Warriors put up a good fight against rival Wildcats

By Eddie Burns
All photos courtesy of LuAnne Hollingshead

If there is one area where Waubonsie Valley coach Angelo DiBernardo would like to see his team improve, it would have to be grasping the mental aspect of soccer.

The Warriors had a few mental lapses during their 1-0 loss to rival Neuqua Valley on Tuesday night in Aurora.

All it took was one momentary slip for the Wildcats to create space and score the winning goal in the final minute of the first half.

That's when Neuqua's Will Butler worked his way behind the Warriors' defense and flipped a shot past Waubonsie goalie Sean Elvert.

"It was a good play and a good diagonal run by Neuqua," DiBernardo said. "They caught our kids flat. (Butler) got behind our defenders and we were too flat.

"We need to be staggered a bit, but those things will happen."

Waubonsie senior forward Yvan Foonde agreed that the goal was the result of some slick Neuqua passing.

"The ball went right through the back line," Foonde said. "It happens. It is one of those goals. We were playing a lot more defensive today, but it got through."

DiBernardo was encouraged by his squad's ability to bounce back and play a complete 40 minutes in the second half.

"(The goal before halftime) could have really deflated us, but it did not," DiBernardo said. "The kids came back and really fought hard in the second half."

Foonde said that he felt the Warriors could have been more aggressive throughout the night.

"Neuqua is so good at possessing the ball," Foonde said. "We could have been more physical, but they are bigger than us.

"Possession is a big part of what they do and they do it well. They really moved the ball well all over the field, but we could have come out a lot stronger. We have to work harder."

The Warriors (2-4-1) never really mounted any sort of threat against the Wildcats in the second half aside from a mildly-dangerous restart from Sam Bell.

Neuqua's ball possession really made life difficult for Waubonsie.

In an effort to continue to better learn more about his youthful squad, DiBernardo constantly shuffled players in and out of the lineup.

The Warriors have sevens sophomores on the roster to go along with three juniors and nine seniors.

"We're still trying find the right combinations," DiBernardo said. "I'm taking a look at players in other positions.

"We have a lot of youth, but they have to understand that regardless of who they play – they should always have a purpose behind what they are trying to do with the ball and not panic and play kickball.

"At times, we tend to do that. We still have not put 80 minutes together from the standpoint of putting a purpose behind playing the game the way it is supposed to be played."

DiBernardo said he places an extra emphasis on playing with a purpose because every movement a player makes on the field needs to be done so that it is meaningful to the end result.

"I don't have a problem with the physical effort that the kids have given," DiBernardo said. "We try to work on their mental aspect of the game – always have a purpose.

"Look for movement off the ball to the right places. Keep in position of the ball. Position ourselves in the right place off the ball in order to give the guy with the ball more than one option, so he has three or four options with the ball. We haven't developed that yet."

Neuqua coach Tony Kees was impressed with what he saw from Waubonsie.

"They have a lot of young players and they are rotating guys in and out all of the time to give everyone a look," Kees said. "They gave us all we could handle. They are still maturing.

"They didn't give us a lot of time on the ball and their forwards were buzzing us. We didn't threaten their goal a lot. We were around their goal a lot, but we didn't get dangerous around it and some of the credit has to go to their defense."