For St. Francis 'quitting is unacceptable' in a building year

By Gary Larsen

Some years when a team is struggling for wins, there can come a point when discouragement sets in and players begin to simply play out the string to the season’s end.

You won’t see that happen at St. Francis this year.

“We’re going to battle. There’s no quitting,” Spartans senior Danny Wright said. “Quitting is unacceptable.”

The Spartans’ record dropped to 1-8 with Monday’s 4-1 loss to Wheaton Academy, but they left it on the field in a Suburban Christian Conference game in West Chicago.

 “Defensively they played very physically, they got numbers behind the ball and they’re obviously very well-coached,” Wheaton Academy coach Jeff Brooke said of the Spartans.

“They fight you. They’re going to be good.”

St. Francis coach Tim Dailey was absent from Monday’s game due to illness, but assistant coach Chris Payton liked the continued effort he’s seeing from his squad.

“That’s the nice thing about our guys. They don’t give up. They fight hard,” Payton said. “They fought to the end today and they have also shown a great ability to learn from their mistakes.”

“Being a young team, those are the things you want to see. You want to see guys that aren’t willing to just give it up.”

The Spartans came out hard and spent time on the Warriors’ end through 15 minutes, as Wright and the boys in back held Wheaton Academy (5-2-1, 2-0 in SCC play) out of net for the game’s first 25 minutes.

The host Warriors have another quality possession game working this year, however, and they pressured hard throughout the contest.

“The thing about Wheaton Academy, year in and year out, is that if you make a mistake they’re going to make you pay,” Payton said.

The Warriors finally kicked down the door in the 25th and 26th minutes, with Brandon VanderVeen and Alex Varga putting their side up 2-0 at the break.

The Spartans’ strong start wasn’t lost on Payton, however.

“They were just being real aggressive and trying to take charge,” Payton said. “They were trying to control the flow of the game instead of letting it come to them.”

“So many times this year we’ve gotten off to a slow start, where we’ve waited to see how other teams are going to play us. Today we got off to a quick start.”

Wheaton Academy’s possession game found another gear in the second half and while St. Francis continued to defend hard, goals from the Warriors’ Stephen Fernandes and Tim Daniels put the hosts up 4-0.

St. Francis won its first game this season on Saturday. In the 4-0 win over visiting Montini, the Spartans got a hat-trick from Drew Mascari and three assists and a goal from Adam Fetter.

After Perry Poulos drew a foul near the top of the Warriors’ penalty area, the sophomore Fetter showed savvy in quick-hitting a free kick and tucking it inside the post from 19 yards out to avoid a shutout on Monday.

“He’s going to do great things for us,” Payton said of Fetter. “In fact, we’d like him to be a little more selfish with the ball.”

“I thought Kyle Wood at sweeper did a great job for us tonight. It’s only his second game at sweeper, he’s been nursing a hamstring injury, but he was outstanding out there. And Drew (Mascari) -- every game, he brings it.”

From back to front, the Spartans played with intensity on Monday night.

“We know we don’t have experience this year, so one of our goals is to play with heart,” Wright said. “We want to compete and get after it.”

“We’re really working to get the younger guys as much experience and teach them to play as hard as they can, so in coming years they can be good.

“We’re also getting opportunities, and I think finishing will come."

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