Tigers fall to Redhawks, claim third place in DVC

By Curt Herron

CLICK HERE FOR WW SOUTH'S TEAM PAGE

 

Part one of Naperville Central's season has been a complete success as far as coach Troy Adams in concerned.

Only one loss in regular season play and a Best of the West Tournament championship are two major highlights.

Another one came on Thursday when the host Redhawks beat Wheaton Warrenville South 4-0 at Memorial Stadium.

As a result, Central earned a share of the title in the DuPage Valley Conference along with Naperville North.

The Redhawks finished 6-1 to tie with the Huskies, who handed them their lone loss in overtime on October 2.

It was the school's first DVC championship since 2007 and just their second since the turn of the century.

Central (17-1, 6-1) scored three times within an 8:31-span late in the first half to grab a 3-0 advantage.

Devon Amoo-Mensah, Jack Patrick, Pat Flynn and Jay Tegge scored for the Redhawks, who've won three straight.

Michael Marchionna had two assists while Flynn contributed another for Central, who posted its 11th shutout.

Keeper Mike Pavliga and defenders Connor Allen, Jack Burdett, Ajay Varghese and Drake Swope led that effort.

Winning the DVC is a big deal for a program that placed better at state than in the conference last season.

"This was a nice way to end the regular season," Adams said. "Winning conference is one of the goals that you always set out and you'd like to do that before moving into the next season. And our program has done a nice job the last couple of years of getting close to that.

"We've had a lot of seconds and thirds, so it was nice to get over the hump this year and get a share of first place. Last year we played for the state title and finished third in our conference. We ended this season on a high note and we start the next season right now."

The Redhawks coach is very pleased with the performance that he's been regularly getting from his defense.

"The thing that I'm most pleased with is that we've stressed defensive work-rate and discipline and our last two games have been outstanding," Adams said. "They've really bought into the idea that if you pressure teams and stay disciplined, you'll create scoring opportunities.

"We've only given up eight goals so far and it's been a real good year in that way, especially considering that we have four new members in the backline. None of them started there last year since Connor was a forward and the other three were all J-V 1 players last year.

"A lot of credit goes to them for working hard to get their organization and a lot of credit goes to Mike for becoming a better leader and realizing that it's much easier to get shutouts when nobody gets shots. If you organize your defense, you prevent shots from happening."

Central's defense prevented the Tigers (11-8-2, 4-3) from getting many good chances throughout the match.

And the Redhawks applied steady pressure, allowing them to capitalize on some of their many opportunities.

Despite the setback, South also improved on its DVC finish from a year ago, moving up a spot to take third.

"They're certainly a team that will make you pay for the little mistakes that you tend to get away with most of the year," Tigers coach Guy Callipari said. "They're capable of capitalizing on anything. And in terms of experience and size, it's kind of like they're men among the boys.

"But hats off to them. The interesting thing is that they had to win to tie for the DVC championship and they've only lost one game all year. But the DVC is an incredible journey and we're blessed to be a part of it and finishing third is something that we'll take into the playoffs.

"I thought that we played a really good second half and went toe-to-toe with them. We feel good going into the playoffs since we're seasoned and have a very competitive schedule that prepares us for these moments. We'll play well, it's just a case of whether we'll play well enough."

Things got going about a dozen minutes into Thursday's match, starting with a shot by South's Javier Rojas.

After a Jordi Heeneman effort was cleared by South's Tom Kerby, Patrick's header was halted by Tim Reinders.

A bit later, Mike West had a free kick cleared away by Max Carey and then a header from Flynn was stopped.

Central moved ahead in the 26th minute when Flynn's liner was deflected and Amoo-Mensah put in the rebound.

After West was denied on a short try, Patrick scored on a header in the 31st minute to make it a 2-0 match.

That score was set up by Marchionna, who outraced the ball to the endline before sending in a perfect pass.

"It feels really good to win this," Patrick said. "Even though we lost to North, it was good that we brought it back at the end of the season and ended up sharing it with them. It really helps going into the playoffs knowing that we've played some of the best competition in the state.

"We played really well in the first half and controlled the ball a lot. Our outside mids were playing really well and March played his best game all year. He played some good balls in from the side. The good thing was that no one tried to do too much and we're so much better playing quickly.

"The chemistry that we have together is just amazing. People know where others are going to be before they talk or play the ball. People know when they need to make runs or they need to come in, so we don't have to tell them and that gets us a step ahead of the defense almost every time."

The Redhawks got their third goal in the 34th minute when Marchionna found Flynn, who hit from close range.

In the half's final minutes, South's Mitchell Cin was dened and Tegge suffered the same fate a bit later.

With a 3-0 lead at the break, the hosts turned their attention to keeping from Tigers off the scoreboard.

"It's been really hard to win this," Allen said. "The DVC is really strong and is one of the best in the state. We've not been able to win a DVC title in awhile so this is really awesome and I'm really glad that we were able to accomplish it this season.

"We really executed our game plan tonight and controlled the ball. We know that we have a lot of great finishers up top so if we can keep the ball out of the net, we should be able to put a few in.

"We make sure to communicate in the back and pressure their forwards a lot and we've been really successful lately. All of us are pretty much new to defense but we've really connected well and have been able to help each other out by covering for each other.

"This has been a great season so far but we're not done yet. We're going to keep working hard and try to accomplish as much as we possibly can and hopefully make it back to the state championship."

Central kicked off the second half with good attempts from Swope, West and Heeneman which were all halted.

The hosts capped the scoring in the 53rd minute when Flynn sent a cross to Tegge, who put in a short try.

Not long after that, a Flynn shot was cleared by Joey Spera before Pavliga stopped a Yusuf Yusuf effort.

And then late, Central's Corey Halford and Pat Mallett and South's Kerby and Samuel Gesessew were denied.

"They're a very big and physical team, but one of the things that we needed to do better is mark up better back post, where they scored most of their goals," Kerby said. "Their goals weren't shots from 30 that were upper 90 but were just finishes from inside the six.

"We came in fourth in the DVC last year and lost eight starters from last year and we got third this year. We have to look at the positives. Even though this was a bad game for us, we've still had a good season and we're going to to carry that into the playoffs."

Both teams now set their sights on postseason action, where they're entered in the West Chicago Sectional.

The Redhawks host Batavia or Geneva on Wednesday while South meets Marmion on Tuesday at Naperville North.

South was 4-1-2 in its previous seven before falling on Thursday and looks to keep that play up next week.

"Central is big and physical and really fast and they get headers in the air," Spera said. "And they have great defenders and they've been together for awhile so they have a lot of chemistry together. We just had to be more physical in the air and mark up better tonight.

"We played a lot better in the second half and passed the ball around better and had a great attitude. Finishing in third place in the DVC is pretty good. We've already played against Marmion so hopefully we'll have the right mentality and play strong in the playoffs."