2009 season preview: Naperville North

By Gary Larsen

This year’s squad at Naperville North is young, untested, and talented.

The Huskies also have a tradition of intensity going for them.

“It doesn’t matter how much talent they have in a given year,” said Naperville Central coach Jay Konrad. “You always know that North’s kids are going to play hard.”

Huskies coach Jim Konrad will no doubt get this year’s squad to bring the heat game in and game out, but it’s a team that needs varsity seasoning.

“Obviously we’ve got some good kids, but we’re super young,” he said. “The guys play hard and we’ve got a pair of legitimate guys in the middle in (Chris) Boswell and (Kyle) Lindberg.

"I’ll put those two against anybody. They’re big and they both cover a lot of ground.”

The senior Boswell paired with now-graduated Andrew Menendez in the middle last year, and so far he likes the rapport that he and the sophomore Lindberg are developing.

“Last year I had to do a lot more defending at midfield,” Boswell said. “But Kyle is willing to defend so I’m able to go forward more.”

Bob Ren and Bryan Kanzler will see time at midfield and Konrad will rotate players into the midfield until the lineup sorts itself out.

None of the Huskies’ back four has played varsity soccer before. Outside defenders Jimmy Butler and Jake Remegi will join center backs Lee Grander and Ramsey Elshafei in protecting senior keeper Mike Wiest. “They’re big kids,” Konrad said. “And Mike Wiest is a legitimate Division One goalkeeper. He’s a great, great goalkeeper.”

“It’s a new defense but we coach playing flat throughout the program so that helps. We worked a lot on it during the summer and in the preseason, and now it’s a matter of whether we can do it at game speed against a good team.”

Dean Gastouniotis and Evan Trychta get the nod as the starting forward tandem this year. Gastouniotis saw varsity time last season and Konrad said the senior has the potential to be one of the scariest attacking players around.

Sean LaBahn, Max Auden, and Jack Henderson all figure to see considerable time on the field this season.

The sophomore Trychta is new to the varsity but has already shown himself to be a gritty and dangerous forward. He scored twice in a 2-0 win against Hinsdale Central to open the year and nearly scored a third time but poked a great chance just over the crossbar.

“He’s just tough. You can hit him with a hammer and he’d get up smiling,” Konrad said. “He runs all day and he understands the game. He reminds me a lot of (former DG South standout) Mike McCormack.”

The Huskies started the season at 1-0-1, tying visiting Valparaiso, Indiana on Saturday. They’ll square off with top-ranked NeuquaValley in their third game to kick off this year’s Best of the West tournament.

“The good thing about playing good teams early is that you know right away what you have,” Konrad said. “You know where you stand and what you have to work on.”

“I think we have a shot to win conference this year. “West Chicago lost their best player, and the rest of us are okay teams. It could come down to who gets lucky at the right time.”

"So far we're playing better than I thought we would," Boswell said. "We hadn’t played together, so no one really knew how good we could be.”

Photos courtesy of Dennis Wiest

2009 Schedule

2009 Roster