Hinsdale Central earns shutout in WSS season opener

By Gary Larsen

Hinsdale Central spent the first half of Tuesday’s game against visiting Proviso West seeing 14 legitimately dangerous whacks at goal fly far and wide.

The Red Devils figured it was a matter of time.

“You have to trust that the pressure is going to give at some point,” Red Devils coach Mike Wiggins said. “At halftime we asked the guys what they were seeing, and they said they just needed to keep pressing.”

Eric Loebig was prominent throughout the eventual 2-0 home win in Central’s first West Suburban Silver game of the young season. The senior scored the game’s first goal in the second half, after having a goal called back in the first.

“We were composed in the second half and kept working hard," Loebig said. "We just need to finish on more of our chances."

Through 40 minutes the Red Devils established a pattern that ultimately resulted in a win, in their first West Suburban Silver game of the year.

“We identified the space in behind and wanted to make sure we didn’t give up the counter,” Wiggins said. “We wanted to make sure they weren’t able to find a guy up top who could exploit space behind us.”

Mitch Reavis netted his fifth goal of the season  after Loebig broke the ice, and Central’s Jack O’Donnell swatted away a good Proviso chance up near the crossbar to preserve his second shutout of the year.

“Taylor Cole is always very consistent, and smooth in his decision-making,” Wiggins said. “He always has the ability to play a game-breaking ball so he’s always dangerous from that sense.”

After going 1-1-1 during last week’s Red Devil Cup play, Tuesday’s win upped the Red Devils’ season record to 3-2-2. Loebig sees positive things ahead from a team mixed with veterans and newcomers learning the varsity trade.

“Everyone is kind of settling in,” Loebig said. “Some of the underclassmen are getting their feet under them, and we’re progressing as a team. We’ll just look to peak at the right time.”

Michael Oleszkiewicz and Robbie LaRocque were typically prominent in the attack, for a squad still in the process of cutting its teeth offensively.

“We haven’t had a chance to really settle in on anything to this point,” Wiggins said. “We’ve had guys in and out of the lineup with different nagging things. The ability is here. It’s just trying to put all the pieces together at the right time.”

Like all coaches, Wiggins sees room for improvement – win, lose, or draw.

“We were still exposed. When you get a number of chances like that you start to find yourself standing around, waiting for that easy ball as opposed to working hard to create space for each other,” Wiggins said.

“Even though chances were coming early and often, we found ourselves getting lazy in spots. So that was a concern. We can’t afford to be like that.”

The Red Devils will load up the bus and head to Indianapolis to play in this weekend’s Great Midwest Classic tournament, which includes Illinois teams Barrington and Downers Grove South.

Chaminade of St. Louis, Lexington Catholic and Trinity high schools of Kentucky, and Avon high of Indiana join the tournament, hosted by North Central high school of Indianapolis.

Oleszkiewicz, who assisted on both of Loebig's goals against Proviso West, made the all-tournament team at last year’s Classic.

“It’s an opportunity to see how we measure up to some of the best competition in the Midwest,” Wiggins said. “We always look forward to it.”

Man of the match: Eric Loebig

By Gary Larsen

Red Devils senior Eric Loebig can and will move around the field to suit whatever game situation coach Mike Wiggins foresees.

Loebig has played on the outside at midfield this year, and in Tuesday's 2-0 win over Proviso West he found himself in the central midfield.

"I'll play wherever. I don't care one way or another," Loebig said.

Loebig was prominent throughout Tuesday's win in Hinsdale, and scored a second-half goal that finally kicked down the door and led to the win.

Loebig had a goal called back in the first half, and seemed to be involved in every play in the attacking third.

“They called offside on the first one," Loebig said. "I had to get one back after that."

“That’s the nice thing about this group," Wiggins said. "We have the ability to move guys around depending on who we’re playing and what matchups we’re seeing."

“Eric is certainly one of those guys.”

Hinsdale Central starters vs. Proviso West