St. Francis strikes before lightning
Spartans celebrate Senior Night with 6-0
abbreviated win over Bishop McNamara
By Matt LeCren
WHEATON – Even though St. Francis’ unbeaten streak had reached 12 games, the Spartans weren’t happy with their offensive execution in a pair of 1-1 ties against Larkin and St. Laurence.
Whatever ailed the Spartans was cured by Thursday night’s performance. David Gianos recorded his first two-goal game and St. Francis scored on four of its first six shots in a 6-0 Chicago Catholic League victory over Bishop McNamara at Kuhn Memorial Field.
The Senior Night victory was cut short when lightning flashed at halftime, but the Spartans had made their point by outshooting the Fighting Irish by a 26-0 margin over the 40 minutes of action.
“It was good to see that we could connect our passes and really get in on goal easier than we have the last couple games,” Gianos said. “We’ve been working on that in practice, so to see it come alive is nice to see.”
Gianos was one of 10 seniors feted during pregame ceremonies that lasted nearly as long as the game and included a performance by the marching band.
Goalkeepers Jonathan Burke and Patrick Bagnuolo, midfielders Alex Bonner, Keenan Corrigan, Matthew Martin, Alejandro Monzon, Nicholas Roehl and Chris Thomas and defender Timmy Pisarski were the other seniors honored before putting on a show for their fans.
“Of course it definitely brought an extra excitement to the stadium in this game,” Gianos said. “We wanted to win for the seniors. Me being a senior, this is definitely for me. It was nice.”
It was over quickly, with the outcome decided in the first few minutes. The Spartans (11-1-4, 5-1-1) scored just 38 seconds into the game.
Corrigan dribbled deep into the left side of the box and fired from 10 yards out. Bishop McNamara goalkeeper John Ojeda made the save, but Martin buried the rebound.
St. Francis also scored on its next two shots. First, Martin took the ball to the left end line before crossing in front to Roehl for an easy tap-in at the 36:45 mark.
Then it was Gianos’ turn. Just 52 seconds later, he made it 3-0 by ripping a 15-yard shot into the upper right corner off a pass from sophomore Ryan Pennington.
Corrigan boosted the lead to 4-0 with a 30-yard bomb with 31:01 remaining and then Pennington set up Gianos again for a 5-0 lead with 26:23 to go. That goal was a tap-in as the Spartans cut up the Fighting Irish defense like they were chopping a salad.
“I was happy with the way we played,” Roehl said. “We really played through the middle and actually possessed.
“It wasn’t just trying to get forward. We actually played how we were supposed to and how coach wants us to, so it was good from that standpoint and we hope to move on to Saturday for a big game against Geneva.”
Junior defender Carney Herard finished the scoring when he converted a pass from freshman defender Nicholas Gulli with 21:00 left. The St. Francis subs had a slew of opportunities to extend the lead, but missed three point-blank shots and saw Ojeda come up with three tough saves.
Burke and Bagnuolo split time in the nets and neither touched the ball as the Spartans, who have given up just five goals this season, recorded their 12th shutout to extend their unbeaten streak to 13.
“We made our reads tonight,” St. Francis coach Kevin Ward said. “Last couple games we’ve tied and had our chances to win, but basically we didn’t do well enough reading and running the system.”
But the Spartans have done a much better job of running Ward’s system in their second year together.
“Last year was our first year with our coach,” Gianos said. “(We’ve had) another year under his system.
“The seniors this year, most of them have been on varsity since their freshman year. We’ve all had the experience, and we’ve been really looking forward to this year.”
Now the Spartans are looking forward to greater glory. They finish the regular season Saturday night against Class 3A opponent Geneva and then head into the Class 2A playoffs as a No. 1 seed in their sub-sectional.
“We have a lot of potential this year,” Gianos said. “If we just keep our minds on straight we could definitely go far.
“We’ve been looking forward to the postseason ever since the first day of tryouts. We’ve been aiming for it. We’re the No. 1 seed in our sub-sectional. We were really happy to hear that and we really think we can go somewhere.”
Roehl agrees.
“We’ve put ourselves in position this year to make a difference,” Roehl said. “Hopefully we can capitalize on this opportunity. Hopefully we can just play well and get things done.”
The game against Geneva was scheduled to help the Spartans do just that. It is their ninth game against 3A opponents.
“We just started that last year and the anticipation is we should have a pretty good crowd out here Saturday night,” Ward said. “That’s why we haven’t shied away from any 3A competition all year, so I think that’s one of the things that has helped us play better and get prepared.”
St. Francis has won just one sectional title in its history, that coming in 2A in 2011. A second is within reach.
“If we play the way we should I don’t know why we shouldn’t be able to (make a deep run),” Ward said. “We’ve been a little up and down, but we’re in a good position now.”
Starting lineups
Bishop McNamara
G John Ojeda
D Ben Kuntz
D Aldo Hernandez
D Edwin Hernandez
D David Osborn
D Andrew Buttle
M Drew Allen
M Steve Barajas
M Alex Medina
M Milto Troupe
M Andrew Kyrouac
St. Francis
G Jonathan Burke
D Chris Thoms
D Alejandro Monzon
D Ethan Grosam
D Timmy Pisarski
M Alex Bonner
M Matthew Martin
M David Gianos
F Keenan Corrigan
F Ryan Pennington
F Nicholas Roehl
Man of the Match – David Gianos, MF, St. Francis
Spartans celebrate Senior Night with 6-0
abbreviated win over Bishop McNamara
By Matt LeCren
WHEATON – Even though St. Francis’ unbeaten streak had reached 12 games, the Spartans weren’t happy with their offensive execution in a pair of 1-1 ties against Larkin and St. Laurence.
Whatever ailed the Spartans was cured by Thursday night’s performance. David Gianos recorded his first two-goal game and St. Francis scored on four of its first six shots in a 6-0 Chicago Catholic League victory over Bishop McNamara at Kuhn Memorial Field.
The Senior Night victory was cut short when lightning flashed at halftime, but the Spartans had made their point by outshooting the Fighting Irish by a 26-0 margin over the 40 minutes of action.
“It was good to see that we could connect our passes and really get in on goal easier than we have the last couple games,” Gianos said. “We’ve been working on that in practice, so to see it come alive is nice to see.”
Gianos was one of 10 seniors feted during pregame ceremonies that lasted nearly as long as the game and included a performance by the marching band.
Goalkeepers Jonathan Burke and Patrick Bagnuolo, midfielders Alex Bonner, Keenan Corrigan, Matthew Martin, Alejandro Monzon, Nicholas Roehl and Chris Thomas and defender Timmy Pisarski were the other seniors honored before putting on a show for their fans.
“Of course it definitely brought an extra excitement to the stadium in this game,” Gianos said. “We wanted to win for the seniors. Me being a senior, this is definitely for me. It was nice.”
It was over quickly, with the outcome decided in the first few minutes. The Spartans (11-1-4, 5-1-1) scored just 38 seconds into the game.
Corrigan dribbled deep into the left side of the box and fired from 10 yards out. Bishop McNamara goalkeeper John Ojeda made the save, but Martin buried the rebound.
St. Francis also scored on its next two shots. First, Martin took the ball to the left end line before crossing in front to Roehl for an easy tap-in at the 36:45 mark.
Then it was Gianos’ turn. Just 52 seconds later, he made it 3-0 by ripping a 15-yard shot into the upper right corner off a pass from sophomore Ryan Pennington.
Corrigan boosted the lead to 4-0 with a 30-yard bomb with 31:01 remaining and then Pennington set up Gianos again for a 5-0 lead with 26:23 to go. That goal was a tap-in as the Spartans cut up the Fighting Irish defense like they were chopping a salad.
“I was happy with the way we played,” Roehl said. “We really played through the middle and actually possessed.
“It wasn’t just trying to get forward. We actually played how we were supposed to and how coach wants us to, so it was good from that standpoint and we hope to move on to Saturday for a big game against Geneva.”
Junior defender Carney Herard finished the scoring when he converted a pass from freshman defender Nicholas Gulli with 21:00 left. The St. Francis subs had a slew of opportunities to extend the lead, but missed three point-blank shots and saw Ojeda come up with three tough saves.
Burke and Bagnuolo split time in the nets and neither touched the ball as the Spartans, who have given up just five goals this season, recorded their 12th shutout to extend their unbeaten streak to 13.
“We made our reads tonight,” St. Francis coach Kevin Ward said. “Last couple games we’ve tied and had our chances to win, but basically we didn’t do well enough reading and running the system.”
But the Spartans have done a much better job of running Ward’s system in their second year together.
“Last year was our first year with our coach,” Gianos said. “(We’ve had) another year under his system.
“The seniors this year, most of them have been on varsity since their freshman year. We’ve all had the experience, and we’ve been really looking forward to this year.”
Now the Spartans are looking forward to greater glory. They finish the regular season Saturday night against Class 3A opponent Geneva and then head into the Class 2A playoffs as a No. 1 seed in their sub-sectional.
“We have a lot of potential this year,” Gianos said. “If we just keep our minds on straight we could definitely go far.
“We’ve been looking forward to the postseason ever since the first day of tryouts. We’ve been aiming for it. We’re the No. 1 seed in our sub-sectional. We were really happy to hear that and we really think we can go somewhere.”
Roehl agrees.
“We’ve put ourselves in position this year to make a difference,” Roehl said. “Hopefully we can capitalize on this opportunity. Hopefully we can just play well and get things done.”
The game against Geneva was scheduled to help the Spartans do just that. It is their ninth game against 3A opponents.
“We just started that last year and the anticipation is we should have a pretty good crowd out here Saturday night,” Ward said. “That’s why we haven’t shied away from any 3A competition all year, so I think that’s one of the things that has helped us play better and get prepared.”
St. Francis has won just one sectional title in its history, that coming in 2A in 2011. A second is within reach.
“If we play the way we should I don’t know why we shouldn’t be able to (make a deep run),” Ward said. “We’ve been a little up and down, but we’re in a good position now.”
Starting lineups
Bishop McNamara
G John Ojeda
D Ben Kuntz
D Aldo Hernandez
D Edwin Hernandez
D David Osborn
D Andrew Buttle
M Drew Allen
M Steve Barajas
M Alex Medina
M Milto Troupe
M Andrew Kyrouac
St. Francis
G Jonathan Burke
D Chris Thoms
D Alejandro Monzon
D Ethan Grosam
D Timmy Pisarski
M Alex Bonner
M Matthew Martin
M David Gianos
F Keenan Corrigan
F Ryan Pennington
F Nicholas Roehl
Man of the Match – David Gianos, MF, St. Francis