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Trojans aiming to regroup for Thursday's season finale vs. York By Gary Larsen Downers Grove North coach Brian Gervase was not a happy camper after his side’s 2-1 loss to visiting WSS rival Hinsdale Central on Tuesday. The loss he can take. It was the nature of that loss, on the heels of a 1-0 upset of highly-touted Morton, that bugged him. “We’ve talked to these guys all season long about getting on the field and improving,” Gervase said. “I told them today – I’m a teacher, but I can’t take the test for them. They have to study and improve, and when they step on the field, that’s the test. But no one got better today, no one improved their game.” The Trojans (9-7-3, 1-4 in WSS play) played well in Saturday afternoon’s win over Morton, after battling well in a loss to another exceptional team in Oak Park-River Forest. In fact, the Trojans have battled well all season against top competition but their coach wasn’t happy with their play on either side of the ball against the visiting Red Devils. Hinsdale Central (12-6-2, 5-1) struck first when a Cameron Legan free kick bomb bounced high in the penalty area and fell under the crossbar in the first half. DG North answered quickly, with Paul Hogan netting his 8th goal of the season. Hogan, Matt Weiss, Justin Pickering, A.J. Jeffries, and Luis Salas have all contributed offensively this year, but Hogan’s score was all they’d get on Tuesday. “We’re a better offensive team than that,” Gervase said. “We weren’t switching the ball, we weren’t moving the ball from side to side like we’ve been doing. We’re also still rotating guys into the midfield, and we need to see someone there be more consistent.” The goal that doomed the Trojans came when Central’s Mike Oleszkiewicz broke behind the defense and ran down a ball sent over the top from midfield, and went in alone at Trojans keeper Matt Paprocki. “Defensively we’ve been marking guys and staying with people,” Gervase said. “But today, (Oleszkiewicz) scores that goal and no one is running with him.” On Thursday, the Trojans take on a WSS rival in a York team that has a bevy of dangerous players, so the boys in back will have to be ready to defend their home field in the final game of the regular season. “We were hoping for a strong finish this week, and both games are a fight for us because both (York and Hinsdale Central) play hard,” Gervase said. “We’re a much better side than we showed (vs. Hinsdale Central). But they’re high school kids and everyone has bad days, and that’s what it was today.”
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2009 Schedule
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