Wheaton North, Schurz show
promise in season-opener
North controls game, but late Schurz PK leads to 1-1 tie
By Matt Le Cren
WHEATON – Wheaton North found out the kids can play.
First-year Schurz coach Henry Gomez found out that Dennis Guevara likes taking penalty kicks.
Those facts led to a 1-1 tie in the seasonal debut of both squads.
The host Falcons, who have 14 first-year varsity players on their roster, controlled much of the action Monday, but Guevara converted a penalty kick with 1:05 remaining in the second half to salvage a draw at Rexilius Field.
“It’s a lesson learned,” said Wheaton North co-captain Jake Dzarnowski, who scored the Falcons' goal. “It’s what we get for not putting away the game, but it’s our first game playing together.
“Only eight of us have played together, so I think it’s going to be a really good season for us. This is a promising start.”
And one that appeared would open with a victory for the Falcons.
But Schurz senior Daniel Rivera was tripped in the box by a Wheaton North defender, who was carded on the play.
Guevara, a senior midfielder, strode to the dot and blasted the ensuing penalty past Falcons goalkeeper Max Chambers in emphatic fashion.
“No nerves, no nothing right there,” Guevara said. “I gave it my all and boom, goal for the tie.
“I actually got surprised that we actually got a PK for that one. Thank God for our tie.”
But the penalty call was a correct one. Rivera would have had a wide-open shot from 10 yards away if he hadn’t been taken down.
“The kid who gave away a penalty felt terrible, but that’s life,” Wheaton North coach Rob Stassen said. “He clips him today; next time he misses him.
“(Rivera) was so talented, he would have buried it in a heartbeat.”
Instead, it was Guevara who did the honors, surprising both coaches with the ferociousness of his shot.
“He drilled it,” Gomez said. “It’s been barely 12 days that I’ve been working with these boys, so PKs was the last thing that we would practice.
“We’re trying to figure out each other, but he had confidence in himself and he pulled it through.”
Stassen could only applaud the effort.
“Boy, he buried that thing,” Stassen said. “He nearly ripped the net off the back.”
The Falcons nearly found the back of the net multiple times, working together well to create scoring opportunities.
But Dzarnowski was the only one to capitalize. The junior midfielder ran under a cross from Alex Beausoleil and chipped a header over Schurz goalkeeper Rodolfo Roman.
The ball rolled into the net with 35:52 left in the second half for a 1-0 Wheaton North lead.
“It just came, and it was awkward,” said Dzarnowski, who is playing with a cast on his left arm after breaking his wrist in June. “It was either, ‘I can trap this or I can just go for it.’ So I just went for it, and it went in.”
The play was the most productive of a string of attacks during a sustained 25 minutes of promising play by the Falcons, who had a frank discussion after mustering only three shots in the first half.
“As a team we talked about what we were seeing, so we talked about where we were finding the openings,” Dzarnowski said. “We noticed that they were playing a high line so we sunk to the space in between.
“Everyone pitched in to say what they were noticing, so we were all on the same page. We decided to get the ball forward, because in the first half we were passing it around a lot more in the back.
“We barely had any shots in the first half. But in the second we fixed that, and I thought we played really well.”
Stassen agreed even though the Falcons could not get a second goal. Schurz's Roman made all five of his saves in the final 30 minutes and several other promising forays ended with a missed pass or off-target shot.
“When we started to get the flow and get movement, we looked great,” Stassen said. “I think we were just missing the target, just missing that last touch. We’re getting our timing down, which is going to come.
“We did what teenagers do, which is we see 80 minutes on the clock but we play 75, and we got burned.”
But Stassen was not disappointed, given the quality and unfamiliarity of the opponent.
“This was our first test and (the Bulldogs) were great,” Stassen said. “Technically they kept up, and they competed, and they kept us on our toes.”
The Bulldogs said the same about the Falcons.
“They had a really good defense,” Guevara said. “We gave our all, strategically and physically, with passing and crossing and shooting as well as we could do and we pulled it off.
“It wasn’t just my effort. I congratulate my whole team and my coach for putting us (in position) to shoot on goal. We just gave it our all.”
Except for Guevara’s penalty, the Bulldogs rarely got close to the Wheaton North net. Starting goalkeeper Harrison Thompson made a nice diving save on Jason Tarcea late in the first half before giving way to Chambers, who made three routine stops after intermission.
“We played very good defense,” said Wheaton North sophomore defender Jack Tegart, who earned Chicagoland Soccer's Man of the Match honor in his varsity debut. “We did a good job of moving it around in back quickly. And even when they did get up the field, we didn’t let them get in the middle of the (final) third. They had to take shots from far out.”
Tegart enjoyed his first taste of varsity action.
“It was definitely fun,” Tegart said. “It was also interesting.
“There was a lot of excitement at the beginning of the game, which was good. I think we played good overall, except for the very end. Other than that, I’m looking forward to a good season.”
So, it would seem is Schurz, who with 14 seniors are a more seasoned bunch than the Falcons.
“It was a good friendly game and a good test for us,” Guevara said. “It showed a lot of us that we’re going to have good chemistry this season.”
Gomez, who is in his first year coaching at the varsity level, welcomed the road trip to play a tough suburban opponent before the Chicago Public League season begins.
“It’s always a great opportunity to take advantage of these games,” Gomez said. “There’s great talent in the city and the suburbs, so just exposing city players to the suburbs sets the tone for the rest of the season, that every game is going to be as difficult if not more than what we had today.”
Starting lineups
Schurz
GK Rodolfo Roman
D Osvaldo Alvarez
D Armando Avila
D Julian Garcia
D Bajram Teli
M Brian Cruz
M Dennis Guevara
M Daniel Rivera
M Fahd Filaoui
F Mario Palacios
F Jason Tarcea
Wheaton North
GK Harrison Thompson
D Michael Pfaff
D Jack Tegart
D Nathan Heyen
D Carlos Saavedra
M Jack Prendiville
M Jake Dzarnowski
M Jack Morrisey
M Konrad Rozanski
F Aniel Patel
F Joe Gaither
Man of the Match: Jake Tegart, D, Wheaton North.
promise in season-opener
North controls game, but late Schurz PK leads to 1-1 tie
By Matt Le Cren
WHEATON – Wheaton North found out the kids can play.
First-year Schurz coach Henry Gomez found out that Dennis Guevara likes taking penalty kicks.
Those facts led to a 1-1 tie in the seasonal debut of both squads.
The host Falcons, who have 14 first-year varsity players on their roster, controlled much of the action Monday, but Guevara converted a penalty kick with 1:05 remaining in the second half to salvage a draw at Rexilius Field.
“It’s a lesson learned,” said Wheaton North co-captain Jake Dzarnowski, who scored the Falcons' goal. “It’s what we get for not putting away the game, but it’s our first game playing together.
“Only eight of us have played together, so I think it’s going to be a really good season for us. This is a promising start.”
And one that appeared would open with a victory for the Falcons.
But Schurz senior Daniel Rivera was tripped in the box by a Wheaton North defender, who was carded on the play.
Guevara, a senior midfielder, strode to the dot and blasted the ensuing penalty past Falcons goalkeeper Max Chambers in emphatic fashion.
“No nerves, no nothing right there,” Guevara said. “I gave it my all and boom, goal for the tie.
“I actually got surprised that we actually got a PK for that one. Thank God for our tie.”
But the penalty call was a correct one. Rivera would have had a wide-open shot from 10 yards away if he hadn’t been taken down.
“The kid who gave away a penalty felt terrible, but that’s life,” Wheaton North coach Rob Stassen said. “He clips him today; next time he misses him.
“(Rivera) was so talented, he would have buried it in a heartbeat.”
Instead, it was Guevara who did the honors, surprising both coaches with the ferociousness of his shot.
“He drilled it,” Gomez said. “It’s been barely 12 days that I’ve been working with these boys, so PKs was the last thing that we would practice.
“We’re trying to figure out each other, but he had confidence in himself and he pulled it through.”
Stassen could only applaud the effort.
“Boy, he buried that thing,” Stassen said. “He nearly ripped the net off the back.”
The Falcons nearly found the back of the net multiple times, working together well to create scoring opportunities.
But Dzarnowski was the only one to capitalize. The junior midfielder ran under a cross from Alex Beausoleil and chipped a header over Schurz goalkeeper Rodolfo Roman.
The ball rolled into the net with 35:52 left in the second half for a 1-0 Wheaton North lead.
“It just came, and it was awkward,” said Dzarnowski, who is playing with a cast on his left arm after breaking his wrist in June. “It was either, ‘I can trap this or I can just go for it.’ So I just went for it, and it went in.”
The play was the most productive of a string of attacks during a sustained 25 minutes of promising play by the Falcons, who had a frank discussion after mustering only three shots in the first half.
“As a team we talked about what we were seeing, so we talked about where we were finding the openings,” Dzarnowski said. “We noticed that they were playing a high line so we sunk to the space in between.
“Everyone pitched in to say what they were noticing, so we were all on the same page. We decided to get the ball forward, because in the first half we were passing it around a lot more in the back.
“We barely had any shots in the first half. But in the second we fixed that, and I thought we played really well.”
Stassen agreed even though the Falcons could not get a second goal. Schurz's Roman made all five of his saves in the final 30 minutes and several other promising forays ended with a missed pass or off-target shot.
“When we started to get the flow and get movement, we looked great,” Stassen said. “I think we were just missing the target, just missing that last touch. We’re getting our timing down, which is going to come.
“We did what teenagers do, which is we see 80 minutes on the clock but we play 75, and we got burned.”
But Stassen was not disappointed, given the quality and unfamiliarity of the opponent.
“This was our first test and (the Bulldogs) were great,” Stassen said. “Technically they kept up, and they competed, and they kept us on our toes.”
The Bulldogs said the same about the Falcons.
“They had a really good defense,” Guevara said. “We gave our all, strategically and physically, with passing and crossing and shooting as well as we could do and we pulled it off.
“It wasn’t just my effort. I congratulate my whole team and my coach for putting us (in position) to shoot on goal. We just gave it our all.”
Except for Guevara’s penalty, the Bulldogs rarely got close to the Wheaton North net. Starting goalkeeper Harrison Thompson made a nice diving save on Jason Tarcea late in the first half before giving way to Chambers, who made three routine stops after intermission.
“We played very good defense,” said Wheaton North sophomore defender Jack Tegart, who earned Chicagoland Soccer's Man of the Match honor in his varsity debut. “We did a good job of moving it around in back quickly. And even when they did get up the field, we didn’t let them get in the middle of the (final) third. They had to take shots from far out.”
Tegart enjoyed his first taste of varsity action.
“It was definitely fun,” Tegart said. “It was also interesting.
“There was a lot of excitement at the beginning of the game, which was good. I think we played good overall, except for the very end. Other than that, I’m looking forward to a good season.”
So, it would seem is Schurz, who with 14 seniors are a more seasoned bunch than the Falcons.
“It was a good friendly game and a good test for us,” Guevara said. “It showed a lot of us that we’re going to have good chemistry this season.”
Gomez, who is in his first year coaching at the varsity level, welcomed the road trip to play a tough suburban opponent before the Chicago Public League season begins.
“It’s always a great opportunity to take advantage of these games,” Gomez said. “There’s great talent in the city and the suburbs, so just exposing city players to the suburbs sets the tone for the rest of the season, that every game is going to be as difficult if not more than what we had today.”
Starting lineups
Schurz
GK Rodolfo Roman
D Osvaldo Alvarez
D Armando Avila
D Julian Garcia
D Bajram Teli
M Brian Cruz
M Dennis Guevara
M Daniel Rivera
M Fahd Filaoui
F Mario Palacios
F Jason Tarcea
Wheaton North
GK Harrison Thompson
D Michael Pfaff
D Jack Tegart
D Nathan Heyen
D Carlos Saavedra
M Jack Prendiville
M Jake Dzarnowski
M Jack Morrisey
M Konrad Rozanski
F Aniel Patel
F Joe Gaither
Man of the Match: Jake Tegart, D, Wheaton North.