Naperville Central wins, loses at West Aurora

By Eddie Burns

Things were beginning to look up for coach Jay Konrad and his Naperville Central squad.

The Redhawks had navigated the early portion of their schedule with only one setback while not operating at full strength.

Central received good news when Art Garza returned to the lineup for the Redhawks’ DuPage Valley Conference opener at West Aurora on Tuesday night.

However, by the end of the match, both Garza and Chris Prince were on the bench with right-leg injuries.

“Obviously, it was a very bittersweet victory,” said Konrad moments after the Redhawks scored a 2-0 win against the Blackhawks. “It is just a shame that our two Division-I players right now are both hurt. One had to get x-rays and one can barely walk.”

It was Prince who started the scoring on the game’s first play when he sent the ball 55 yards through the air and caught West Aurora goalie Abel Diaz out of position.

Six seconds into the match the Redhawks led 1-0.

“When you have great players who recognize what is going on down on the field those types of things happen,” Konrad said. “West’s goalie was paying high and Chris hit a beauty of a ball. Even if their goalie was in the right position Chris still may have scored. You had a skilled kid, a lot of luck from where it went, but he is a great player and great players get lucky sometimes.”

According to the IHSA web site, Prince’s goal would qualify as the third fastest scored in state history. The record belongs to Fisher’s Dan Malloch who scored in 0:00.11 against Gilman Iroquois on Oct. 15, 2000.

“To shoot from 55 yards out you have to have some talent and some skill,” West Aurora coach Joe Sustersic said. “That is just the shooter and the goalie. The goalie was standing out 12-14 yards out of his net and Prince recognized it and made a play. It was a great shot from Prince. It deflated us immediately.”

The Redhawks (5-1-1, 1-0 DVC) continued to apply pressure and it resulted in Joe Yarshen’s goal in the 11th minute.

Central’s Colin Rook put the scoring play into motion when he sent a free kick from midfield into West’s penalty area. The ball ricocheted off a Blackhawk defender right Yarshen, who sent a shot past Diaz and into the net for a 2-0 lead.

From there, the Redhawks’ defense took over.

“We did a great job of not allowing them to get behind us,” Konrad said.

Defenders Peter Beasley, Connor Cunningham, Colin Rook, Jeremy Kaden among others consistently put themselves in position to assist goalie Cam Thulin by blocking several West shots. John Franzese saved a goal by clearing the ball of the line in the closing minutes.

Konrad said with Garza and Prince out other players must increase their rolls.

“We have great kids and we have some great leaders,” Konrad said. “Peter Beasley and Colin Rook are our center backs – they need to make sure they are in charge of everything in front of them. Andy Miltonberger is a senior center midfielder and was one of the few guys who was with us last year, he needs to step up. We have Benet on Saturday and that is not an easy task.

My guys need to man up and say, ‘This is what we do. We’re Central. We’ve got depth. We’re a quality program and we’ve got to get it done.’”

2009 Schedule
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Redhawks starters vs. West Aurora