Hornets top Glenbard West, ready for West Suburban play

By Casey Callanan

The momentum Hinsdale South gained Saturday at home with a 1-0 win over Glenbard West is something the Hornets hope will carry over as conference play starts Tuesday.

Hinsdale South (3-4-1) coach James VanDenburgh knows his squad will have their hands full when they face an early season grudge match against Morton on Tuesday.

“I definitely think we’re ready for conference. We’ve had enough time,” VanDenburgh said. “We start off with one of the best teams in the conference and that’s how we want to roll.”

The Hornets came up empty against Morton in the championship match of the Red Devil Cup last Saturday after a 6-0 loss. VanDenburgh has much higher expectations for his team in the rematch, especially as they come off a quality win over Glenbard West (2-3-3).

“We know we can play with great teams,” VanDenburgh said. “We definitely want to give (Morton) a better game this time.”

Saturday’s win over the Hilltoppers marked Hornet goalie Paras Patel’s first shutout of the season, according to senior defender Dan Pocica.

“(Patel’s) probably the best player on our team,” Pocica said. “He’s consistent every game and he comes ready to play. It’s huge for us to have him as our security blanket back there.”

The Hornet’s only goal against Glenbard West came after senior Nick Henry made a pass across the field to set it all up. Moments later senior Joe Petrak was in good enough position to strike it home from a sharp angle.

“I saw a huge space and was hoping someone would get it to me and they did,” Petrak said. “I just kind of hit it and it bent into the back post.”

The goal came with just two minutes remaining in the first half. The Hornet offense was ready to blow the game wide open one minute later when things opened up and Henry fired a shot from close range.

Hilltopper goalie Zach Watson dove on top of the shot to make the impressive save and keep his team in the game.

As the second half got underway the Hilltoppers became the more aggressive group.

First senior Henry Statz misfired wide right. Minutes later the Hilltoppers had their best scoring chance of the game when a rebound came off the hands of Patel onto the waiting foot of Daniel Bianchini. Patel, who had just made a save, was caught out of position but Bianchini’s shot had too much force and it deflected out of bounds off the crossbar.

“They came out firing in the second half,” VanDenburgh said. “We’re both two teams that are hungry to win and I told our guys that we have to want it more.”

According to VanDenburgh, Glenbard West looked like the team that wanted to win more in the second half.

“I’m happy with the win, but I thought we could have played better,” VanDenburgh said.

Petrak credits his team’s strategy as the reason they were able to stave off the late charge brought on by the Hilltoppers.

“We passed around (Glenbard West) a lot and we were able to slow them down that way,” Petrak said. “Our defense did a great job today controlling the ball. We’ve been trying to possess the ball a lot more lately and this was one of our best games doing that.”

Petrak takes Saturday’s win as a positive sign that his team’s inconsistent start to the season is now heading in the right direction.

“It’s been a little up and down for us so far. We’ve played some good teams,” Petrak said. “I think we’re only going to get better from here.”