AURORA — Chris Incandela scored one of the easiest goals of his life Monday afternoon but the Aurora Central sophomore has bigger goals for the Chargers.

“We want to keep getting better,” he said. “It’s really fun playing in these games, but we’re having better games now. Last year we were getting blown out by a lot of bigger schools, but this year we’re keeping up and competing and those games are really fun, too.”

Incandela scored twice coming off the bench and was named the Chicagoland Soccer Man of the Match on a night when contributions came from up and down the Aurora Central roster and put a crooked number on the home scoreboard.

The Chargers overwhelmed Yorkville Christian 9-0 in a nonconference game that ended when Chargers sophomore midfielder Ryan Mayer drove into the box and scored with 1:31 left.

His brother, junior midfielder Neil, scored earlier in the game. 

It was the first time the brothers had scored in the same game for the Chargers. Making the moment even more special was having Paul Mayer, their dad, on hand to see it happen. 

The elder Mayer is a busy man. Being a small school and all, the principal/superintendent at Aurora Central, was also the press box announcer. Calling out your sons’ goals? Priceless.

In the second minute, he informed the crowd that it was Owen Nordenberg, who pounced on the rebound of junior midfielder Matthew VanDeman’s shot off the crossbar.

“The goal was to start out strong,” said the sophomore defender. “I thought the goal was a pretty good one. It was a ricochet.”

Nordenberg and his mates have been enjoying the team’s success. 

“In the losses we’ve had less goals (scored) on us and more goals in the wins. Last year it was all over the charts,” Nordenberg said. “We had 8-0 losses and 8-0 wins, too. So, it’s trying to shrink that down. And then formations -- we’ve had a lot of new formations this year so that’s pretty much it.”

Neil Mayer scored in the fifth minute from about 25 yards after a pass from sophomore forward Diego Leon.

“I saw the opening for the shot, and I just took it,” Mayer said. “I got it into the bottom left corner.”

The Chargers are in a groove.

“We’ve had a very strong season so far,” Mayer said. “We have had a lot of confidence in each game. We were pretty confident coming into this game. We knew we were the better team record-wise and had a tougher schedule and all.”

But tomorrow (Oct. 1) is what we’re thinking of now. We’re just preparing for a tough conference game (at Providence).”

Aurora Central goalkeeper Elias Perez wasn’t very busy with all the action on the other side of the field, especially early. So, the junior decided to communicate some ideas to the offense unfolding dozens of yards away.

“Pass the ball!” Perez hollered to Gio Gutierrez, who seemed to have all the time in the world to set himself up for his shot in the box/

The junior forward’s action stopped the keeper in mid-sentence.

He put away his shot to make the score 3-0 not even 10 full minutes in. 

“Never mind,” Perez announced as the ball settled into the back of the Yorkville Christian net. “Ignore me.”

Gutierrez said he didn’t hear Perez during the play but chuckled about it later. It’s hard not to smile, laugh and have a great time when you and a bunch of your teammates are scoring a lot of goals and winning games.

“I felt like I was sort of instinctual and being in the moment and just going with the flow,” Gutierrez said. “I already took one touch. I dribbled one man and just had the goal in my sight.

“I just took a couple more touches. I thought about shooting with my left, but the more I thought I just took on one more man and slotted it in the bottom left corner with my right.”

Incandela beat a couple defenders and finished in the bottom left corner in the 22nd minute to make it 4-0. His second goal rolled under Yorkville Christian sophomore goalkeeper Solomon Moe in the 32nd minute.

Sophomore midfielder Alan Acosta received a nice pass from junior midfielder Brayan Angeles and put in a rebound to make it 5-0 with 10:50 left in the first half.

“I saw Brayan (Angeles), and I knew he was going to play me forward if I made that run,” Acosta said. “I made the run, and I got lucky off the deflection and just slotted it. It deflected off a defender and just came to me, so I shot it.”

Getting out of bed on a Monday morning isn’t hard when you’re part of a team that’s playing well and a lot of guys are contributing.

“That’s why I go to school -- to play soccer,” Acosta joked. “I wake up, and I’m like ‘Naw, I got to go to school.’ But then I (know I’ve got) got a game today or even when we have practice.”

Yorkville Christian’s most dangerous offensive threat was Darrius Weithers. The long, athletic freshman created chances. Some of his best were barely off target.

He misfired wide left in the 44th minute and again in the 49th minute when he was able to get deep into the defense.

While Yorkville Christian (3-9-1) continued to look for goals, it also held its own for stretches against the Chargers. The Mustangs avoided surrendering the seventh goal that slices the remaining time in half until the 55th minute.

That’s when VanDeman dribbled into the left side of the box and gave the hosts a 7-0 lead.

Time went from about 25:08 remaining to 12:24.

VanDeman scored again in similar fashion in the 75th minute.

“We were just waiting for the right chances, working the ball around and we started attacking toward the end of the game,” VanDeman said. “I got the ball and started taking on kids 1-v-1 and was able to bag the two goals.”

He enjoyed seeing the wealth shared as seven Chargers scored.

“We’ve had a couple of these nonconference games this season where it’s good for everybody to get an opportunity to play and get a goal,” VanDeman said. “The people who don’t usually play in those tough conference games get their chance and to show the coach that they’re capable of.”

Ryan Mayer completed a truly cool family memory with the last goal of the match. 

“It feels good,” he said. “I was just excited that I was able to do it. I had the ball in the right place at the right time, and I was just able to pull a quick move.”

Playing alongside your brother, going to school with your dad. These are special times for the Sugar Grove family.

“You look forward to every game,” Ryan Mayer said. “It’s fun because we come into it with a positive attitude and stuff. We know that we’re capable of doing big things.”

It was a nice victory for the Chargers leading into Tuesday’s game in New Lenox.

“I think it was a very great experience, especially for those players that we have that are young, freshmen and sophomores, to be able to get in and get those minutes, which will hopefully help for the future,” Chargers coach Jean-Marie Nazareth said. “With us it’s just about development and growth because that’s what we prioritize before anything else.”

Respect and sportsmanship are a part of that as well.

“Another cool thing is I think the guys were very respectable, because as you could see they had two girls on the other team,” Nazareth said. “And that’s something you rarely see with a high school boys team, which was good. And I think they were respectful the whole time they were playing the game and didn’t treat anybody different. 

“And the girls could hold their own. They were very good on the field. 

“Overall, this is a very good team all-around, especially being 12-3-0. Hopefully we can be able to end the season strong and then prepare for the playoffs and finish by going far.”

Yorkville Christian had the finest season in their short history a season ago when they produced a 7-8-0 campaign. The school has only fielded a team since 2019.

The school won its first IHSA soccer match 1-0 over Islamic Foundation in 2021.

Aurora Central (12-3-1, 3-1-1) posted a 0-0 tie at Providence on Tuesday night in Chicago Catholic League White Division play. 

Click here to see the Chicago Catholic League White Division standings

Aurora Central ends it league season Thursday at Montini.


Starting lineups

Yorkville Christian
GK: Solomon Moe
FP: Logan Stuck
FP: Eli Painter
FP: Austin Vugteveen
FP: Henry Fox
FP: Michael Pigeon
FP: Danielle Bulson
FP: Gus Hauser
FP: Misha Kakador
FP: Darrius Weithers 
FP: Sam Painter

Aurora Central
GK: Elias Perez
D: Connor Dineen
D: Nathan Diedrich
D: Landen Diedrich
D: Leroy Arias
MF Neil Mayer
MF: Alan Acosta
MF: Matthew VanDeman
F: Diego Leon
F: Gio Gutierrez
F: Owen Nordenberg

Chicagoland Soccer Man of the Match: Chris Incandela, so., F, Aurora Central

Scoring summary

First half
AC: Nordenberg (rebound unassisted), 2’
AC: Neil Mayer (Diego Leon), 5’
AC: Gio Gutierrez (unassisted), 10’
AC: Chris Incandela (unassisted), 22’
AC: Alan Acosta (Brayan Angeles), 30’
AC: Chris Incandela (unassisted), 32’

Second half
AC: Matthew VanDeman (unassisted), 55’
AC: Matthew VanDeman (unassisted), 75’
AC: Ryan Mayer (unassisted) 79’