Tigers lose grip on DVC steering wheel

By Eddie Burns

For Wheaton Warrenville South, the task this week was pretty simple: win two home matches against Naperville Central and West Aurora and celebrate a DuPage Valley Conference championship.

It all turned out to be much easier said than done.

The Tigers stumbled to a 4-1 loss against Naperville Central on Tuesday night, which now gives Naperville North the inside track to the DVC championship. The Huskies can wrap up the title with a win against West Chicago on Thursday.

“We were definitely in the driver’s seat,” South midfielder Drew Bellmer said. “It was a rough one to lose. It was in our hands and it wasn’t something where we were going to have to count on someone else losing, but we didn’t take care of our opportunities.”

Even more alarming for the Tigers is that they followed up Saturday’s 4-0 loss at Bartlett with another lackluster effort and suddenly WW South (16-3-2, 4-1-1) appears extremely vulnerable with the postseason right around the corner. The Tigers allowed 10 goals in their first 19 matches and suddenly have allowed eight in their past two.

“I am not discouraged, but certainly disappointed because we knew the ramifications of these matches,” WW South coach Guy Callipari said. “I think the pressure certainly showed – especially when we got down early (against Central). We gave up a little bit of a soft goal, but it certainly was opportunistic. They were a tough opponent to try and breakdown defensively.”

Bellmer and the Tigers created a few scoring opportunities in the opening 20 minutes against the Redhawks, but WW South had issues containing Central’s Chris Prince, Art Garza and Colin Rook. Prince finished with three goals.

“They have so much speed up top and they are strong in the back that they are not a team you can get down to because they are obviously capable of scoring and holding you down in the back,” Bellmer said.

The Tigers were without the services of Manny Munguia, Joe Bianucci and George Doran, who are all out because of injuries. Midfielder Alden Marton left the match and did not return with a back injury. On the bright side, Matt Krieger and Andy Guerrero returned from injuries.

Regardless of the distractions, Callipari is looking for players to respond to the adversity.

“We need people to step up,” Callipari said. “We need leaders to step up and say, ‘Give me the ball, I’ll present myself in a positive manner.’ What we found what was happening was that we were breaking down rather than solving problems to issues that we were facing and that is tough.

That is pressure and that is youth and a sense of immaturity on our part. We have to do a much better job of controlling ourselves and then we can plan our future, otherwise it is difficult and looks pretty hazy at this point.”

The Tigers also need to rediscover their offense.

“We’ve been a pretty high-powered offense this season,” Bellmer said “We’re coming off two games where we’ve been outscored 8-1 and it doesn’t matter how good your defense is, if you can’t put the ball in the net, you can’t score and you don’t win.”

Collin Fedor tallied the Tigers’ lone goal in the 77th minute.

“The game was already in the balance (at that point),” Callipari said. “Regardless if we scored or not, it was a matter of did we find opportunities and did we start linking things together. Who is going to step up and take the leadership – that is what I was concerned about. Whether we scored or no didn’t matter because the outcome was irrelevant … it was a matter of what are we going build from and take from the final 15 minutes.”

The Tigers still have time to fix things. WW South hosts West Aurora on Thursday before closing the regular season at Wheaton Academy on Friday.

“It is a good thing for us that we have those two matches because if we can rebound and beat two good teams that will only be a good sign for us,” Bellmer said.

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WW South starters vs. Naperville Central