Suburban Life boys soccer notebook: Glenbard West on a roll after rough stretch, extends win streak to seven

Fresh off of winning the Plainfield North Tournament on Saturday, Glenbard West extended its winning streak to seven games after a 2-1 win at Proviso West on Tuesday.

“We had a little rough stretch where we played six ranked opponents in seven games,” Hilltoppers coach Phil Wicyk said. “We’ve found our stride these past (seven) games.”

Glenbard West (11-3-1, 2-1) opened the season with four straight victories before going 0-3-1 in its next four games.

“We started off the season flying,” Wicyk said. “Against Stevenson we got a red card late and lost 1-0 and then we went to South Elgin and gave up two goals and lost, and then gave up two silly goals against OPRF and lost in OT after being up 1-0. We tied Lake Park 2-2 after giving up a goal in the last three minutes of the game.”

In addition to the 1-0 win over Plainfield North to win the tournament, the Hilltoppers picked up a thrilling win in a PK shootout to beat Lyons on Sept. 16 during their streak.

Goalkeeper Nolan Borgman (10 goals allowed, six shutouts this fall) had a pair of saves in the 8-7 shootout against Lyons.

Borgman was named to the Plainfield North Tournament’s all-tourney team along with Alex Ginder (nine goals, 10 assists on the season), Peter Alexopoulos, Owen Ashmore and senior center back Diego Navarro Saavedra, who was named the tourney MVP.

Wicyk said Navarro Saavedra, Ashmore, Holden Glibkowski, Colin Semple and Dylan Huerta are working extremely well together as the backline in front of Borgman. While Ginder is leading the attack, senior forward Stefan Aps (seven goals, one assist) and Harry Olechowski (one goal, five assists) are contributing to the offense.

“This week we have Proviso West and the Glenbard Cup starts,” Wicyk. “We’ve gotten past the hardest part of our schedule school-wise and now we have to take care of business.”

Morton suffers setback

Morton dropped a 2-0 game to undefeated Lane Tech (11-0) on Saturday.

It was the first loss for the Mustangs since a 2-1 setback against Naperville Central in its opener on Aug. 25.

Morton (10-2-2, 3-0) also has played to a pair of 1-1 ties against undefeated Naperville North (9-0-3) and Peoria Notre Dame (6-3-2).

The team bounced back, returning to its winning ways on Tuesday with a 3-0 win at home against Addison Trail to remain perfect in the West Suburban Gold.

“We’re playing Top 20 teams day in and out and it makes for a learning curve for us to grow,” Morton coach Jim Bageanis said. “I’m glad that we played a tough schedule because we’re pretty much battle-tested. We have to finish the chances when we get them, especially against better teams. We’re working to get better for the playoffs. We want to win conference and want to be ready for playoff time without a lot of injuries.”

What a difference

Willowbrook (3-7, 2-0) took a 9-1 beating against Hinsdale South a season ago.

It was a much different game on Tuesday as the Warriors rolled to a 4-1 win in Darien while simultaneously ruining the host’s Senior Night.

“Felt good to come and sort of spoil their Senior Night as they did to us last year,” Willowbrook coach Al Ramirez said. “Game was very high intense and physical. We didn’t find out about Senior Night until we arrived so it made the game much more motivating for us. We also knew what implications it had on the conference standings so staying on pace to challenge for the title is what we are striving for this season.”

Junior forward Brayden Dotson had a hat trick and senior forward Brayan Vazquez also scored. Senior defender Dean Soltys had assists on all three of Dotson’s goals while freshman Hamza Abdoussi also had an assist.

Nail-biters for Lyons

Lyons, which would love to be playing in the 3A super sectional it is hosting later this fall, has been in some battles recently with each of its past six games being decided by a single goal or less.

Lyons (8-3-2, 2-1) was able to compile a 3-2-1 record during that stretch which most recently included a 2-1 overtime victory against Downers Grove North on Tuesday.

Lyons has only allowed nine goals through 13 games.

Not a double play combo

Glenbard South (2-5-5) owns one of the odder looking records which includes Saturday’s 2-1 loss to Marmion (10-1-1) and Tuesday’s draw against Ridgewood (2-7-1).

The Raiders also have tied St. Francis, Providence, Hinsdale South and Larkin. Their wins have come against Montini (1-10) and Nazareth (1-10). Their five losses to Fenton, Geneva, Glenbard East, Proviso West and the Cadets are teams with a combined 33-9-8 mark.