By Michael Wojtychiw
CHICAGO – Young came into its key conference matchup against Jones with one decisively large advantage: numbers of games played and days on the pitch.
The Dolphins already had five games under their belt, including matchups against ranked Loyola, Warren and St. Ignatius. Jones, on the other hand, played its first match of the season after a team shutdown due to coronavirus protocols.
Continue readingBy Michael Wojtychiw
NORTHFIELD – What do you get when you match up two teams with campuses located a mere 0.7 miles away from each other and feature multiple players who have played on the same club teams for years?
You get a tough, physical matchup that had double-digit fouls en route to a hard-earned 1-1 result between New Trier and Loyola, that’s what.
Continue readingBy Michael Wojtychiw
GLENVIEW — Six hundred and ninety eight days.
That’s how long it had been since Loyola had taken to the pitch. That changed Thursday evening, however, when the Ramblers welcomed Young to their Munz Campus in Glenview April 15.
“It’s unbelievable, such a great feeling to be back on the field,” Loyola’s Kendall Beil said. “Playing for your school, playing for your teammates, there was undoubtedly great energy. You could feel it in the crowd and everybody on the bench.”
Continue readingBy Michael Wojtychiw
GLENVIEW – The Loyola senior class of 2021 has been vital for the Ramblers program. It’s helped lay the foundation for the team’s success in 2019, this season and for campaigns to come.
Three seniors — Tommy Zipprich, Oscar Blazer and Michael Sullivan — have been key parts of the program since their freshman seasons and reasons for the program’s rise.
On Thursday, April 15, St. Ignatius walked into a hornets’ nest.
Continue readingBy Michael Wojtychiw
WINNETKA – North Shore Country Day came into its first matchup with Latin on a roll. After dropping its season opener to Lake Forest Academy, the Raiders won eight-consecutive games, including five Independent School League contests, and outscored their opponents 46-3.
North Shore Country Day put up a crooked number on the scoreboard against the Romans, but a different result would follow.
Continue readingBy Michael Wojtychiw
PARK RIDGE – Maine South needed this one.
After dropping games to Glenbrook South and Evanston and tying Niles West last week to start Central Suburban League South Division play, the Hawks needed to get back in the win column. They started the year 5-0-1 in nonconference action.
But to do that, they’d have to go through Chicagoland Soccer’s top-ranked team, New Trier, which was coming off its first loss of the year Monday night, a 1-0 decision to third-ranked Warren.
Continue readingNORTHFIELD — New Trier came into Thursday’s Central Suburban League South Division matchup with Glenbrook South with the gaudy 9-0-0 record and the top spot in the Chicagoland Soccer Top 25.
That, however, doesn’t mean that the Trevians aren’t asking questions about themselves. How can they improve? New Trier searches for that answer every time its steps onto the pitch.
The team got some of the answers it was looking for, especially in the second half, as it took down the visiting Titans 3-0 on a chilly April Fools’ Day.
“We showed how we can play against a physical opponent that wouldn’t let up,” New Trier senior midfielder Zach Moskowitz said. “This is probably one of the best defenses we’ve played. They’re very physical, very organized in the midfield and kept working. We kept our composure and got the breakthrough eventually.”
“They pressed really hard the whole time and didn’t give us time to do anything with the ball,” Glenbrook South junior Owen Beumer said. “We tried to play it out, and they’d stop it right away. We’d play a long ball, and they’d win it in the back. They’re really good 1-on-1 defenders.”
This edition of the Trevians, which according to coach Matt Ravenscraft may be the strongest he’s had in his tenure as head coach, has been a force on offense, outscoring their opponents 35-4 after Thursday’s win.
New Trier had a prime opportunity to break the ice in the fourth minute. Glenbrook South keeper Colin Morse missed a long send from the Trevians, and the ball rolled behind him. Krueger tried but couldn’t catch up, before it went over the endline just wide of the goal.
That wasn’t the only opportunity the Trevians had in the first half. Krueger just missed on a shot that hit the post, and another went wide left after he forced a turnover.
But it wasn’t only the Trevians (10-0-0, 2-0-0) who had opportunities in the first half. After settling in after the first 10 minutes or so, Glenbrook South (3-4-0, 0-2-0) had shots from Beumer and Arturo Moyo that were thwarted by New Trier keeper Aidan Crawford. A shot by Jeffrey Keating went high after he created a turnover.
“We need to finish our opportunities that we have on goal,” Beumer said. “We missed three in the first 10 minutes and if we put at least one of those in, it changes everyone’s mindset.”
Going into halftime, with the score 0-0, both teams knew that if they wanted to pull out the conference win, they needed to get something going.
“We just wanted to win,” New Trier senior midfielder Will Franzen said. “We emphasized that to each other; we huddled up, told each other to trust each other.”
“We noticed they (GBS) had a high line, so we told the front three to make runs in behind,” Moskowitz said. “Even if they didn’t get it, it’d push their defense and give more space for some of the other guys to operate.”
After each team had multiple opportunities in the first 10 minutes, New Trier’s Franzen was finally able to capitalize with 24 minutes, 34 seconds remaining in the match.
NILES —— There are few rivalries in Illinois that rival the one between St. Patrick and Notre Dame. As the two largest all-boys Catholic high schools — and two of only three — on the North Side of the city or northern suburbs, the competition between the schools is keen.
Add to that, the duo often competes for future students from the same feeder schools.
Continue readingBy Michael Wojtychiw
RIVER FOREST – It’d been 10 days since Fenwick played someone not dressed in Friars gear.
After playing their first game on the year on March 13, Fenwick had its next game, a Chicago Catholic League Blue Division matchup with Mount Carmel, canceled due to COVID-19 complications within the Caravan program.
So, the team knew right away that its conference opener March 23rd against rival St. Ignatius would be a tougher game than normal. It’d have to shake off some rust and contend with pouring rain of the first half.
Continue readingBy Michael Wojtychiw
GLENVIEW — The 2021 boys spring season is one that nobody has ever seen before. Many schools will primarily play only conference games and there are no state playoffs for the boys.
The importance of winning conference becomes just as important, if not more so, than in previous seasons.
Michael Wojtychiw 