West Chicago rally topples
Wheaton Warrenville South
Tigers fall to .500 after 2nd-straight loss
By Chris Walker
WEST CHICAGO – Unlike DuPage Valley Conference teams Naperville Central, Naperville North, Neuqua Valley and crosstown rival Wheaton North, Wheaton Warrenville South hasn’t seen quite as much game action yet.
While the aforementioned teams have played at least 9-10 games already, the Tigers took the field for only the sixth time Tuesday night when they resumed play in a PepsiCo Showdown consolation pool game against West Chicago.
The Wildcats weren’t the friendliest hosts as they scored twice in the final 10 minutes to beat the Tigers 2-1.
“At this point in this tournament, we’re looking to become seasoned a little bit and to gain some familiarity with each other and how we’ll respond to certain situations,” Wheaton Warrenville South coach Guy Callipari said. “I don’t mind trying to play from behind and don’t mind playing with leads at this time. There are a lot of things we can teach that hopefully down the road will help us.”
Callipari explained that it’s going to take some time for this year’s team to piece things together. Without the depth of some of the other squads in the DVC, they just don’t have the numbers right now and are simply trying to figure out things. And a tournament like this affords them that opportunity.
“We would not be able to survive the rigor of some other tournament (like the Best of the West),” he said. “When you try to be competitive and go long with the people you think that you need to play to maintain that competitiveness, you can subject yourself to injuring players and then not having what you need when it’s going to matter most.”
Forward Charlie Kerby has already scored six goals. He was blanked Tuesday but was moved in the back in another one of the personnel variations that the Tigers have toyed with as they try to figure things out this fall.
“We’re still finding out our identity,” Kerby said. “I think it’ll take a couple more games at most. I think we’re almost there because every game we seem to be getting better. We should be good to go by the time playoffs are here, but hopefully it’ll come sooner.”
Wheaton Warrenville South (3-3-0) lost 5-1 to Waukegan in its PepsiCo opener Saturday.
“I’m much happier with how we played tonight, because we had a poor effort against Waukegan,” Kerby said. “This was us almost playing the whole game. We didn’t finish out, but we had a good effort. It stings to lose like this but hopefully with this sting we can get a little bit more of effort to get a win on Thursday.”
Neither team really threatened in the first half, but the Wildcats had the best scoring chance with just under two minutes left before halftime.
West Chicago forward Israel Barrios looked to take advantage when Tigers goalkeeper Nathan Friedle came out too far to defend and left the net open. But Wheaton Warrenville South had a trio of defenders to thwart Barrios’ effort to end the half scoreless.
The Tigers didn’t waste any time breaking the shutout in the second half. Marcos Barrios scored just 31 seconds into play.
“We need someone else to share the burden of impacting the offense in the final third so that was nice to see from Marcos,” Callipari said. “He finally just said ‘I’m going to hit it from this angle,’ and there’s no such thing as a bad angle, and he did a nice job with the finishing.”
Carlos Rosas nearly gave Wheaton Warrenville South a 2-0 lead but was unlucky.
The 1-0 lead ultimately led to the Tigers’ demise. They found themselves playing on their heels a bit, while the Wildcats eventually regrouped and really turned on their offense.
“It was a matter of tracking assignments on both goals, one near post and one off the bar,” Callipari said. “They had the willingness to go forward and make something happen. For us to say ‘It won’t happen,’ and then it does happen, you then begin to question yourself later. So we’ll look at the video, but they’re a good team and that’s a great win for them, obviously in terms of motivating them on to their next affair on Thursday.”
Midway through the second half, West Chicago's Eduardo Suarez found some room and blasted a liner shot, but right at Friedle. He was able to secure possession, but it seemed to start a trend. The Tigers goalie and backline became extremely busy with the ball in and around them for nearly all of the final 20 minutes.
Friedle made a wonderful diving save with a little more than eight minutes left, but Misael Parra’s header off a free-kick with 7:28 left knotted the score at 1-1.
The Wildcats had two other solid scoring chances that misfired before Arturo Marquez scored an opportunistic goal, his first of the season.
On that go-ahead goal, Guillermo Orizaba fired a shot a little too high, but it caught enough of the lower side of the cross bar that it caromed back in front of the net. It was there that Marquez, Chicagoland Soccer's Man of the Match, secured possession and quickly redirected it for the game-winning goal.
“Once we got the first one we knew we had to get that second one,” Marquez said. “Being at home, we didn’t want to lose. We wanted to show that we wanted to win. I got a good opportunity, so I couldn’t miss it. It was an amazing feeling. I’m glad it was in the net, and that we won it for the Wildcats.”
West Chicago coach Jose Villa was enthusiastic about how well the Wildcats (3-2-3) played, especially as the game wore on.
“We talked about being able to have our main guy up-top stay up higher to create more space and opportunities in the second half,” he said. “That second goal was an example of just that. We had more space, and we had two opportunities there.”
Despite the loss, Wheaton Warrenville South likes the direction its headed, especially with some personnel moves at different places on the field. They also played without Adam Kelly, one of the team’s leading defenders. His return will certainly prove beneficial.
“It was a spirited game, and it was open in many areas,” Callipari said. “They have very good technical ability, and we just had to be patient and defense is about discipline and taking away the space they’re trying to get into. I thought we did a pretty job of frustrating them for most of the evening, and then they pushed numbers forward.
“For us, we just have to continue to learn,” he said. “We’re going to be competitive with most of the teams we play, but whether or not we have the horses to play a full 80 (minutes) seems to be a question right now.”
Despite surrendering the two late goals, Kerby was extremely pleased with how the Tigers played defensively with Will Buxon, Jackson Kreske, Gabby Lazcano, Chris Stamatopoulos and Ethan Weseman stepping up along with midfielders Fabian Aranda, Noah Kettle and Barios.
“I thought our defensive effort was very good,” he said. “We were well organized and the midfielders did a good job of helping us through it. That’s something that’s been on and off throughout the season so being much more organized as a team was helpful and will help us in the long run.”
Starting lineups
Wheaton Warrenville South
GK Nathan Friedle
D Will Buxton
D Jackson Kreske
D Gabby Lazcano
D Chris Stamatopoulos
D Ethan Weseman
M Fabian Aranda
M Marcos Barrios
M Noah Kettle
F Carlos Rosas
F Charlie Kerby
West Chicago
GK Salvador Tamayo
D Renato Bonilla
D Jose Correa
D Brian Salinas
M Jair Martinez
M Guillermo Orizaba
M Misael Parra
M Ari Tellez
F Edwin Alanis
F Fabian Medina
F Eduardo Suarez
Man of the Match – Arturo Marquez, F, West Chicago
Wheaton Warrenville South
Tigers fall to .500 after 2nd-straight loss
By Chris Walker
WEST CHICAGO – Unlike DuPage Valley Conference teams Naperville Central, Naperville North, Neuqua Valley and crosstown rival Wheaton North, Wheaton Warrenville South hasn’t seen quite as much game action yet.
While the aforementioned teams have played at least 9-10 games already, the Tigers took the field for only the sixth time Tuesday night when they resumed play in a PepsiCo Showdown consolation pool game against West Chicago.
The Wildcats weren’t the friendliest hosts as they scored twice in the final 10 minutes to beat the Tigers 2-1.
“At this point in this tournament, we’re looking to become seasoned a little bit and to gain some familiarity with each other and how we’ll respond to certain situations,” Wheaton Warrenville South coach Guy Callipari said. “I don’t mind trying to play from behind and don’t mind playing with leads at this time. There are a lot of things we can teach that hopefully down the road will help us.”
Callipari explained that it’s going to take some time for this year’s team to piece things together. Without the depth of some of the other squads in the DVC, they just don’t have the numbers right now and are simply trying to figure out things. And a tournament like this affords them that opportunity.
“We would not be able to survive the rigor of some other tournament (like the Best of the West),” he said. “When you try to be competitive and go long with the people you think that you need to play to maintain that competitiveness, you can subject yourself to injuring players and then not having what you need when it’s going to matter most.”
Forward Charlie Kerby has already scored six goals. He was blanked Tuesday but was moved in the back in another one of the personnel variations that the Tigers have toyed with as they try to figure things out this fall.
“We’re still finding out our identity,” Kerby said. “I think it’ll take a couple more games at most. I think we’re almost there because every game we seem to be getting better. We should be good to go by the time playoffs are here, but hopefully it’ll come sooner.”
Wheaton Warrenville South (3-3-0) lost 5-1 to Waukegan in its PepsiCo opener Saturday.
“I’m much happier with how we played tonight, because we had a poor effort against Waukegan,” Kerby said. “This was us almost playing the whole game. We didn’t finish out, but we had a good effort. It stings to lose like this but hopefully with this sting we can get a little bit more of effort to get a win on Thursday.”
Neither team really threatened in the first half, but the Wildcats had the best scoring chance with just under two minutes left before halftime.
West Chicago forward Israel Barrios looked to take advantage when Tigers goalkeeper Nathan Friedle came out too far to defend and left the net open. But Wheaton Warrenville South had a trio of defenders to thwart Barrios’ effort to end the half scoreless.
The Tigers didn’t waste any time breaking the shutout in the second half. Marcos Barrios scored just 31 seconds into play.
“We need someone else to share the burden of impacting the offense in the final third so that was nice to see from Marcos,” Callipari said. “He finally just said ‘I’m going to hit it from this angle,’ and there’s no such thing as a bad angle, and he did a nice job with the finishing.”
Carlos Rosas nearly gave Wheaton Warrenville South a 2-0 lead but was unlucky.
The 1-0 lead ultimately led to the Tigers’ demise. They found themselves playing on their heels a bit, while the Wildcats eventually regrouped and really turned on their offense.
“It was a matter of tracking assignments on both goals, one near post and one off the bar,” Callipari said. “They had the willingness to go forward and make something happen. For us to say ‘It won’t happen,’ and then it does happen, you then begin to question yourself later. So we’ll look at the video, but they’re a good team and that’s a great win for them, obviously in terms of motivating them on to their next affair on Thursday.”
Midway through the second half, West Chicago's Eduardo Suarez found some room and blasted a liner shot, but right at Friedle. He was able to secure possession, but it seemed to start a trend. The Tigers goalie and backline became extremely busy with the ball in and around them for nearly all of the final 20 minutes.
Friedle made a wonderful diving save with a little more than eight minutes left, but Misael Parra’s header off a free-kick with 7:28 left knotted the score at 1-1.
The Wildcats had two other solid scoring chances that misfired before Arturo Marquez scored an opportunistic goal, his first of the season.
On that go-ahead goal, Guillermo Orizaba fired a shot a little too high, but it caught enough of the lower side of the cross bar that it caromed back in front of the net. It was there that Marquez, Chicagoland Soccer's Man of the Match, secured possession and quickly redirected it for the game-winning goal.
“Once we got the first one we knew we had to get that second one,” Marquez said. “Being at home, we didn’t want to lose. We wanted to show that we wanted to win. I got a good opportunity, so I couldn’t miss it. It was an amazing feeling. I’m glad it was in the net, and that we won it for the Wildcats.”
West Chicago coach Jose Villa was enthusiastic about how well the Wildcats (3-2-3) played, especially as the game wore on.
“We talked about being able to have our main guy up-top stay up higher to create more space and opportunities in the second half,” he said. “That second goal was an example of just that. We had more space, and we had two opportunities there.”
Despite the loss, Wheaton Warrenville South likes the direction its headed, especially with some personnel moves at different places on the field. They also played without Adam Kelly, one of the team’s leading defenders. His return will certainly prove beneficial.
“It was a spirited game, and it was open in many areas,” Callipari said. “They have very good technical ability, and we just had to be patient and defense is about discipline and taking away the space they’re trying to get into. I thought we did a pretty job of frustrating them for most of the evening, and then they pushed numbers forward.
“For us, we just have to continue to learn,” he said. “We’re going to be competitive with most of the teams we play, but whether or not we have the horses to play a full 80 (minutes) seems to be a question right now.”
Despite surrendering the two late goals, Kerby was extremely pleased with how the Tigers played defensively with Will Buxon, Jackson Kreske, Gabby Lazcano, Chris Stamatopoulos and Ethan Weseman stepping up along with midfielders Fabian Aranda, Noah Kettle and Barios.
“I thought our defensive effort was very good,” he said. “We were well organized and the midfielders did a good job of helping us through it. That’s something that’s been on and off throughout the season so being much more organized as a team was helpful and will help us in the long run.”
Starting lineups
Wheaton Warrenville South
GK Nathan Friedle
D Will Buxton
D Jackson Kreske
D Gabby Lazcano
D Chris Stamatopoulos
D Ethan Weseman
M Fabian Aranda
M Marcos Barrios
M Noah Kettle
F Carlos Rosas
F Charlie Kerby
West Chicago
GK Salvador Tamayo
D Renato Bonilla
D Jose Correa
D Brian Salinas
M Jair Martinez
M Guillermo Orizaba
M Misael Parra
M Ari Tellez
F Edwin Alanis
F Fabian Medina
F Eduardo Suarez
Man of the Match – Arturo Marquez, F, West Chicago
