Redhawks post 4th shutout vs. West Aurora
By Eddie Burns

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The unique aspect of competing in a league like the DuPage Valley Conference is that it provides challenges against different types of styles.

Take Thursday’s match between Naperville Central and West Aurora where the Redhawks are bigger and more physical, while the Blackhawks are much smaller and rely on their speed.

On this night, the match went the way of the bigger, stronger Redhawks by a 3-0 margin, at Central’s Memorial Stadium.

“(West Aurora) really put forth a strong effort out there,” Central junior forward Sam Reskala said. “West outworked us most of the match, but we still managed to come out with the win. We didn’t hurry the ball. We kept calm, moved the ball around and when we had a shot … we took it. We don’t like to waste opportunities.”

Central’s first goal came off a scramble in front of the West Aurora goal. The Redhawks had played the ball into the penalty area and sophomore forward Jordi Heeneman squared up a shot that was stopped by West goalie Alex Guillen, but the rebound was put away by Central’s Jack Patrick to give the host’s a 1-0 lead in the 23rd minute.

The Redhawks (8-0, 2-0) continued to apply pressure in the offensive third, but Guillen was up to the task as he made several nice saves to keep the Blackhawks in the match as it remained 1-0 at halftime.

One of West’s best scoring chances came right before halftime when Geovanni Martinez redirected a corner attempt, but Central goalie Mike Pavliga made the save to preserve Central’s one-goal advantage.

“Yes, that was a close one there before halftime,” Martinez said. “We could have done more damage -- if we put more shots on goal. You have to give them credit – they are a good team. They are big and we are short. They like to play in the air and we prefer keeping the ball on the ground.”

The first 10 minutes of the second half belonged to the Blackhawks (2-2-1, 0-1) as West really took the game to Central.

Manny Gurrola, Daniel Rotolo and Juan Cerda each had great scoring chances for the Blackhawks.

“Our forwards were really working hard to put pressure on them,” said Rotolo, who sent a restart from just outside of the penalty area high over Central’s crossbar. “When I sent the ball over the bar – it was just a miss-hit of the ball. It was one of those opportunities that we let get away. Against a good team like Naperville Central, you have to execute in those situations. We’ll learn.”

Central then turned the match when the Redhawks tallied a pair of goals less than 90 seconds apart in the 61st and 62nd minutes.

The first goal was set up after a hustling Heeneman was pulled down near the penalty area. The Redhawks were awarded a restart. Central’s attempt was redirected out of bounds and led to a corner where Mike West played a perfect ball to Reskala and Reskala did the rest as he beat Guillen to make it 2-0.

“We all wait and see where (Patrick) goes and we pace our runs off of that,” said Reskala, who celebrated his first goal of the season. “(Patrick) is the main target (on corner attempts). I just went to an open space and Mike found me.”

Martinez said the Blackhawks got caught off balance.

“They were ready for the ball and we weren’t,” he said. “We didn’t have their players marked and we got caught watching.”

Rotolo said Central simply played to its strength.

“Sometimes you have to give the opponent their due,” he said. “They were taller and we just couldn’t defend those (corner) situations. It was a great ball by them.”

A familiar pair connected for Central’s final goal as West played the ball to Pat Flynn, who finished while extending Central’s lead to 3-0.

“We’re pretty connected as a team,” Heeneman said. “We have a lot of good chemistry and we really work the ball around nicely as a team and it shows out there on the field, but it all begins in practice where it is emphasized by the coaches.”

Rotolo, a senior, said the match played out in similar fashion to other Central-West contests he’s seen during his time at West Aurora.

“We always seem to play them tight, but the big difference was that they finished their chances and we didn’t finish ours,” Rotolo said.

Reskala and Heeneman make up two of the nine sophomores and juniors who have helped contribute to Central’s 8-0 start overall and 2-0 record to start DVC play.

The duo said that the age and grade level of the players don’t really matter to this group – just as long as they continue to find ways to win.

“It is a real privilege to be up playing at the varsity level,” said Heeneman who joins Michael Marchionna as the two sophomores on the current varsity roster. “There are no cliques or niches with this group. We all knew each other from last year and, really, it is the seniors who have set the tone as they have led us since we started preparing for this season.”

Reskala said that close bond developed and built by the team allows them to take each team’s best shot.

“You can tell teams really want to beat us,” Reskala said. “The thought of not winning it all last year makes us really want it this year and has sort of made us stronger as a group. At the same time, it creates a lot of pressure because you feel like you have to win every game to keep showing that we are among the best --- Coach (Troy) Adams always reminds us that, ‘You are only as good as your last game.’ So we are always striving to be at our best.”