Maine South earns top billing
over Deerfield in CSL spotlight
Hawks take title with Tyszka goal
By Dave Surico
PARK RIDGE -- It was a big night for big games in Chicagoland: the Cubs played in the wild card playoff, and the Hawks raised their latest Stanley Cup banner at their season-opener. But Wednesday at Maine South stadium, those games took a backseat to the Central Suburban League championship game.
North Division champ Deerfield, ranked no. 4 in the Chicagoland Soccer Top 25, met South champ and host Maine South. The 10th-ranked Hawks are a team that may have snuck up on people, but they won't any longer.
With an energy-laden effort bolstered by senior midfielder Nick Tyszka's goal in the 23rd minute, the Hawks went on to win the league crown 1-0.
Tyszka started and finished the play that decided the game. Near midfield, he pushed a perfect diagonal pass to the right sideline to classmate and team tri-captain Krystian Krypla.
Both midfielders knew exactly what to do from there.
On the wing, Krypla benefitted from intelligence work the team gathered.
"We watched them play Maine West on Monday, and it's something our coach (Dan States) pointed out," said Maine South's wingman of the night. "He (the defender) came to me. I just took him on, beat him with speed.
"I've had a lot of give-and-go crosses this season. I saw him (Tyszka) coming in, and I just placed it in, and he scored. Great finish."
Tyszka was on the receiving end because he too listened to States.
"It was something our coach was talking about, give-and-goes," said Tyszka, who earned Chicagoland Soccer Man of the Match honors for his second goal of the season and game-changing role.
"I played the ball to my teammate Krypla down the line, and then I just ran straight to the box like 20-30 yards. That's what coach wants. He wants us to crash the net and produce chances and get in there. And he also talks about getting it wide, which we like to do a lot."
The senior finished his run at the top of the six-yard box where he received the bouncing cross and placed it past defenseless Deerfield keeper Zach Zusman.
The action in the game made a u-turn after the score. Deerfield, which owned the majority of the possession in the first 20 minutes, lost it's edge.
"I felt we were in a good rhyhtm at the start of the game," said Warriors coach Elliott Hurtig. "We were knocking the ball around well, and I think we felt pretty confident.
'When they scored, it just felt like we lost our energy and our commitment to the game. And that was disappointing. We haven't been scored on a lot this year, and we have to be able to adjust and know that that should get us fired up and energized and ready to play harder. And it felt like after they scored, we just kind of lost our focus."
Maine South had a hand in that as it became more effective with its strategy to mark Deerfield star midfielder Nick Klabjan. Evan Koutavas and Ryan Thorsen were assigned the tough task.
"I had size over him," said Thorsen. "My goal was to push him backwards. I knew they'd get tired legs throughout the game. Just keep pushing on them and wait for them to lose team morale. That's kind of what happened."
Deerfield tried to shake things up by moving Klabjan to several other spots, including outside forward, but none worked.
"I still hung with him," Thorsen said. "I think it (the position change) ended up helping us as a team better, getting him out of the midfield, less involved. They weren't feeding him the ball up top as much. I thought they were going to push other guys forward and keep him attacking high, but he just stayed up there."
As the game wore on, the host Hawks controlled more and more of the play. A constant throughout was the stoic Maine South defense. It's only real blip was a near-miss header just over the crossbar from Deerfield defender and co-captain Will Schmetterer off a Klabjan corner just before the goal.
"Defensively we were solid the whole game," said Maine South big backliner and tri-captain David Aniol. "We're a very disciplined defense; we don't let in a lot of goals. It was a good game for us."
The numbers back up Aniol's claim. Maine South (12-1-6) has only allowed seven goals and been scored on in six games. The team is on a 16-game unbeaten streak and shares a similarity with no. 1-ranked Hinsdale Central -- neither team has lost to an in-state foe. The Hawks only loss came against Hickman (Mo.) in August in the Notre Dame (Quincy) Invitational. Hickman is currently ranked fifth in Missouri in one poll.
The effort led to a satisfied Maine South coach.
"We figured we were going to be in a tight defensive battle with these guys," States said. "They're well organized. They're well coached, disciplined. We knew they had some skilled players in the middle of the park. We did a nice job kind of bottling those guys up, preventing them from gaining a great deal of possession.
"Our guys worked at exactly what we wanted to do, and that was get the ball wide around the backside of them. We thought we could do that, and that's what ultimately led to the one goal in the game. Our guys were spirited tonight, and we were able to come out on top."
Emotions are high in Park Ridge and for good reason after the energic win. The Hawks want to playing together for as long as they can. How long?
"State," said Thorsen. "As a team we've been playing really well. We've got not just a couple of good guys, it's the whole team we can keep subbing in. We're a deep team, probably one of the best-conditioned teams.
"We can push teams. We're underestimated."
On the Deerfield side, the mood was somber. For a team that came in on a six-game unbeaten streak (5-0-1) and whose only blemish in its last 11 games was a road loss to Lyons in the PepsiCo Showdown semifinals, the reality of the defeat hit hard.
"We came into this game knowing what we were going to get," said goalkeeper Zach Zusman. "This was a good team. We just weren't able to persevere."
The senior kept the Warriors in the game with a charging stuff on sophomore Alessandro Corazzina's shot attempt from 10 yards out right of goal in the 49th minute and a diving glove save on Seamus Deely lined header aimed inside the near post 10 minutes later. Zusman tried to fire up his team from his line, his voice boomed thoughout the field to no avail.
"There were some spurts here and there seeing guys going hard into tackles, and I was trying to get that energy up, but it wasn't enough," he said. "I thought that their high pressure kind of kept us off guard, and we weren't able to play our game. Any balls into the box their center backs were taking them and heading them out really well."
Deerfield had a built-in excuse for the game. A mix-up in the school's transportation department left them without a bus. They arrived late and the game started 34 minutes after its scheduled kickoff.
But the Warriors would have none of that.
"Honestly I don't think it should ever be an excuse," said Schmetterer. "We were mentally prepared the moment we knew our bus was going to be late, and we would arrive late to the game. That's the time we need to start mentally preparing for the game. There's no excuse for it."
There are lessons that can be learned from a game that Deefield finished meekly, barely crossing midfield in the final 15 minutes.
"We had to find our own momentum and our own energy, and we were having a hard time doing that," Schmetterer said. "We're used to succeeding all the time, and when we get down, our energy is, all of a sudden, is just depleted. We've got to be able to get back from it.
"The past five or six games we've been winning all over the field, having great results, and tonight it fell apart. That was tough for our team. As a family it's something that we need to be able to bounce back from, and we have to figure out what it is that we can do to keep that energy high."
Deerfield lost starting midfielder/forward A.J. Simo to an apparent concussion in the 55th minute, and second-leading scorer Matt Record was compromised due to illness. Wednesday's bump in the road produced much to work on.
"I hope that this is a wake-up call that we can not just take the field and win the game," coach Hurtig said.
"It's a good test of our character. You've got to respond to a loss like this, dig in and work harder.
"Something we've been telling them is, to be in this situation is a gift. We've got a lot of seniors on this team, and it's a once-in-a-lifetime chance to really excel. And now that it's a step back, we'll see how we respond."
Starting lineups
Deerfield
GK: Zach Zusman
D: Evan Gerke
D: Will Schmetterer
D: Michael Such
D: Levi Goldstein
MF: Ari Patterson
MF: Seth Bornstein
MF: Nick Klabjan
F: Matt Record
F: Matt Grady
F: A.J. Simo
Maine South
GK: Glenn Gronke
D: Patrick Hopkins
D: Liam Pittges
D: David Aniol
D: Ethan Gebavi
MF: Ryan Thorsen
MF: Krystian Krypla
MF: Ryan Bull
MF: Szymon Glab
F: Philip Mierzwa
F: Alessandro Corazzina
Man of the Match: Nick Tyszka, MF, Maine South
Officials: Tim Reger (center); Pete McHugh; Dana Joras
over Deerfield in CSL spotlight
Hawks take title with Tyszka goal
By Dave Surico
PARK RIDGE -- It was a big night for big games in Chicagoland: the Cubs played in the wild card playoff, and the Hawks raised their latest Stanley Cup banner at their season-opener. But Wednesday at Maine South stadium, those games took a backseat to the Central Suburban League championship game.
North Division champ Deerfield, ranked no. 4 in the Chicagoland Soccer Top 25, met South champ and host Maine South. The 10th-ranked Hawks are a team that may have snuck up on people, but they won't any longer.
With an energy-laden effort bolstered by senior midfielder Nick Tyszka's goal in the 23rd minute, the Hawks went on to win the league crown 1-0.
Tyszka started and finished the play that decided the game. Near midfield, he pushed a perfect diagonal pass to the right sideline to classmate and team tri-captain Krystian Krypla.
Both midfielders knew exactly what to do from there.
On the wing, Krypla benefitted from intelligence work the team gathered.
"We watched them play Maine West on Monday, and it's something our coach (Dan States) pointed out," said Maine South's wingman of the night. "He (the defender) came to me. I just took him on, beat him with speed.
"I've had a lot of give-and-go crosses this season. I saw him (Tyszka) coming in, and I just placed it in, and he scored. Great finish."
Tyszka was on the receiving end because he too listened to States.
"It was something our coach was talking about, give-and-goes," said Tyszka, who earned Chicagoland Soccer Man of the Match honors for his second goal of the season and game-changing role.
"I played the ball to my teammate Krypla down the line, and then I just ran straight to the box like 20-30 yards. That's what coach wants. He wants us to crash the net and produce chances and get in there. And he also talks about getting it wide, which we like to do a lot."
The senior finished his run at the top of the six-yard box where he received the bouncing cross and placed it past defenseless Deerfield keeper Zach Zusman.
The action in the game made a u-turn after the score. Deerfield, which owned the majority of the possession in the first 20 minutes, lost it's edge.
"I felt we were in a good rhyhtm at the start of the game," said Warriors coach Elliott Hurtig. "We were knocking the ball around well, and I think we felt pretty confident.
'When they scored, it just felt like we lost our energy and our commitment to the game. And that was disappointing. We haven't been scored on a lot this year, and we have to be able to adjust and know that that should get us fired up and energized and ready to play harder. And it felt like after they scored, we just kind of lost our focus."
Maine South had a hand in that as it became more effective with its strategy to mark Deerfield star midfielder Nick Klabjan. Evan Koutavas and Ryan Thorsen were assigned the tough task.
"I had size over him," said Thorsen. "My goal was to push him backwards. I knew they'd get tired legs throughout the game. Just keep pushing on them and wait for them to lose team morale. That's kind of what happened."
Deerfield tried to shake things up by moving Klabjan to several other spots, including outside forward, but none worked.
"I still hung with him," Thorsen said. "I think it (the position change) ended up helping us as a team better, getting him out of the midfield, less involved. They weren't feeding him the ball up top as much. I thought they were going to push other guys forward and keep him attacking high, but he just stayed up there."
As the game wore on, the host Hawks controlled more and more of the play. A constant throughout was the stoic Maine South defense. It's only real blip was a near-miss header just over the crossbar from Deerfield defender and co-captain Will Schmetterer off a Klabjan corner just before the goal.
"Defensively we were solid the whole game," said Maine South big backliner and tri-captain David Aniol. "We're a very disciplined defense; we don't let in a lot of goals. It was a good game for us."
The numbers back up Aniol's claim. Maine South (12-1-6) has only allowed seven goals and been scored on in six games. The team is on a 16-game unbeaten streak and shares a similarity with no. 1-ranked Hinsdale Central -- neither team has lost to an in-state foe. The Hawks only loss came against Hickman (Mo.) in August in the Notre Dame (Quincy) Invitational. Hickman is currently ranked fifth in Missouri in one poll.
The effort led to a satisfied Maine South coach.
"We figured we were going to be in a tight defensive battle with these guys," States said. "They're well organized. They're well coached, disciplined. We knew they had some skilled players in the middle of the park. We did a nice job kind of bottling those guys up, preventing them from gaining a great deal of possession.
"Our guys worked at exactly what we wanted to do, and that was get the ball wide around the backside of them. We thought we could do that, and that's what ultimately led to the one goal in the game. Our guys were spirited tonight, and we were able to come out on top."
Emotions are high in Park Ridge and for good reason after the energic win. The Hawks want to playing together for as long as they can. How long?
"State," said Thorsen. "As a team we've been playing really well. We've got not just a couple of good guys, it's the whole team we can keep subbing in. We're a deep team, probably one of the best-conditioned teams.
"We can push teams. We're underestimated."
On the Deerfield side, the mood was somber. For a team that came in on a six-game unbeaten streak (5-0-1) and whose only blemish in its last 11 games was a road loss to Lyons in the PepsiCo Showdown semifinals, the reality of the defeat hit hard.
"We came into this game knowing what we were going to get," said goalkeeper Zach Zusman. "This was a good team. We just weren't able to persevere."
The senior kept the Warriors in the game with a charging stuff on sophomore Alessandro Corazzina's shot attempt from 10 yards out right of goal in the 49th minute and a diving glove save on Seamus Deely lined header aimed inside the near post 10 minutes later. Zusman tried to fire up his team from his line, his voice boomed thoughout the field to no avail.
"There were some spurts here and there seeing guys going hard into tackles, and I was trying to get that energy up, but it wasn't enough," he said. "I thought that their high pressure kind of kept us off guard, and we weren't able to play our game. Any balls into the box their center backs were taking them and heading them out really well."
Deerfield had a built-in excuse for the game. A mix-up in the school's transportation department left them without a bus. They arrived late and the game started 34 minutes after its scheduled kickoff.
But the Warriors would have none of that.
"Honestly I don't think it should ever be an excuse," said Schmetterer. "We were mentally prepared the moment we knew our bus was going to be late, and we would arrive late to the game. That's the time we need to start mentally preparing for the game. There's no excuse for it."
There are lessons that can be learned from a game that Deefield finished meekly, barely crossing midfield in the final 15 minutes.
"We had to find our own momentum and our own energy, and we were having a hard time doing that," Schmetterer said. "We're used to succeeding all the time, and when we get down, our energy is, all of a sudden, is just depleted. We've got to be able to get back from it.
"The past five or six games we've been winning all over the field, having great results, and tonight it fell apart. That was tough for our team. As a family it's something that we need to be able to bounce back from, and we have to figure out what it is that we can do to keep that energy high."
Deerfield lost starting midfielder/forward A.J. Simo to an apparent concussion in the 55th minute, and second-leading scorer Matt Record was compromised due to illness. Wednesday's bump in the road produced much to work on.
"I hope that this is a wake-up call that we can not just take the field and win the game," coach Hurtig said.
"It's a good test of our character. You've got to respond to a loss like this, dig in and work harder.
"Something we've been telling them is, to be in this situation is a gift. We've got a lot of seniors on this team, and it's a once-in-a-lifetime chance to really excel. And now that it's a step back, we'll see how we respond."
Starting lineups
Deerfield
GK: Zach Zusman
D: Evan Gerke
D: Will Schmetterer
D: Michael Such
D: Levi Goldstein
MF: Ari Patterson
MF: Seth Bornstein
MF: Nick Klabjan
F: Matt Record
F: Matt Grady
F: A.J. Simo
Maine South
GK: Glenn Gronke
D: Patrick Hopkins
D: Liam Pittges
D: David Aniol
D: Ethan Gebavi
MF: Ryan Thorsen
MF: Krystian Krypla
MF: Ryan Bull
MF: Szymon Glab
F: Philip Mierzwa
F: Alessandro Corazzina
Man of the Match: Nick Tyszka, MF, Maine South
Officials: Tim Reger (center); Pete McHugh; Dana Joras
