Two quick Central strikes help bury Warriors
By Eddie Burns

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Both Naperville Central and Waubonsie Valley knew that the winner of Saturday morning’s match was going to advance to the championship of the Best of the West Tournament.

With that in mind, the intensity and quality of play was at a high level.

The Redhawks were able to convert on scoring opportunities and that translated into a 4-1 victory. Central’s win puts the host school in Saturday’s 6 p.m. championship match against Benet. 

Central broke the match open when it struck for two goals in a 2-minute span.

Pat Flynn’s score first when he converted off a well-played ball from teammate Ajay Varghese in the 16th minute.

“(Waubonsie) was just playing three flat across the back and I saw Flynn and he just looked at me and I played the ball right over the top,” Varghese said. “Flynn is a good player and I like his chances going one on one every time. He got the ball and finished like he does.”

The Redhawks (5-0) kept applying pressure and it resulted in a corner kick shortly after play was restarted.

Mike West took the corner attempt and placed a perfect ball so that teammate Jack Patrick could take advantage of his height advantage and used his head. Patrick flicked West’s serve right past Waubonsie goalie Eddy Sanchez in the 18th minute to give Central a 2-0 edge.

“I was just trying to keep the ball away from Waubonsie’s Jack Cordes (because of his height),” West said. “I just found Jack and I tried to put the ball in a spot where he could just go and get it and it went in.”

The quick strikes stung the Warriors. 

“The first one they got really quick,” Waubonsie defender Michael Mueller said. “I think our heads were still down when the struck for that second goal. We paid the price for not marking their best player.”

Varghnese and West agreed that it is a nice luxury to have a target like Patrick when it comes to restarts and corner attempts.

“When I am marking back on defense, the opponents know the ball is going to No. 21 (Patrick) all of the time and when he scores, ‘It’s like we told you so,’” Varghnese said. “It helps so much to have him in those situations – it really does.”

West said that Patrick is one of many weapons at the Redhawks’ disposal.

“Offensively we have a lot of fire power and will be hard to stop,” West said. “Defensively we’re coming along great and it is good sign for things to come.”

The Warriors, who played without coach Angelo DiBernardo because he is out of the country, managed to cut their deficit in half before intermission. Mueller scored as the result of a scramble that occurred in front of Central goalie Mike Pavliga.

“I shielded the goal, so if Pavliga made some type of mistake that I would be able to finish the ball if it popped – and that is what I did,” Mueller said.

Central made it a 3-1 game in the 64th minute when Patrick scored on left-footed volley perfectly placed in the upper corner from approximately 30 yards out.

Flynn closed out the scoring when he scored with 30 second remaining in the match.

The Redhawks continue to make strides on defense as the unit continues to show signs of improvement. Central has a lot of new faces in new places on defense with the likes of Drake Swope, Conner Allen and Corey Halford joining Varghese in the back. 

“We’ve all played defense, but we just haven’t played defense together,” Varghese said. “It is starting to come together for us in the back. We talk a lot and we are communicating. It also helps to have a great goalie behind us … just in case we need it.”
Pavliga was tested by the Warriors as they did put together several scoring chances. The Warriors also struggled at putting shots on frame.

 “Not enough of our shots were on target,” Mueller said. “We did test them, but Mike is one of the best goalies in the state.”

The setback was the first for the Warriors, who are now 4-1-1 after scoring a win against Fremd and beating Sandburg in penalty kicks.

“The first half we came out slow and it showed,” Mueller said. “We were able to pick things up near the end of the first half, but we did a poor job of carrying that into the second half. We weren’t strong enough – they came out working harder and with more intensity and that is disappointing. We need to get at keeping possession of the ball and that means we need to be more physical in the midfield. If we are more physical and keep the ball moving we will win a lot more games.”