 |
|
Wheaton North unkind hosts to visiting Wheaton Academy By Gary Larsen
Or sometimes four. The Falcons’ win over visiting Wheaton Academy on Monday marked the first time this year that Wheaton North has posted four goals in a game, blanking the Warriors 4-0 in Wheaton. Wheaton North built a 2-0 lead by the mid-point of the first half on a pair of Josh Bennett goals, and scored twice more after the break while holding a normally dangerous Warriors attack at bay. “We’ve had trouble with that the last couple of games, and we’ve talked a lot about how we need to step it up,” North’s Pat Langan said. “Once we score, we can’t back down at all. We have to keep up the intensity and just put them away. We have to bury them.” The Falcons led 1-0 on arch rival Wheaton Warrenville South but lost 3-1 last week, and tied 2-2 against a fine attacking team in West Aurora. “Coming into last week’s games, we knew we were competitive,” Cann said. “But we played South and West Aurora, who are probably going to compete for the DVC title, and we gave up three goals and two goals respectively.” “That was the first time we’ve given up multiple goals, so for the last four days we were really hammering over our defensive posture, being patient, and playing fundamentally sound in the back.” With goalkeeper Nick Barry anchoring things for the Falcons, playing fundamentally sound in back makes everything a little bit easier. The senior has been rock-solid since the seasons’ start. “It all starts with Barry,” Langan said. “He keeps us in every game, he distributes the ball well, and he sees everything.” The Falcons came out like gangbusters on Monday, pressing into the Warriors’ defensive third and firing high and wide on consecutive shots through the game’s third minute. North’s Mike Lenzi created the chance that gave North its first goal, five minutes in. Lenzi brought the ball up the end line on the left side and fired, and Josh Bennett was there to clean it up to the back netting from point-blank range. Immediately after the goal, Cann could be heard urging his side to remember the lessons of last week’s play, and not let down after earning an early lead. North continued to have the better of play through 15 minutes, and Bennett struck again in the 16th on an assist by Langan. “We refocused on using (strong defensive play) as a springboard to get our attack going, and what we saw tonight was a very consistent defensive effort,” Cann said. “We had a very small number of breakdowns, which led to a very small number of direct opportunities.” “When you do that you’ll give yourself a chance to win the game, by making good offensive plays. We were opportunistic. We stuck some chances home. There really weren’t very many good opportunities on frame for either side.” To that point, Wheaton Academy was dangerous mainly dangerous on long Alex Varga throw-ins, but Barry handled every potential chance to keep things clean to halftime. Wheaton Academy found its attacking third with more regularity in the second half, but a Lenzi head shot goal in the 50th minute put the visiting Warriors in a 3-0 hole. When Langan cut a ball back to his left and scored from 16 yards out on a Bennett feed in the 67th minute, North became only the second team all year to put four goals in on Wheaton Academy. “It’s a rivalry for us and we knew they had a good team,” Cann said. “We knew it would take a good effort, and when you’re opportunistic and you play good defense, that will spell out to good results most of the time.” The win improved Wheaton North’s record at home to 2-2-2, and gave the Falcons a 4-4-4 record overall. |
Men of the match: By Gary Larsen
With fellow attacking senior Mike Lenzi on the shelf with a knee injury to start the season, Pat Langan and Josh Bennett have done all they can to help spark Wheaton North’s attack in 2009. They did plenty in Monday’s 4-0 win over visiting Wheaton Academy. “Bennett had a couple of goals and an assist, and I thought Pat did some real productive things in the middle, kind of holding things down,” Cann said. “Those two guys have been playing real well for us all year.” “They’ve been our workhorses.” A now-healthy Lenzi keyed the Falcons’ first goal of the game with a romp up the end line and a shot that deflected to Bennett, who buried the first of his two goals on the night. Langan assisted on Bennett’s second goal, putting North up 2-0 by the game’s 16th minute. “We came out like that against (Wheaton Warrenville) South, too, and went up 1-0 early,” Bennett said. “We wanted to come out with that spark again tonight.” Langan and Lenzi each scored in the second half to put the game away, against a Warriors team that very rarely gets shut out of goal. “We knew they were going to be solid because they’re solid every year,” said Langan, after scoring his sixth goal of the year. “It started in the back and we just had to work our way up from there.” Bennett finished on his fourth and fifth goals this season, and his explanation for North’s attacking success was simple. “The defense would get the ball, they’d find Pat at center mid, he’d feed it to Lenzi, and he’d flick it to me or Jacques (Ntahoturi) on the outside,” Bennett said. “And that breaks down a defense.” |
Look at Wheaton North’s pedigree under coach Bryce Cann and you see a program that plays a top-shelf schedule, doesn’t give up many goals, and fights in every game to finish on a ball or two.
