Early goal helps Hilltoppers get past Warriors

By Curt Herron

 

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What a difference a year makes for the starts for the programs from both Glenbard West and Willowbrook.

While both are approaching the midway marks of their regular seasons, their beginnings have been a definite improvement from the same point a year ago.

That's one of the reasons why Monday's nonconference match between to pair in Villa Park gave a clear indication of the advancement that both have made.

The Hilltoppers got a goal from Shawn Herrera off of an assist from Jimmy Hernandez in the sixth minute to help them capture a 1-0 victory.

That win improved West to 6-1 on the season, well ahead of last year's 3-4 start but the goal scoring totals indicate an even better picture.

West was outscored by an 18-14 margin through its first seven matches a year ago but already owns a 23-3 goal advantage thus far this season.

Much of the reason for the success is due to the fact that the Hilltoppers have already recorded five shutouts, including two in succession.

That group included Aaron Griffin, Gonzalo Villa, Andrew O'Connell, Ivan Barajas and David Ortega playing in front of keeper Robbie White.

The Hilltoppers' only setback is Thursday's 2-1 loss to Lyons Township, which shared the West Suburban Conference Silver title with them in 2011.

"We're really happy with our start," Hernandez said. "We've been playing really good so far and hopefully we can keep it going that way and do really well this season."

Better defensive play has also led to a vast improvement in the performances for Willowbrook, which finished with a 1-22-2 record a year ago.

The Warriors were 0-9-1 at this point in 2011 and had been outscored by a 43-2 margin, compared to giving up 20 goals while scoring 13 this year.

Willowbrook had won two of its last three matches over the course of eight days to already triple the number of victories that it had last season.

Warriors coach Peter Ginter is hoping to turn things around at his new position in the same way that he did the past five years at Addison Trail.

"I think we've improved our game a lot from last year," Ginter said. "We're switching the field a lot more and controlling the ball and having more possession from defense to offense and those are the key things that are going to take us to the next level.

"If our forwards can attack in the corners, then we'll spread out the opponents' defense and it will really create a lot of chances. If we do that more often, and I think we're starting to get that, it will help us get to that next level.

"The guys believe right now that they can play with anybody. They play with big hearts and they hustle but we just have to get them to be a bit more tactically-sound and work on their technique, like their first touch, and we're getting better at that."

West connected on its first good chance of the match and then relied on its defense in order to keep the Warriors at bay as the early score stood.

The decisive sequence was set up when Hernandez lined a cross into the box and Herrera scored from close range to put the visitors ahead for good.

"I knew that Shawn would be in the middle so I kicked it in and hoped that he'd put it in, and he did," Hernandez said. "We kept pushing since we wanted to make another one, but it didn't go in again."

Despite missing the services of one of senior co-captain Eric Lukitsh, the Warriors were able to keep the Hilltoppers from increasing their lead.

A lot of that was due to the efforts of senior keeper Luke Ruszkowski, whose continued improvement has certainly been a big plus for the Warriors.

"One of the things that we talked about was minimizing their scoring chances," Ginter said. "We tried not to give them many quality shots by pressuring the ball quicker and also forcing them to make passes that they didn't want to make.

"Ben (Draus) and Eric have been really tough so far. We missed Eric today but the guys who we put in there stepped up. And Luke is really coming around for us. He's coming out of the net and playing with authority and has been doing well."

Shortly after the goal, Hernandez had a line drive halted by Ruszkowski before Mike Rogalski saw his try from the side deflected away by White.

Most of the rest of the first-half threats came in the last quarter hour, starting with a shot by Kristian Johansen that was cleared by Griffin.

Ruszkowski then thwarted short shots by Ben Ruby and Herrera before Warrior Tim Weyer sent in a free kick that was just a bit wide of the mark.

The Hilltoppers threatened again just before the halftime whistle blew but the Warrior keeper snuffed a close-range attempt from Zack Venzon.

Ben Draus got the final 40 minutes of play underway by sending in an effort from the side which was deflected away by the Hilltopper keeper.

West responded a short time later with an Hernandez corner kick that was stopped by the keeper and a liner by Hernandez which a defender cleared.

Around the midpoint of the final half, the sides exchanged tries as Jack Emanuel sent a liner to Ruszkowski and Leo Solis was wide of the frame.

Hernandez threatened again in the final minutes with a corner kick lined to the keeper. Meanwhile, the Warriors couldn't get off a good late try.

"We're playing a lot better than we were last year when we were getting blown out a lot," senior co-captain Draus said. "This year, if we don't win, at least we're in it. We just need to put in more scoring chances and we should be able to play with most teams.

"We didn't give up after they scored that early goal. A lot of teams put their heads down after that and let the other team score three or four more goals. But we kept in it and tried to tie it and even though it didn't happen this time, maybe it will next time.

"Last year most of our seniors were injured so this is pretty much the same group of guys with a few new sophomores added in so we play well since we've been together for a year. We're getting some good combinations going and hopefully that leads to some wins."

The Warriors have road matches at Lincoln-Way North on Wednesday and York on Saturday while the Hilltoppers travel to Addison Trail on Saturday.