Waubonsie puts eighty minutes together vs. St. Charles North

By Gary Larsen

If you gave coach Angelo DiBernardo a crew of middle-aged construction workers, with no soccer background whatsoever, by midseason he’d have them trying like heck to find each other’s feet and work the ball through the midfield.

You won’t ever see any kicking and chasing going on at Waubonsie Valley.

“We’ll keep trying to play the kind of soccer we have always played,” DiBernardo said during the preseason.

On Tuesday, for the second consecutive game, a Waubonsie team that features more athletes than pure soccer players treated the game the way their coach likes to see it done.

The result was a 2-0 win over visiting Upstate Eight Conference foe St. Charles North. The Warrriors put forth a good effort in Saturday’s 2-0 loss to Geneva, and elevated that play on Tuesday.

“For the first time this season, I thought we played a consistent eighty minutes,” DiBernardo said. “We came close to that against Geneva. Today we tried to play soccer for eighty minutes and the level of play was about the same from the beginning to the end.”

Warriors junior Jason O’Brien sees a positive direction ahead for this year’s squad, which improved to 7-5-1 overall, and 4-2 in the Upstate Eight with Tuesday’s win.

“At the beginning of the year we weren’t playing as a team, really,” O’Brien said. “Now, we’re keeping the ball on the ground. We’re playing better.”

On the flip side of that coin, St. Charles North coach Eric Willson is searching for answers for a North Stars squad that fell to 7-9 overall, and 1-3 in UEC play.

If you’ve watched St. Charles North play soccer under Willson, you know that the program’s tradition has been built on a bedrock of solid defensive play.

The North Stars struggled with that tradition on Tuesday.

 “It’s a little bit of everything – all kinds of little things that we can’t seem to do,” Willson said. “Defensively we dive in on a play fifty-five yards from our goal that doesn’t need to be made, and then it’s a domino effect.”

“We made a conscious effort at halftime to say ‘don’t dive in on tackles’, but that’s what led to a goal against us. Both goals, in fact.”

Tuesday’s game remained scoreless until the 49th minute, when Waubonsie Valley’s Amar Pandya sent a long free kick from midfield toward the North Stars’ goalmouth.

Waubonsie’s Oliver Mayer elevated in the box and headed home his 10th goal of the season. Mayer later contributed to the Warriors’ second goal.

“Oliver has put in a good year so far,” DiBernardo said. “He’s been one of the better two-way players that I’ve seen, and he’s an offensive threat.”

“He’s very confident taking people on up front and at midfield, and the second goal came because of his dribbling ability. “He got to the end line, beat a couple guys and crossed a ball in.”

The Warriors’ Reuel Erastus buried Mayer’s cross, and Waubonsie goalkeeper Sean Elvert made two quality saves down the stretch to preserve his squad’s fifth shutout of the season.

After a scoreless first half, the Warriors simply kept doing what they’d done for the first 40 minutes.

“(The North Stars) put a lot of pressure on the ball so we had to play it quicker. We just had to keep playing the ball around,” O’Brien said.

“There wasn’t much that needed to be said at halftime,” DiBernardo said. “Other than to tell them to keep moving off the ball, show a little bit more aggression at midfield, and create more offensive plays around the goal.”
 
“We played well from our box to their box, but once we got to their box, that’s where we got stuffed. We needed to get into the box more.”

The North Stars fought tooth-and-nail down the stretch, but couldn’t close on a goal.

“(Scoring chances) have come in waves,” Willson said. “Our attack has always come from the way that we defend – defend hard and move the ball up together. But right now we’ve got neither.”

“The effort has been there but I think we still have yet to put eighty minutes together. That’s another thing that’s been atypical for us. We normally take pride in the way that we defend, but right now that doesn’t seem to be the case.

“All we can do is keep trying to learn, keep coaching, and keep trying to get better. We won’t give up. We’ll keep working at those things.”

DiBernardo got a solid effort from Yvan Foonde up top, and he also applauded the play of O’Brien at a central defender’s spot, especially with Nik Patel and Jack Dickens absent from Tuesday’s game.

“Jason O’Brien played a strong game in the back,” DiBernardo said. “He played well in the air, he was more talkative than usual, and he’s taking more of a leadership role there with Patel being out.”

“He’s got a good sense of that position right now.”

Foonde has played in back and at midfield for the Warriors this year, but his ability to play with his back to the goal and hold the ball up top has helped give Waubonsie’s midfield time to get into the attack.

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Waubonsie Valley starters vs. SC North

St. Charles North starters vs. Waubonsie