Wheaton Academy easily gets past Guerin

By Darryl Mellema

Officially, Wheaton Academy lined up in a 4-5-1 formation against Guerin on Saturday.

In actuality, the host Warriors always seemed to have more than one player in their forward line, such was their dominance in a 9-0 victory in its first game in the new Suburban Christian Conference.

Whether it was the outside midfielders running forward to add width, the inside midfielders surging in a series of short passes or defenders overlapping forward, there was never a lack of players in attacking positions.

But more than moving forward, those players kept moving for each other, meaning Guerin's defenders never had much of a chance to settle.

Wheaton Academy had its nine goals at halftime, which meant the second half only took 20 minutes to complete.

"We just came out and weren't sure what they would bring," Wheaton Academy senior Alex Varga said. "We just went out and did what we always try to do and played our game on our home field."

Wheaton Academy led the Gators 3-0 within the first 10 minutes and was never seriously threatened defensively. In addition to the nine goals, the Warrriors peppered the Guerin goal.

"I think this team has a lot to prove," Wheaton Academy coach Jeff Brooke said. "People keep asking if we'll be able to bounce back from last year.

"We're just focusing on being Wheaton Academy and playing Wheaton Academy soccer, no matter who we play against. They're taking that seriously this year."

Through the first half, the 'Home' portion of the scoreboard was in constant motion. Daniel Zerubbabel opened the scoring and Tim Daniels scored the first two goals of his hat trick inside the opening 10 minutes.

Devin Moore dribbled through to make the score 4-0 just 12 minutes into the match, Daniels completed his hat trick two minutes later and Josh Kremers scored just after the midpoint of the half.

Nate Nupanga added a pair of goals before Travis Guerra completed the scoring with 3:37 left before halftime.

"We started very early in the summer working on movement and trying to put in the 100 percent effort because we know our teammates are going to put in the same effort," Daniels said.

In the abbreviated second half, Wheaton Academy worked on its possession game. Guerin did not manage a serious shot through the 60 minutes of play and possession time heavily favored the Warriors.

"We really want to keep the ball as much as we can," Brooke said. "We found against West Chicago that we played more direct. We watched the film and we weren't really sure if we even possessed it that much. So we've worked in practice about playing the ball to feet and trying to beat teams that way."

When you see the experience that permeates Wheaton Academy's roster, it's hard to imagine that the Warriors graduated 10 seniors from their 2008 team.

Then when you see Jeff Brooke's team on the field, it's even more difficult to consider that this team hasn't been together for years.

"We had a bunch of younger kids, sophomores and a freshman, last year," Varga said. "They came up and a lot of them were starting and they're older this year. It's good for us."

Still, there have been some significant changes to the roster, although the Warriors started six seniors on Saturday.

"I think the guys have gained a little bit of confidence after losing 10 seniors from last year," Brooke said. "It's a good week to build on and now we go into some bigger games. People say to me 'you lost 10 seniors and nine starters, so is this a rebuilding year?' It's definitely not.

"We have guys who play year-round and who play at a very high level club-wise. Many of these guys had a significant role in last year's team. So no, it's not a rebuilding year."

Warriors player of the match: Tim Daniels

By Darryl Mellema

Junior Tim Daniels was the Warriors' leading goalscorer in 2008 and had a solid overall season. He finished with 11 goals and nine assists. This year, he already has five goals and three assists.

"We come out every time playing for our school, our God and our teammates," Daniels said. "We try to play the same way every time we come out."

Damiels is one of a number of midfielders who moves freely into attacking spaces in Wheaton Academy's 4-5-1 formation.

"Tim Daniels just provides an incredible level of skill in the middle of the field," Wheaton Academy coach Jeff Brooke said. "We're really trying to have him have a sense to go to goal a lot. We want him, in spaces, to be selfish for us."

Although the Warriors have not been seriously tested yet, Brooke said he knows that time is fast-approaching.

"We see (Daniels) moving toward contributing in those big games," Brooke said. "We're not totally relying on him. We have other guys who can step up and contribute, too."