May 2008 Archives

Every year, the Downstate teams are wondering about Chicago teams, and the Chicago teams are wondering about the Downstate teams.

So leave it up to your favorite blog, Cornerkicks, to give you the best scouting report out there. And make sure to pick up Friday's Sun-Times for a complete Class AA state preview, All-Area Girls Soccer Team and the 2008 Sun-Times Girls Soccer Player of the Year.

Until then, here's a look at Althoff, which will face Homewood-Flossmoor at 1 p.m.:

Makes some of the so-called "soccer experts," who sit in the stands and on message boards under made up names, realize there are a lot of other teams out there that can hang with the so-called elite group in girls soccer.

From U-High, H-F and Maine South to St. Ignatius, Hersey and others, this year and the postseason showed the gap is narrowing. Now why that is - that's for a different discussion. I really just shake my head when people go out and watch or play the same team year after year after year after year after year. As I said the other day, Monday was the first time I appeared at New Trier stadium in two years. New Trier was a great team, but it wasn't the only team around the past five years.

FINALLY: Homewood-Flossmoor will become the first team from the south suburbs to advance to the Class AA state finals other than a team from Sandburg or either of the Lincoln-Ways. And outside of Providence's appearance in Class A a few years back, no other south suburban program has advanced to the state quarterfinals.

THE POWER OF THE VIDEO: After losing to Fenwick in consecutive Class A sectional finals a few years ago, St. Ignatius coach Aaron Carpenter showed his team a video of the Bulls finally beating the Pistons in the NBA Playoffs back in the early 1990s. The Wolfpack went on to beat Fenwick that year. And guess what Carpenter pulled out of the video room on Monday before St. Ignatius played in its third consecutive supersectional game? That's right - the same video.

TOUGH LUCK: You sort of have to feel for Lemont coach Rick Prangen today. His team fell to H-F in a shootout last night, which was the latest tough defeat in a supersectional game for one of his squads. But it also marked another step forward for the girls program with the supersectional appearance. On the boys side, he suffered a handful of tough supersectional losses to Rich East and Lincoln-Way Central before leading his first boys team to the state quarterfinals last fall.

A little bit of this and that...

COMING FRIDAY: A so-called 'Player of the Year' doesn't have to be the best player from the best team - right? Can anyone find me a stat more interesting than this one - Naperville Central scored 21 goals in 2007 and 64 in 2008 playing against the same schedule with basically the same team returning. The one BIG difference - Florida State-bound Casey Short played this spring for the Redhawks. We're not talking a 10- or 20-goal difference - but a 43-goal improvement.

WHO NEEDS TWO? Were there more people in attendance at the Class A state finals Friday or more that went through the doors at the local Panera Bread right down the street from North Central College? (You get my drift).

GREAT MOMENTS: As much as I pound on the need for an updated state tournament format to eliminate the AYSO feeling from the IHSA playoffs, I will continue to say what I've said for years - there is no better feeling than competiting for your high school with the student body and community cheering you on in the stands.

OVERHEARD: Despite trailing 2-1 at the half to St. Ignatius on Monday in the New Trier Supersectional, a player from Glenbrook South told her teammates at the half - "I don't care if we lose 7-1, I want us to have fun and walk off the field at the end of the game proud of what we've accomplished this season."

Glenbrook South puts an end to New Trier's consecutive state run. Homewood-Flossmoor and St. Ignatius are back in the same spot, can they take the next step?

Hersey beats Fremd for the third time to advance to Monday's round of 16, and Lemont also moved on. Waubonsie is back in the super again - surprise, surprise. Last year, it was St. Charles East. This year, it's St. Charles North in its way.

Downers South sent the IHSA a thank you card for moving it out of the Naperville-area sectional, and the Mustangs are hoping to give coach Barry Jacobson - Mr. 400 - his first state crown.

Of the six area supersectionals, six of the remaining 12 teams in those games played in the Pepsi Showdown this past April.

And maybe come Monday, the warm weather will finally arrive and stick around for more than 12 hours.

As a follow up to yesterday's blog about Marian Catholic coach Nasser Shahtaji, the stage is now set. I received this email from Shahtaji today, and it adds even more to the storyline that I spoke about in yesterday's blog.

Nasser Shahtaji has been around since I began covering soccer in 1995.

But how many people know about Shahtaji? How many people know the amount of time he dedicated to the Homewood-Flossmoor soccer programs during the 1990s? How many people know the amount of time he's dedicated to the Marian Catholic programs? How many times has the IHSSCA honored him?

Shahtaji's team advanced to the Lincoln-Way Central Sectional Final on Monday in what will be Shahtaji's final season as head coach at Marian Catholic. But here's the ironic twist - he could be facing his former program, H-F, if the Vikings knock off Andrew on Tuesday night.

You want a storyline - there is none better than this one come Thursday night.

On Monday, Latin and Parker will battle for the Class A Peotone Sectional title at 6 p.m. For those of you who don't know, the rivals are located less than a mile from one another off of Clark St. in Chicago's Lincoln Park neighborhood.

Now tell me something...how many students do you think are going to get in their cars, sit in traffic on the Dan Ryan during rush hour and drive down I-57? Wait, before you try to answer that - how many students at Latin or Parker even know where Peotone is at?

I know things need to be set in advance - I do. But come on folks, common sense has to set in at some point right? Parker has a quality field, and I know Latin coach Tom Bower wouldn't mind playing at Parker to allow the student bodies from both schools a realistic opportunity to support their teams.

Where would we be without email and the web? I mean seriously? If we didn't have either, how would I have received this email and then been able to share it with you about the IHSA-YSO:

"Joe, Man, you weren't kidding about that field. What a turnip patch. The refs at the game didn't know the rules regarding overtime in the playoffs. I don't know if they deliberately tried to job us or what, but they made us play two mandatory OTs WITHOUT a golden goal. We scored in the first 10-minute OT and they made us play a second 10-minute OT - not that we should have even been in OT (like 20 shots shanked wide), but come on. How can three refs ALL get it wrong, and not listen to me?"

If you look at the Class A and AA scores from Tuesday, I'm sure you saw the same thing I did - 7-0, 10-0, 9-0, 10-0, 8-0. I'm trying to contain my excitement as I type this from all the enthusiasm created from those results.

Each year, I look at what the NCAA does with more interest. Late last year, the IHSA wanted to go down the same road the NCAA did regarding picture profits. It had hoped to restrict the media from selling photos from state finals events. If the IHSA is that worried about the mighty dollar bill, here's an idea that will not only help its pockets - but the interest level of the current AYSO-tournament format.

(Hey, what can I say - I'm here to help...)

For the past year, you've read right here about the lack of soccer fields in the city. You know I've basically asked everyone except the Pope to step up and help.

And I know many of you have understood my frustration of late with the Protect the Parks group that should be spending less time with the birds, bees and worms and more time in "common sense land" to understand that the Chicago Park District and Latin High School should be praised for the $2 million turf soccer field being built in Lincoln Park.

If you don't believe me, here's what Mayor Daley had to say yesterday about the so-called controversial field that one group is trying to block: "It's a great thing," Daley said. "We have enough meadows up there. We have beautiful, beautiful recreation facilities up there. It's recreation. It's just adjacent to all the baseball and softball diamonds. Your want people to use the park. Parks are for people. You need soccer, and soccer is a big thing."

As we were trying to figure out the coverage schedule today for upcoming regional action, I'm not going to lie - I didn't see too many good games in store for this week.

Do you?

Again, I'll ask the question - is high school soccer down even more this year or is the gap growing once again between the premier and average teams?

*There's Waubonsie Valley and then everyone else this spring. I keep saying that. And why shouldn't I? I mean, hey, at least someone finally scored on the Warriors. Thanks St. Charles East for making things semi interesting.

*You have to love school public relations officials. They mean well, but many of them live in such a political fog that they have a hard time realizing the difference between an apple and orange.

Here’s the latest example a co-worker and I spoke about, making us both realize once again that some people just don’t get it.

I'll be the first to voice a thought for change, but I'll also be the first to praise.

And that's something the Public League deserves for Thursday night's title game at North Park University in Chicago.

The game between Payton and Young was on a quality field under the lights, which allowed a good crowd to turnout to watch Young's 1-0 shootout victory. Public League sports adminstration leaders Calvin Davis and Juan Espinoza did a nice job with the awards after the match, and the Public League coaches association came through big as it always does.

I've always been impressed with what North Park has done with a tiny little space, finding a home for a baseball, softball, football and soccer field on the same piece of land. Maybe that's something the Public League should look into and create a "Public League sports complex."

After spending the morning at the dentist, I thought about this driving back into the city:

What's the big deal?

We all know about Latin's $2 million deal with the Chicago Park District to build a new synthetic turf athletic field in south Lincoln Park. The Protect our Parks folks filed a lawsuit last month, asking a judge to scrap the deal even though 60 percent of the field is already completed.

We live in one of the largest cities in the country, but only have a handful of quality soccer fields in the city. I don't care about behind-the-scene deals or other things like that, because at the end of the day this is good for everyone involved - http://www.suntimes.com/news/commentary/936021,CST-EDT-edit07a.article

New day, same story with the Public League. I'm tired of writing about it, as much as suburban folks are tired of reading about it.

US Youth Soccer announced its grant-award winners today. And guess what - surprise, surprise - the Public League isn't on there. Why? Because it didn't apply. Amazing.

When will someone at Chicago Public Schools step up and address its poor field situation and look toward the future to fix this problem? Illinois Youth Soccer was able to get a grant for its Inner City Program, and the Public League can't even take the time to apply for FREE help. Amazing.

Here's the release:

I had a parent call me the other day, and he was complaining about a certain area coach. While some parents are right on about lazy coaches, I wish I would've kept track of the number of parents that have called me over the years to complain about a coach.

Maybe it was the era I grew up in, but I never complained about a coach. A coach was like a teacher or parent. Whether you liked it or not, they were always right - period. At least that was the way my Dad saw it.

So after I hung up the phone, I started to wonder if there has ever been a coach from a high-profile program that not one parent has ever complained to me about. And while there has to be more than one, the first name that popped in my mind was Fremd coach Steve Keller.

I've always been a fan of Keller's. He knows the game as well as anyone; has the right vision for his players; demands respect and has earned it from his peers; has quality assistant coaches; has always been honest with me about opposing players; takes time to promote his players and the sport; and also encourages the IHSA on a yearly basis to improve its product.

But most of all, he's one of the classiest guys around.

So just how far can York go in the postseason, which begins later this week?

If you ask coach Rachael Shepherd, she'll tell you the Dukes have a good chance to continue to open eyes - just as they have all spring. And when it comes to which player is York's MVP, Shepherd has a few thoughts, too.

"You know me, I can't say one person who is playing well this year," Shepherd said. "I've got a whole team of girls playing well - Michelle Corbett, Colleen Sestan, Danielle Vujovic, Jasmine Watkins, Ashley Fendley, Michelle Nielsen, Kylen Mills, Nikki Novarro, Katie Gratzianna, Allie Cicinelli, Stef Matsas, Ashley Bowman, etc. And the best player I have seen this year - I'll get back to you. My first gut is Michelle Corbett and Danielle Vujovic."

You have to love a coach who stands up for his or her players.

One coach said it was a form of child abuse, playing three games in less than 24 hours. Parents, coaches and players were not happy with this year's Lemont Cup, which took place this past weekend.

I received a call about the tournament schedule two weeks ago, and didn't think much about it. Then on Saturday, I received four calls and five emails from coaches and parents asking what the deal was? Here is one of the emails I received Saturday that explains it all and saves me from typing it out:

"Joe, Have you heard of the Lemont Cup? It seems to be the most amateurly organized and planned soccer tourney I've ever seen. York and Lincoln Way East play two games Friday night (4:30 and 7:30 each) - then York follows up with a third tourney game today at 12:30 (against a team that didn't play at all last night). Needless to say, they were exhausted and lost. Like 11 girls dragging through quicksand. Who plans games like this? Who decides that making 15 to 18 year-old-girls play three games in 20 hours is a good thing? It wasn't hard to notice that Lemont certainly didn't have a schedule like that. Throw in a field that was drenched and uncut - - no website for the tourney - - no directions online (who knew that Lemont's facilities were no where near Lemont HS?) - - well, it makes a parent appreciate your efforts with the Pepsi Showdown (or the efforts of organizers for other tourneys, e.g., Naperville) that much more. I'm hoping my local school turns down any further invitations to this tournament, as I don't believe the organizers had the best interests of the teams and girls in mind. Anyway, since you're the prep soccer "bigfoot" of the area, I thought I'd pass on some of these thoughts, vent a bit, and get your reaction."

News and notes about the 2009 Pepsi Showdown girls tournament:

1. Out-of-state teams will be added to the mix, which will give more flex scheduling for the two Saturdays.

2. Additional play-in teams will be added to the tournament on the two Saturdays.

3. Club showcases will take place on both Saturdays. These club showcases will feature a number of eighth grade teams from different areas. The goal here is to promote the event and the high school game to these kids. It also will allow high school coaches to see what's coming up the pipeline.

The Fifth Annual Pepsi Showdown boys tournament kicks off in September.

Her father, Matt, played a key role in helping the Chicago Bears capture the 1986 Super Bowl.

And it's safe to say Allison Suhey is also succeeding on the football field - but only at a different sport.

The Loyola standout, who earned all-sectional honors a year ago, leads the Ramblers with 14 goals and six assists this spring. The next highest goal scorer on Loyola's roster has three goals this season.

There was a time when Homewood-Flossmoor had one of the strongest girls soccer programs in the south suburbs and the Chicagoland area.

Just ask Waubonsie Valley coach Julie Bergstrom , who starred for the Vikings during her high school playing days.

After a few so-so seasons, H-F seems as though its ready to complete with the elite programs once again. A big reason for the Vikings' success this spring has been due to the play of freshman Kelly Lewers (13 goals, nine assists).

"She is playing well against good competition," H-F coach Todd Elkei said. "Kelly is becoming a serious threat and making a difference the past few weeks."

Maine South gained the experience of being in the state quarterfinals a year ago. Now the question is if the Hawks can return?

I say yes and here's why - Jenna Shemky and Gabby Whittinghill. If this duo plays to its potiental in the postseason, Maine South will be back at North Central College battling one of the area's top programs in this year's quarterfinals.

The sophomore Shemky has 20 goals and four assists, while Whittinghill has 12 goals and 14 assists.

"Despite fighting through a hamstring injury, Jenna still has proven dangerous scoring against Glenbrook South and Evanston of late," Maine South coach JJ Crawford said. "She has a burst that can put her in scoring positions at key moments of the match. As for Gabby, making the switch from midfield to forward has proven a success. She always finds a way to get a head on the ball."

That's one of the best quotes of the year - "If it's you and her in the 79th minute- good luck!" But that's exactly how Stagg coach Mike Kealy feels about junior forward Theresa Coverick.

"She is a three-year varsity player that has been stellar throughout the season," Kealy said. "This past week, she scored the game winner against Andrew, hitting a left-footed bender to the far side of the net. On Wednesday night, she had a hat trick and an assist in 30 minutes of play against Bolingbrook. The move from outside midfielder to forward has sparked our attack the second half of the season. She is an all-around great young lady, who has been a model of consistency. She's a competitor, who leads by example during both practice and matches. What separates Theresa from other players is her competitive fire, as well as her extremely high level of fitness."

The standout honors student-athlete also is a member of the Stagg girls cross country team that finished 11th in the 3A state meet last fall.

It may seem like Jasmine Espino has been around forever, but the Young midfielder is only a junior. There's no doubt that brings a smile to coach Ian McCarthy's face knowing that Espino will be back again next spring. Currently, the unselfish playmaker has 14 goals and 12 assists.

But another city player to keep an eye on is Young junior defender Joanna Helm.

"Joanna is an attacking back that used to be a midfielder," McCarthy said. "She is a strong defensive player who gets into the attack for crosses and shots on goal."

Helm has three goals and seven assists for the Dolphins.

Former Wheaton Academy coach Chip Huber has always been a favorite of mine. The guy is just a great all-around person - period.

I received an email from him late Thursday, and it's something that everyone should see:

"If you get a chance to check out this exhibit, it is an incredibly worthwhile experience. We just hosted it here at Wheaton Academy and had 2,700 people come thru it. It makes the reality of what kids experience in Africa come alive like nothing else except for going there. It runs May 2-5 at Faith Apostolic Church - http://www.worldvisionexperience.org/event_info.php?event_id=105