With 13 returnees and seven skilled newcomers, South Elgin coach Jerzy Skowron believes his squad can sustain the momentum it built in the last three quarters of the 2023 campaign. After starting out 0-4-2, the Storm won nine of its last 15 matches for a 9-8-4 final record.

Filling positions left vacant by seven graduating seniors, including four all-conference players,
will be key to the team hitting the pitch running.”

“We’ve got a really good mix of experience coming back on top of these very talented sophomores,” said Skowron who starts his sixth year at the helm of the Storm. “We’re hoping to kind of keep this train rolling a little bit.”

Realignment of an expanded Upstate Eight Conference adds challenges to the championship drive. The league split into two divisions after the addition of four teams. South Elgin will compete against long-time circuit rivals Elgin, Streamwood, Bartlett, Larkin and East Aurora and newcomer West Aurora in the West Division.

“With all due respect to the teams that went over to the East Division, I think the West is incredibly difficult. We are going to beat each other up until the last match,” said Skowron.

South Elgin finished fourth in the league last year with a 4-2-3 mark behind co-champions Elgin and Larkin, and third place Streamwood. Each of those teams had one league-loss.

Skowron will look to veteran varsity players Matthew Lipp, a sophomore and Jack Schmidtke, a junior, to provide the Storm’s offensive spark.

“We’re going to have big shoes to fill with Ashton (Kerrigan) and Ryan (Nguyen) graduating, so we’re experimenting a little bit at the forward position by moving Matt and Jack up from midfield to try and take the bulk of the scoring responsibility,” Skowron said. “It’ll be interesting to see what we can do with that. I hope that we can generate some kind of noise in the Upstate Eight Conference.”

All-league players Kerrigan (17 goals) and Nguyen (nine) provided the bulk of South Elgin’s scoring last season.

Skowron has high expectations for junior newcomer Oliver Slupek.

“Oliver is a big, strong forward who’s going to compete with Matt and Jack up-top” he said. “He’s hungry in front of the goal.”

Lipp said the front three need to stay in sync.

“Communicating and just working around the defense will be the keys,” said the sophomore. “I feel like if we work together, we could be a powerful trio.”

Sophomore newcomer Adam Kiel will also see time on the front line.

The Storm graduated two important cogs of their defense. They were goalkeeper Aidan Majer and defender Jonah Stueck, the other pair of Storm all-Upstate Eight players.

Senior Ethan Messer and sophomore Christian Moscoso will compete to replace Majer.

“We have two new keepers to varsity. Ethan was a JV keeper last year, and Christian is a completely brand-new keeper to the program,” Skowron said. “We’re excited to have them and to
see what they can do.”

Messer believes his JV experience gives him the upper hand.

“Having the age helps. I’m older and stronger,“ the senior said. “I also know these guys better, and that helps a lot, too”

A deep roster of defenders gives the South Elgin manager several options to replace Stueck, who along with David Ozdoba were the only backliners to graduate from last year’s team.

“Jonah was a captain for us. When you lose a captain, it’s going to be tough,” Skowron said. “But we have lot of backline players returning. Everyone has one more year of experience.

“Hopefully, we’re going to be pretty good defensively and pretty difficult to score on. We have a lot of competition for those positions with a lot of experience and depth. We’re going to be pretty stout defensively.”

Senior defenders Issac Marquez and Quentin Albert bring two years of varsity experience to the pitch. Juniors Pablo Correra, Dominic Lenzi, Noah Dihel and Ben Kruger and senior Jair Garcia, all with one year of varsity play under their belts, will vie for backline starting spots.

Varsity experience will help the team adjust to Stueck’s graduation according to Correra.

“We have to step up and make sure that we live up to our standards,” the junior said “Having the varsity experience and knowing each other will also help us communicate better.“

Sophomore newcomer David Tyka, who previously played in the MLS Next Development League, is another strong candidate for the backline.

“David decided to come out for high school soccer this year, and we are delighted to get him,” Skowron said. “From what we’ve seen in camp and tryouts, he’s going to be somebody that is going to be very pivotal for what we want to do.”

Another two-year varsity veteran is senior midfielder Justin Defensor.

“Every time we’ve seen him this summer and in tryouts in the last couple of days of training, (Defensor) has been a monster,” said Skowron. “He’s going to make waves and going to be a big deal for us. Hopefully, we can get the guys around him to play up to his level.”

Skowron is moving senior returnee Jahson Leon from the front line to the midfield.

“Jahson (four goals in 2023) is coming back as our leading scorer. We are looking at him to stabilize the attack a little bit and add more danger to the midfield,” the Storm manager said.

Veteran varsity players, seniors Eduardo Lopez and Dario Renzulli, and junior Emiliano Morales, are competitive midfield candidates.

“Lopez can be very dangerous,” noted Skowron.

Sophomore newcomers Rodrigo “Momo” Gonzalez and Alan Munoz will also see action in the middle of the pitch.

“They will end up getting a lot of minutes as the season goes on,” Skowron commented.

Defensor also likes what he sees in the center of the park.

“There are some good shooters in midfield,” he said. “They’re just full of energy, so I feel like they’re going to do well to support our front.”

Elmwood Park, Ridgewood, Riverside-Brookfield joined the Upstate Eight from the now defunct Metro Suburban Conference. West Aurora rejoined the conference after a run in the Southwest Prairie.

The league’s new West Division should provide intense competition.

“Elgin, Streamwood and Bartlett are always going to be good. West Aurora has been successful the last few years and East Aurora is always going to be challenging. It’s going to be a royal rumble, and we are looking forward to it,” Skowron said.

At the end of the season, the two division leaders will play in a conference championship match.