Knights preparing for upcoming postseason play.
By Mike Miazga
Correspondent
While recent results would not indicate it on paper, the IC Catholic Prep boys soccer team is moving in the right direction.
In recent play, the Knights lost 3-1 to Elmwood Park, 6-1 to De La Salle, 5-1 to Aurora Central Catholic, 3-0 to Niles Notre Dame, 5-2 to Nazareth Academy, 3-1 to Chicago Christian, 5-0 to Ridgewood and 7-0 to Elgin St. Edward. The Knights defeated Aurora Christian 3-2, defeated Walther Christian 7-1 and lost to Timothy Christian 6-1 after being down only 2-0 at halftime.
The Knights were 3-11 overall through late last week.
Coach Javier Andrade zeroed in on the game against Niles Notre Dame in particular. “We played well defensively against Notre Dame,” he said. “They had been destroying everybody 8-0 and 9-0 and it was only 3-0 against us.”
He also was impressed with his squad’s play against Timothy Christian. “Timothy Christian was a great game for the kids,” said Andrade. “They played well. Like I told the kids, I would rather lose fighting.”
Andrade said he’s seen his team make plenty of progress. “I have a very good feeling about the playoffs,” he said. “I’ve seen big-time improvement this year. Timothy Christian is a great team. Last year in the first half it was 8-0. This year it was 2-0. We are playing as a team. Our passing is better and our defending is much better. We play as a team and not as individuals. There is no ‘I’ in team. It’s not one person winning out there, it’s the whole team that wins a game. And that goes not just for sports, it goes for work and in life. There is no ‘I’ in anything.”
Andrade said he’s not concerned about a 3-11 record. “In games against ACC, De La Salle and Evergreen Park it was 1-1 in the first half. We played excellent,” he said. “In the second half, we got deflated. A friend of mine who is from Argentina and lives in Miami and is a soccer player, came to visit and went to a couple of our games. He said, ‘Javier, in the first half I saw a team that was not a three-year-old program. You looked like a 20-year-old program playing great soccer. And then in the second half you looked like a one-week-old program.’”
Alex Meurer had four goals in the Walther Christian win. “Alex is playing well and scoring a lot of goals for us,” said Andrade.
The team also has received boosts from the likes of goalie Zen Tverdokhlib, Tommy Sloan, William Russ, Alex Cabrera and Jack Fowler.
“Our goalie Zen T. is excellent,” said Andrade. “In the midfield Tommy connects a lot with William and on defense it’s Alex Cabrera with Jack.”
Meurer leads the team with 11 goals.
“We are playing teams that are much better than us and we are staying with them,” said Andrade. “That is encouraging to see.”
