Huels fuels Waterloo win over Carmel
Junior's hat trick earns Bulldogs spot in Class 2A title game
By Matt Le Cren
HOFFMAN ESTATES – The public address announcer at the IHSA state finals drew laughs and stares for consistently mispronouncing Carmel's name Friday.
But that was the least of the Corsairs concerns. Carmel (accent on first syllable, not the second) had far more trouble trying to contain Waterloo star Ben Huels, who spoiled the Mundelein school’s state semifinal debut by scoring a hat trick to lift Waterloo to a 3-1 victory.
Waterloo (24-3-1) advances to the Class 2A championship game, where it will face nationally ranked Notre Dame (Peoria) (22-1-3) at 1 p.m. Saturday.
Carmel (18-8-1), which already was assured of taking home the first state trophy in program history, plays Washington in the third place match at 11 a.m.
“That wasn’t the best game we’ve played,” Carmel coach Ray Krawzak said. “It would have been nice to play our best, but that team was very talented; they were on.
“We knew they had the size and the speed, and they were a nice physical team. They also had technique on the ball that shouldn’t be overlooked. They do a nice job moving the ball while switching the field, playing to corners and getting their heads on it.”
The Bulldogs are particularly potent up front when Huels and Kane Osterhage find each other, something they did with regularity against the Corsairs.
Osterhage came into the game with a team-high 30 goals, but the senior midfielder also leads his team in assists with 18. He dished two more helpers in this one, both to Huels, whose three goals give him 30 for the season.
The two Ostherhage-to-Huels plays were carbon copies, coming either side of halftime on textbook crosses from the right side of the box for wide-open one-timers from short range.
“We’ve scored a lot of those with me going baseline and crossing it to Benny in the middle,” Osterhage said. “As the season’s gone on, we’ve been getting better and better, and we’re working great together now.”
The pair’s first combo play came with 4:43 left in the first half and broke a 1-1 tie. But the second proved to be the backbreaker, coming just 48 seconds after intermission to make it 3-1.
“We’ve been stressing that all season, the first 10 minutes at the beginning of the game and the beginning of a half,” Waterloo coach Chad Holden said. “It’s gone against us a couple times too.
“I think we’ve learned from that and realized that if you can control the first 10 minutes and get a good result out of it, you’re going to be in good shape.”
The Bulldogs certainly are in good shape when Huels and Osterhage are on the same page, which they usually are.
“Me and Kane had good chemistry up top,” Huels said. “Every time he went to the corner we knew where each other were. He had some great passes, and I just found a way to finish them. They were perfect.”
The same could be said of the game’s opening goal, which Huels scored in vastly different fashion at the 26:11 mark of the first half.
Senior defender Chase Rubemeyer boomed a 45-yard free kick into the middle of the Carmel penalty area. Carmel sophomore goalkeeper Kyle Knauer came out to play it but it went over his head to Huels, who timed his run and his leap perfectly and headed it home.
“I knew the wind was coming in and as soon as (the kick) went up I turned around, and I put my head up and the ball was just right there for me,” Huels said. “I didn’t even see the keeper. I just knew where it was going to be and I just finished it.”
Carmel was far from finished. Knauer, who made seven saves, denied Huels on a breakaway by diving to parry a shot around the right post eight minutes later, a play that seemed to spark the Corsairs, who got the equalizer three minutes after that.
Braco Lasso’s lead pass from midfield sprung Austin Ehren on a breakaway, which the sophomore promptly converted into his 27th goal of the season as his shot beat onrushing Waterloo goalie Trevor Coplin.
Long balls are a forte of the Corsairs, who generated most of what few chances they had on such plays. Coplin had denied Ehren in the fourth minute by racing out of his box to take the ball off Ehren’s foot, then dribbled up the right wing all the way to midfield before getting rid of it.
Carmel’s strategy was a bit of a surprise to Waterloo, which had never played the Corsairs.
“I thought we did a great job,” Holden said. “We’ve been a possession team all year. We thought they would be a little more possession.
“That’s the beauty of this tournament, seeing schools that you don’t ever, ever see. I think it kind of took us a little bit by surprise with the long ball because they were doing it quite a bit, but with that back four it’s hard to get anything behind those guys.
“So once they started doing that, we started to stop their midfielders from doing the through ball or even the switching of the field, and we felt pretty confident that we’d be all right.”
They were. After Ehren scored, the Corsairs did not get another shot on frame until midway through the second half. Coplin finished with five saves, just two of which came in the second half. One was a kick save on a deflected free kick with 4:20 remaining that proved to be Carmel’s last gasp.
“Our defense did a great job,” Huels said. “We knew all they were going to do was play long ball so our defense – ‘Rubes’, Cole (Kaiping), Griffin (Lenhardt) and Drew (Marshall) – did a great job and Philip (Most) and (Dawson) Holden did a great job dealing with second balls.”
Krawzak was impressed by that effort.
“They’re beatable, but we didn’t do it today,” Krawzak said. “If you want to beat that team you have to win more 50-50 balls than we did today.
“We always do a nice job of executing on counterattacks and set pieces. We didn’t put any set pieces away, obviously, but those counterattacks (failed because) that third goal that they scored basically allowed them to man-mark Austin and neutralize his speed.
“Had we scored first in the second half, things would have been changed. If we had tied it up I certainly think we could have won the game.”
The Corsairs didn’t do that but Krawzak said his players acquitted themselves well in their state finals debut.
“Like I just said to the guys in the locker room, I’ve never been this proud of a group of guys ever,” Krawzak said. “I know everybody feels badly right now, but we’ve just got to reflect on the season and know that we’ve had so much success and such a good time.”
And it was a good time.
“I’m sad that we lost but it was really cool for my first year being up on varsity to have this experience,” Knauer said. “It was a really cool experience with all the fans supporting us.
“We knew we were going to have a lot (of fans) but I didn’t know that we were going to have that many. They really turned out for us and supported us.”
The Carmel student section has another opportunity to cheer the Corsairs to a season-ending victory Saturday.
“You don’t get the chance to end the season on a win most of the time, and we get that right now, so it’s another great opportunity for us,” Krawzak said. “If we get our attitude in the right spot, we can win tomorrow.”
Starting lineups
Carmel
G Kyle Knauer
D Brett Cloe
D Ryan McKernan
D Chris Galla
M Rob Rao
M Josh Grzesiak
M Braco Lasso
M Reed Wilson
F Devon Cole
F Scott Cloe
F Austin Ehren
Waterloo
G Trevor Coplin
D Cole Kaiping
D Griffin Lenhardt
D Drew Marshall
D Chase Rubemeyer
M Kane Osterhage
M Ethan Lewis
M Dawson Holden
M Philip Most
M Tyler Grob
F Ben Huels
Man of the Match – Ben Huels, F, Waterloo
Junior's hat trick earns Bulldogs spot in Class 2A title game
By Matt Le Cren
HOFFMAN ESTATES – The public address announcer at the IHSA state finals drew laughs and stares for consistently mispronouncing Carmel's name Friday.
But that was the least of the Corsairs concerns. Carmel (accent on first syllable, not the second) had far more trouble trying to contain Waterloo star Ben Huels, who spoiled the Mundelein school’s state semifinal debut by scoring a hat trick to lift Waterloo to a 3-1 victory.
Waterloo (24-3-1) advances to the Class 2A championship game, where it will face nationally ranked Notre Dame (Peoria) (22-1-3) at 1 p.m. Saturday.
Carmel (18-8-1), which already was assured of taking home the first state trophy in program history, plays Washington in the third place match at 11 a.m.
“That wasn’t the best game we’ve played,” Carmel coach Ray Krawzak said. “It would have been nice to play our best, but that team was very talented; they were on.
“We knew they had the size and the speed, and they were a nice physical team. They also had technique on the ball that shouldn’t be overlooked. They do a nice job moving the ball while switching the field, playing to corners and getting their heads on it.”
The Bulldogs are particularly potent up front when Huels and Kane Osterhage find each other, something they did with regularity against the Corsairs.
Osterhage came into the game with a team-high 30 goals, but the senior midfielder also leads his team in assists with 18. He dished two more helpers in this one, both to Huels, whose three goals give him 30 for the season.
The two Ostherhage-to-Huels plays were carbon copies, coming either side of halftime on textbook crosses from the right side of the box for wide-open one-timers from short range.
“We’ve scored a lot of those with me going baseline and crossing it to Benny in the middle,” Osterhage said. “As the season’s gone on, we’ve been getting better and better, and we’re working great together now.”
The pair’s first combo play came with 4:43 left in the first half and broke a 1-1 tie. But the second proved to be the backbreaker, coming just 48 seconds after intermission to make it 3-1.
“We’ve been stressing that all season, the first 10 minutes at the beginning of the game and the beginning of a half,” Waterloo coach Chad Holden said. “It’s gone against us a couple times too.
“I think we’ve learned from that and realized that if you can control the first 10 minutes and get a good result out of it, you’re going to be in good shape.”
The Bulldogs certainly are in good shape when Huels and Osterhage are on the same page, which they usually are.
“Me and Kane had good chemistry up top,” Huels said. “Every time he went to the corner we knew where each other were. He had some great passes, and I just found a way to finish them. They were perfect.”
The same could be said of the game’s opening goal, which Huels scored in vastly different fashion at the 26:11 mark of the first half.
Senior defender Chase Rubemeyer boomed a 45-yard free kick into the middle of the Carmel penalty area. Carmel sophomore goalkeeper Kyle Knauer came out to play it but it went over his head to Huels, who timed his run and his leap perfectly and headed it home.
“I knew the wind was coming in and as soon as (the kick) went up I turned around, and I put my head up and the ball was just right there for me,” Huels said. “I didn’t even see the keeper. I just knew where it was going to be and I just finished it.”
Carmel was far from finished. Knauer, who made seven saves, denied Huels on a breakaway by diving to parry a shot around the right post eight minutes later, a play that seemed to spark the Corsairs, who got the equalizer three minutes after that.
Braco Lasso’s lead pass from midfield sprung Austin Ehren on a breakaway, which the sophomore promptly converted into his 27th goal of the season as his shot beat onrushing Waterloo goalie Trevor Coplin.
Long balls are a forte of the Corsairs, who generated most of what few chances they had on such plays. Coplin had denied Ehren in the fourth minute by racing out of his box to take the ball off Ehren’s foot, then dribbled up the right wing all the way to midfield before getting rid of it.
Carmel’s strategy was a bit of a surprise to Waterloo, which had never played the Corsairs.
“I thought we did a great job,” Holden said. “We’ve been a possession team all year. We thought they would be a little more possession.
“That’s the beauty of this tournament, seeing schools that you don’t ever, ever see. I think it kind of took us a little bit by surprise with the long ball because they were doing it quite a bit, but with that back four it’s hard to get anything behind those guys.
“So once they started doing that, we started to stop their midfielders from doing the through ball or even the switching of the field, and we felt pretty confident that we’d be all right.”
They were. After Ehren scored, the Corsairs did not get another shot on frame until midway through the second half. Coplin finished with five saves, just two of which came in the second half. One was a kick save on a deflected free kick with 4:20 remaining that proved to be Carmel’s last gasp.
“Our defense did a great job,” Huels said. “We knew all they were going to do was play long ball so our defense – ‘Rubes’, Cole (Kaiping), Griffin (Lenhardt) and Drew (Marshall) – did a great job and Philip (Most) and (Dawson) Holden did a great job dealing with second balls.”
Krawzak was impressed by that effort.
“They’re beatable, but we didn’t do it today,” Krawzak said. “If you want to beat that team you have to win more 50-50 balls than we did today.
“We always do a nice job of executing on counterattacks and set pieces. We didn’t put any set pieces away, obviously, but those counterattacks (failed because) that third goal that they scored basically allowed them to man-mark Austin and neutralize his speed.
“Had we scored first in the second half, things would have been changed. If we had tied it up I certainly think we could have won the game.”
The Corsairs didn’t do that but Krawzak said his players acquitted themselves well in their state finals debut.
“Like I just said to the guys in the locker room, I’ve never been this proud of a group of guys ever,” Krawzak said. “I know everybody feels badly right now, but we’ve just got to reflect on the season and know that we’ve had so much success and such a good time.”
And it was a good time.
“I’m sad that we lost but it was really cool for my first year being up on varsity to have this experience,” Knauer said. “It was a really cool experience with all the fans supporting us.
“We knew we were going to have a lot (of fans) but I didn’t know that we were going to have that many. They really turned out for us and supported us.”
The Carmel student section has another opportunity to cheer the Corsairs to a season-ending victory Saturday.
“You don’t get the chance to end the season on a win most of the time, and we get that right now, so it’s another great opportunity for us,” Krawzak said. “If we get our attitude in the right spot, we can win tomorrow.”
Starting lineups
Carmel
G Kyle Knauer
D Brett Cloe
D Ryan McKernan
D Chris Galla
M Rob Rao
M Josh Grzesiak
M Braco Lasso
M Reed Wilson
F Devon Cole
F Scott Cloe
F Austin Ehren
Waterloo
G Trevor Coplin
D Cole Kaiping
D Griffin Lenhardt
D Drew Marshall
D Chase Rubemeyer
M Kane Osterhage
M Ethan Lewis
M Dawson Holden
M Philip Most
M Tyler Grob
F Ben Huels
Man of the Match – Ben Huels, F, Waterloo