Redhawks blank Oswego to cap 3-0 week

By Curt Herron

Jay Konrad realizes all too well that one week's worth of matches won't predict how well his team is going to perform during the rest of the season.

That said, the Naperville Central soccer coach definitely had good reason to be upbeat about his Redhawks after they improved to 3-0 on the new year.

The Redhawks used a pair of goals from University of Wisconsin-bound Chris Prince, including one that would make any highlight collection, to claim a 3-0 win at Oswego on Saturday.

Coming on the heels of a 3-0 victory at Lincoln-Way East on Thursday and a 4-2 win over Minooka in the squad's opener, Konrad has seen plenty of improvement already.

"There's a lot of positive things to pull from the first week but there's also an awful lot of big things that still need to be fixed," Konrad said. "The guys know that they're not where they need to be so they want to learn and they want to get better.

"The thing that I love to see is that all of our kids are happy for the kids who score. They're genuinely happy for each other whenever they have success. I think this is the best team attitude that we've had in my seven years here."

The Redhawk coach is understandably pleased to have an offensive threat like Prince on hand but he's also happy with how well his defense has progressed in a short time.

"The positive thing from the offensive side is that we've put the ball in the net, but when you have Chris Prince it makes that a lot easier. If he's not one of the top forwards in the state I don't want to see who is because he's doing an awesome job.

"Defenders don't get a lot of praise typically, but we've improved tremendously. The group of Colin Rook, Peter Beasley, Chris Bedell and Connor Cunningham has really grown a lot from the beginning of the season and we're ahead of where I hoped to be."

After losing a large group of seniors from last year's squad, it looked like it might be a rough season for Central, which also has to play all but one of its matches on the road.

But following consecutive shutouts, things are suddenly looking much brighter as the Redhawks prepare to compete in this week's Best of the West tournament.

All of the Redhawk excitement took place during the second half, with most of it confined to the final 17 minutes of the nonconference match.

Little happened in the opening half, other than a line drive on goal by Prince, as the squads tried in vain to put things together amid the blustery conditions.

It was a different story in the final 40 minutes, however, especially for the Redhawks, who came out aggressively following the break.

Chris Bedell got things started with a long grounder before the Panthers responded with one of their few threats by bouncing a shot off of the post.

During a six-minute span, A.J. Seaman put a pair of shots on goal while Andy Miltonberger and Peter Beasley also contributed threatening attempts.

The breakthrough for Central came with 16:56 remaining when John Franzese sent a pass forward to Prince, who fired off a 30-yard shot into an open net.

"When we played Minooka we were a little shaky and not passing too well but when we played Lincoln-Way East we started passing a little better," Franzese said. "In this game we started to put it all together and we molded as a team so that feels good.

"We started moving better in the second half today and our finishing is coming along. For a lot of us, this is the first year that we're playing on varsity. Everyone on the team has good spirit and we don't get down on each other and that helps a lot."

Prince struck again with 14:44 left with a score that Konrad ranks among the very best goals that he's seen during his tenure with the program.

Connor Cunningham served up an excellent pass that found Prince, who spun around and lined a dart into the net, awakening a crowd that had seen little excitement to that point.

The good times continued for the Redhawks after they collected their third goal within a 6:55-span to conclude the scoring for the match.

Franzese, who had no assists prior to Saturday, sent another ball forward that went to Patrick Littel, who bounced a long shot into an open net with 11:01 left.

From that point, the Redhawks were focused on securing their second straight shutout, with keeper Cam Thulin earning the credit in the net.

The defensive unit of Colin Rook and Beasley at center back and Bedell and Cunningham on the outside didn't allow the Panthers to record a shot on goal in the match.

"Peter and I are working really well together at center back," Rook said. "We play club together so we know each other really well. And we're also doing a good job of communicating with our outside backs, Chris and Connor, and they're stepping up big.

"We're very inexperienced since we only have five returning players, but now we're all a little bit more comfortable with one another. We realize that we might be inexperienced but we can play since we have some talent so we're ready to get after it."

Chris Prince scored a pair of goals in Naperville Central's 3-0 victory at Oswego on Saturday.

The first came on a 30-yard shot that found an open net with 16:56 remaining to break a scoreless tie.

While that would normally be pretty exciting, the game-winner was quickly overlooked a little over two minutes later.

That's when the University of Wisconsin-bound athlete stunned the crowd with a shot that is rarely scene at this level.

With 14:44 left, Connor Cunningham sent a perfect pass to Prince, who quickly spun around and fired off a line drive into the net.

As if the game-winning goal wasn't sufficient, the player of the match award and perhaps shot of the season drove the point home.

"That was probably one of the best goals that I've scored in awhile," Prince said. "I saw the ball pop out to Connor, made eye contact with him and he played a beautiful ball.

"I was thinking about headering it, but it was too low, so I just wound up and scissored it. I jumped up and got side-ways and just found the back of the net on the far side."

With Prince's help, the Redhawks improved to 3-0 and what figured to be a year of struggles is suddenly becoming more optimistic.

"After our first game, there were a lot of questions about how we'd be this season," Prince said. "But we got better against Lincoln-Way East and we got better in this game.

"We've been working on things that we didn't do that well and things are paying off. We keep making steps higher and higher and today it paid off since we played well today.

"We're starting to play real well together. Whenever we're winning balls in the back, people are finding forwards quickly and that's leading to a lot of scoring opportunities."