GLEN ELLYN — Having lost three all-conference defenders to graduation, St. Francis reconstructed its backline this season.

That defensive unit was able to thwart most of the attacks that came its way during Saturday morning’s game against the host school in the final game of the Glenbard South Invitational, but the one that got away ultimately made the Spartans pay.

Glenbard South scored in the 63rd minute and its sophomore goalkeeper Emmett Foster-Simbulan denied a penalty kick with under 90 seconds left to play to lift the hosts to a 1-0 victory and the tournament championship title for the first time since 2019.

“Last year we lost three all-conference seniors (Justin Klein, Nick Madden, Patrick Spahn) so this year we didn’t know who was going to be back there,” returning St. Francis senior defender Jonathan Yarusso said. “Luke Pounders stepped up over the summer, (sophomore) Ryan Callender stepped up, Peter Williams is playing some right back and Will Esser is getting used to it by getting varsity reps. The backline is starting to come along, and we’re beginning to see it.”

The big “38” on the back of Pounders’ jersey frequently was in the headlights of his goalkeepers Carter Clark and Nathan Magnuszewski as he pounced on as many dangerous balls as he could, clearing them away and earning co-Chicagoland Soccer Man of the Match accolades for doing so.

“I was really impressed with Luke Pounders today,” Yarusso said. “He really stepped up in the middle and shut things down for the most part. We talked about staying composed in back, not doing anything risky and if in doubt to just put it up and clear the lines.”

Glenbard South (2-0-1) had come ever so close to pulling ahead before finally doing so.

The Raiders clanked one shot off the crossbar in the opening minutes of the second half and junior striker Devin Knight had a solid chance in the 59th minute but couldn’t turn an excellent pass from junior Muse Afzal into a goal.

“The halftime adjustments were ‘Don’t adjust because we’re getting chances,’” Raiders coach Willie Fajkus said. “We subbed (sophomore striker) Noah (Navarro) in to kind of push things so we pushed people forward and not even a minute after we made that sub we scored. He was our third forward at the time.”

A throw-in bounced around in the penalty box a little later than the midpoint of the second half. It came off of multiple heads and a couple different feet and touched more than a half dozen players before Navarro came flying forward to intercept a failed clear, snatching possession and burying his 15-yard shot just out of the reach of the diving Magnuszewski and inside the near post.

“The ball was in the air coming to me, and I knew I had people around me. I didn’t have enough time to take a touch,” Navarro said. “I just smashed it forward, and it rolled past the keeper.”

It was quite the moment for Navarro who unfortunately couldn’t stick around to enjoy his well-deserved accolades or even a hot dog. He was unable to attend the post-game, program-wide barbecue because he had to go to work as a lifeguard. Regardless, he scored the game-winner, helped his team win a tournament it hadn’t won in a while and shared the Chicagoland Soccer Man of the Match honor. 

Navarro had quite a full day.  He began it by running with his girlfriend in the annual 5K Summer Sizzler at Danada Forest Preserve and then had plans after work to spend time at home with family in town.

“To have the game-winning goal is pretty nice,” he said. “But I just cared more about winning the game. Me being the one to get the goal is just a plus. I will say I am more happy about us winning our own tournament for the first time in (five) years.”

St. Francis (1-2-0) didn’t go down without a fight. 

“We didn’t have (senior midfielder) Luke (Argamasilla),” Williams said. “He really expands our midfield, so we were really condensed more. We switched from four backs to three backs in the second half so we had one more (guy) up in the midfield. With Luke gone that expanded our midfield. They (Glenbard South) were fast up-top on the wings and passing the ball through was one of our biggest struggles I think.”

Fortunately for the Spartans, Argamasilla should be back soon after tending to a family matter.

“I feel like we’re a bit rushed right now,” Williams said. “I feel like we need to keep the ball and possess more in the midfield and need to slow it down a bit. I think we’ll get to it by the end of the season.”

The game truly went down to the end. St. Francis earned a penalty kick with 1:24 remaining after freshman Brady Hamman drew a foul.

His attempt hit the right foot of Glenbard South sophomore goalkeeper Emmet Foster-Simbulan. The ball caromed off his boot and met St. Francis junior forward Junior Diaz, but the rebound attempt sailed wide left.

“I saw (junior midfielder) P.J. (Lehr) had that slide tackle and became stressed out, because last season I was 2-for-4 on PKs,” Foster-Simbulan said. “I knew I had this in me and knew I could save this. So, I thought of other times I’ve saved it and what I do in those moments. I did my pregame ritual where I hit the cross bar and jump and hope and pray that I dive to the correct side.”

As one would expect, Foster-Simbulan was fired up after denying Hamman. He remained that way through the finish.

“I’m very excited for this season,” he said. “Nazareth has dominated this tournament in the past, and we hadn’t won it in (five) years. I’m very excited for the rest of the season. Last year it was a rebuild season. This is kind of a build season where we get the chemistry together and see who plays where. Once we do that we’ll be set for the next couple years.”

As it stood, the Raiders won the tournament on the fourth tiebreaker – goals for. Glenbard South’s eight were two more than Nazareth, which also finished with a 2-0-1 mark in the round-robin event.

Glenbard South was 5-15-2 last year and got outscored 78-27. They’ll know even more about how they’ve progressed after they host co-defending Upstate Eight Conference champ Larkin on Tuesday.

“There were games where we got our brains beat in last year by slaughter rule,” Fajkus said. “As many as four conference games ended early because of (scoring) margin. For them to go through that and learn from that, they’re better players now. 

“We have more opportunities and aren’t defending as much. We should be significantly more competitive, so it’s a good sign and spirits are up. We have a little more depth. I’m excited for the kids, and the kids are excited.”

St. Francis will look to shake off the tough loss and use the experience gained after playing three games in four days to open the season.

“We’ve got a lot to do to get better, but we learned a lot about who we are and what we need to do,” Yarusso said. “We’ll get back to practice and implement it into our upcoming games.”

Striving to get better requires work, and Yarusso said the guys are pushing each other daily to just that.

“Everyone in the program is great,” Yarusso said. “It’s phenomenal here. We have a bunch of great guys who all talk to each other and have fun at practice, but we also want to win. Everyone wants to be here. The guys want to compete and get better.”

Starting lineups

St. Francis
GK: Carter Clark
D: Ryan Callender
D: Luke Pounders
D: Peter Williams
D: Jonathan Yarusso
MF: Michael Hutchens
MF: Brody Jochum
MF: John Coco
MF: Nicolas Tislihar
F: Brady Hamman
F: Junior Diaz

Glenbard South
GK: Emmett Foster-Simbulan
D: Brian Peshtani
D: Wyatt Bremer
D: Ryan Hopkins
D: Diesel Oleksak
MF: P.J. Lehr
MF: Bawi Lian
MF: Milan Djuric
F: Oliver Conley
F: Devin Knight
F: Noah Navarro

Chicagoland Soccer Men of the Match: Noah Navarro, so., F, Glenbard South; 
Luke Pounders, jr., D, St. Francis

Scoring summary
 
First half
No scoring

Second half
GS: Navarro (unassisted), 63’