once again the matchup proved to be a memorable one
It marked the first time the Warriors had beaten the Bulldogs since they won three-straight regular season games from 2011 to 2013 in the Upstate Eight Conference, although the Bulldogs did beat them in the 2011 Class 3A Waubonsie Valley Regional championship as standout Ian Larson assisted on both goals in a 2-1 victory during his freshman season.
The teams tied 1-1 in 2010.
They could meet again in the Bolingbrook sectional semifinal on Oct. 25, but a few different upsets would likely need to take place for that to happen.
Starting lineups
Batavia
GK Treven Ritko-Siros
D Erik Faessler
D Nathan Black
D Miguel Garcia
D Trevor Hockings
D Will Smith
M Sal Garcia
M Brandon Knapp
M Adler Palos
F Joe Corno
F Connor Craney
Waubonsie Valley
GK Dan Schweiger
D Brett Babcock
D Max Wenstrup
D Charles Zehnal
M Jack Olmstead
M Giacomo Parrino
M Scotty Heinen
M Mitch Mueller
M Stephen Spano
F Darius Grassi
F Raul Roman
Man of the Match – Jack Olmstead, M, Waubonsie Valley