Team overcomes a rocky start to the season to bring home trophy for Red Devils
Hinsdale Central's Evan Posthuma heads the ball during the third-place game against Edwardsville Saturday at the state tournament in Hoffman Estates.
Matt Gantar keeps the ball away from opponents. Later he scored one of Central's three tallies during the game. (Jim Slonoff photos)
Kostas Zamalaitis drives the ball past the Edwardsville keeper to register one of three goals the Red Devils made in the first 25 minutes of the game.
Off a corner kick, Nathaniel Lin heads the ball toward the goal as teammate Enzo Cinque looks on. Austen Szurgot battles with his Edwardsville counterpart for possession of the ball.
The Hinsdale Central boys varsity soccer team not only made its first appearance at the IHSA state tournament since 2014 last weekend, it beat Edwardsville 3-1 to earn third place and a spot on the podium.
An unlikely finish for a team that started out the season 1-6-1, but head coach Mike Wiggins said the players were extremely resilient, hard-working and committed athletes who persevered game after game.
"It was not just a difficult start to the year, it was handling the moments throughout the year that they never wavered," Wiggins said. "We'd go down a goal and we'd fight back and take a lead. We'd play LT to the last 9 seconds of the game and give up a goal to tie it, then win in overtime."
The team had a rough start to the state tournament, dropping its first game 1-0 to Hersey Friday, Nov. 5. But the players weren't shaken.
"We weren't really new to hard times and adversity," said senior Denis Altman. "That's basically our season.
"I think we just came out on a stronger front foot," he added. "We weren't really unmotivated by the loss the previous night."
Junior Antonio Azzo agreed.
"We really just kept the motivation that we had one game left and had to make the best of it, especially with a lot of seniors on the team," Azzo said.
Wiggins reminded the guys before the Saturday morning game that they were part of a historic season and had the support of many program alumni.
"It didn't surprise me that we got three goals in the first 25 minutes," he said.
Kristof Dani, Kostas Zamalaitis and Matt Gantar each scored a goal. Dani also picked up an assist, as did Austen Szurgot. Edwardsville answered with a single goal on a penalty kick 56 minutes into the game.
Central fans were out in force to support the team at Hoffman Estates.
"We had a lot of friends come out to cheer us on and lot of our parents who had been supporting us through the whole season," Azzo said. "They really motivated us. Even the people on the bench gave us a lot of energy out on the field."
Wiggins said there's nothing like Central's cheering section.
"When you hear them and you come across the other side of the field and they are screaming and cheering and yelling and you hear that roar when good things happen, it's special," he said. "I think our guys felt that."
The state tournament was a fitting end to an amazing season. Wiggins said things started to turn around when Central beat a highly ranked Oak Park team 3-2 on Sept. 24. Before long, the Red Devils had beaten two more ranked teams and racked up a five-game winning streak.
"I don't think I can recall in recent memory a time that we had beat Oak Park, Naperville Central, LT, three games in a row, all ranked, and we did it in a season where the kids started 1-6-1," Wiggins said.
Setting the goal of winning conference might have been the turning point for the team. And the seniors worked hard to motivate the team throughout the season, Azzo said.
"They just gave us a clear goal that we had set and I think that's one of the reasons we were able to turn our season around," he said.
Altman pointed to the great dynamic on the coaching staff, which welcomed new assistant coach Tim McEvilly.
"He just goes unnoticed, but he does so much behind the scenes," Altman said. "He brought so many positive things to the team."
Although the team would have loved to capture the championship, Altman said he has no regrets.
"We stayed consistent. We stayed routine. That's what Coach Wiggins always preaches," he said. "For myself, I don't think it could have gone any better."
