Depleted Spartans fall to Glenbard South
By Bill Stone

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Senior Brett Jungles and his St. Francis soccer teammates have had an exhausting couple of days.

With four games over six days, the Spartans concluded their regular season with back-to-back road losses at Larkin Wednesday and Glenbard South Thursday. 

Hampered by illnesses and injuries, the Spartans suffered a 3-0 loss at Glenbard South using just 15 players.

Because of the absences, Jungles played center midfield the entire game, until the final 3:40, along with senior Andy Wood. Both logged the entire 80 minutes during Wednesday’s 7-1 loss in Elgin.

“Sometimes it feels like we’re running suicides back and forth and back and forth,” Jungles said.

“We get pretty spaced out occasionally when we don’t play as one, and that’s what happened last night and tonight. But Andy and I can handle it. We’ve been here for four years so we’re used to it.”

The Spartans (11-10) have until Tuesday to rejuvenate their roster and mindset as they hope to replicate last year’s electrifying run to the Class 2A super-sectionals.

St. Francis, the No. 5 seed in the Wheaton Academy Sectional, plays No. 12 Kennedy at 4 p.m. in the semifinals of the Nazareth Academy Regional. The winner meets No. 4 Nazareth or No. 13 Little Village for the regional final at 4 p.m. Oct. 19 at Nazareth.

“I’ve never had a team get sick all at the same time,” St. Francis coach Kristin Keigley said. “It’s touch and go (for the playoffs). We’re not totally sure yet.”

What should have been a good test for the Spartans with the Raiders (8-7-3), the sectional’s No. 6 seed, turned out to be more of a survival test. Between their two common opponents, St. Francis had beaten Glenbard North 2-0 and Chicago Christian 4-1 while the Raiders lost to Glenbard North 3-0 and tied the Knights 2-2.

The Spartans played evenly with the Raiders before sophomore Ben Mincunglian scored 10:53 before halftime. Senior Thomas Gkotse added second-half goals with 25:23 and 4:19 to play.

Before the first goal, the teams each had four shots. Glenbard South finished leading 18-13 (12-5 in shots on goal). The Spartans led 4-1 in corner kicks.

“That (first goal) knocked us out of it pretty quickly,” Keigley said. “We had a really rough game last night, and I think it just carried over and the focus is gone. Just the drag of the season has started to hit and, hopefully with the playoffs, it’ll give us a spark that will get us going in the right direction again.”

St.  Francis goalie Bobby Rozner, defenders Matt Shultz, Nick Roehl and freshman Timmy Pisarski, Wood and forward Matt Bonner played the entire game. Absences included center midfielders Jake Miller and Michael Downs and defender Joe Denny, who all started in Saturday’s 2-0 loss to Marmion.

Rozner (9 saves) returned after being injured during the Larkin game. He came up big with 19 minutes left in the first half after the Raiders’ Kiran Sandiford blocked a clearing attempt and the ball deflected to a wide open Mincunglian. He charged the right side of the goal, but Rozner converged to block the shot off Mincunglian and out of bounds.

The first goal came on another ball that the Spartans failed to clear along the right side of the post. Jonny Gutierrez passed the ball down the left side to Krystian Gebis, who made the cross. As several players surrounded the ball, Mincunglian poked the ball into the opposite corner of the net.

“Usually once we get our first goal, we start to kind of wake up a little bit,” Glenbard South coach Melissa Pero said. “We’re just like, ‘Shoot. If you just start shooting, as soon as somebody makes one, we’re usually in the clear.’ We tell the kids, ‘It’s not how pretty it is. It’s whether it’s in the back of the net.’ ”

The Spartans’ flat-back four defense minimized serious chances and even drew seven offsides calls in the first half. When Gkotse first scored in the second half, he turned a through ball that rolled through the center of the field into a breakaway down left wing. His second goal came on a wide-open shot off a cross by Connor Livingston.

Most of the Spartans’ best scoring opportunities came off dangerous long throw-ins by Jungles. Many were thwarted by goalie Kyle Kocinski or the Glenbard South defense.

“(Jungles) does have a very nice throw-in,” Keigley said. “We’ve never really had a thrower like that before. It is nice to have that extra offensive chance when your players want to check for the ball and head it, which they didn’t want to do tonight.”

A couple of those balls were cleared by sophomore Dominick Fazzari, who has worked his way into the starting lineup. Fazzari, Mincunglian and Barry Livingston, who entered in the final minutes, recently were promoted after season-ending suspensions to varsity players.

“After the first practice, (Fazzari) became a starter. There’s room for wherever you can put yourself, as long as you’re willing to work hard in this program,” Pero said.

For St. Francis, 13 seniors will play a big role in the postseason fortunes after graduating nine seniors from last year’s 14-10-4 team.

Most of this year’s offensive punch has come from senior forwards Remi Mifsud and Bonner. Mifsud scored in Monday’s 1-0 victory over Noble Street Charter-Chicago Bulls College Prep and assisted Bonner’s goal Wednesday.

“The boys have set high goals of wanting to have the same type of run that we had last year,” Keigley said. “It’s going to be a rough road and a hard fight, but the boys have said they want to do it. Now we have to see them actually do it. We have a lot to fix (at practice) on defense and our midfield.”

If they can win the regional, the Spartans most likely would get a rematch with Suburban Christian Conference champion Wheaton Academy, which beat St. Francis 3-0 Oct. 3.

In 2011, the ninth-seeded Spartans beat top-seeded Wheaton Academy 4-3 in the regional final. Fourth-seeded Nazareth lost in the regional semifinals.

“We’re really excited about it. We took a look at scores, we’ve been scouting the other teams. The way everything panned out with seedings and stuff, we feel like we’ve got a really good chance to make a good run again,” Jungles said.

“Our seniors need to step up big. We were here last year. We know what it’s like to win. If we play as one, that’s the key, instead of playing separated.”