A building year at Central on the docket

By Gary Larsen

The players on this year’s team at Naperville Central don’t have a home field to play on, and Central arguably graduated more key senior starters than any other team you’ll find.

Coach Jay Konrad sees ups and downs on the immediate horizon for a team that returns very little varsity experience.

But in getting this year’s team to work towards the level of the program’s long standards, this year’s Redhawks do have one key ingredient.

“We’ve got some outstanding senior leaders on this team, and they could end up being the best group of leaders we’ve had here,” Konrad said.

Chief among the Redhawks’ senior players are Art Garza and Chris Prince, both bound for D-I soccer.

“From Day One to now the team has already gotten a lot better,” Garza said. “And I didn’t know a lot of these guys but we all seem to get along real well.”

“I think we could surprise some people. We have a lot of people who want to prove other teams wrong.”

Unfortunately for Central, the DePaul-bound Garza won’t return to the field from injury until after next week’s Best of the West tournament.

“Art is like a student of the game. His dad has coached and Art is one of those soccer purists. He loves possession, and he’s got good touch,” Konrad said. “In terms of having a senior that really wants to get better, he’s one of those.”

“He figures out ways to do the right things. He finds a way to be effective in every game.”

Until Garza returns, fellow attacking senior Prince will key the offense.

Prince will play for the University of Wisconsin next year, and this year he may move between attacking mid to forward as team need dictates.

“Chris is more rugged than Art, and they’re a different kind of effective,” Konrad said. “He’s got good speed and he can go to goal very well. He has a mid’s mindset, he keeps the ball moving, and he’s unselfish.”

Redhawks’ junior Peter Beasley and senior Colin Rook both play high level club soccer, but both will be asked to acclimate to unfamiliar positions on the field.

“The two of them haven’t played a ton of center back in their lives, so they’ll have to get used to it,” Konrad said. “They’re very good players and I’ll look to them to keep our back organized.”

A stable of players will rotate in on the outside positions in back and midfield. John Franzese, Chris Bedell, Jeremy Kaden, Connor Cunningham, Noah Kalbfeld, and AJ Seaman will all contribute on the outside, with Seaman also seeing time at central midfield.

Andy Miltonberger will help guide the attack from midfield. “He’s a big kid, good in the air, he’s disciplined,” Konrad said. “He’s intelligent, two-footed, a senior, and he can distribute.”

Andrew Erickson, Patrick Little, Andrew Wagner, Jimmy Altosino, Cam Thulin, Joe Yarshen, David Ilavsky, and Mike Plant round out a squad that plays a top-shelf schedule and will acclimate to varsity play on the fly.

Plant stood out on the sophomore team last year as a freshman, and once he returns to full strength after a leg injury he’ll join the mix. Like Garza and Plant, Wagner is also on the mend.

“If by the end of September those three guys are back and healthy, that will make us better,” Konrad said. “We’ll see how much we grow between now and then.

“By the end of the year, they’ll be better. They’re adjusting to everything being faster, because you have to do everything faster at this level. A lot of them are having to make that huge jump from jayvee to varsity.”

Prince sees the uphill battle ahead for this year’s inexperienced squad, but he also sees hope.

“I had no idea what to expect coming in,” Prince said. “I hadn’t seen any of these guys play. But after playing with them, I think we can be better than I thought we would be.”

Naperville Central will play all games on the road this season due to the construction of an artificial playing surface at the school. If completed on time, this year's Redhawks may play their final game of the season on the new field.

2009 Schedule

2009 Roster