Varsity The team hosted Nazareth in the regional semifinals on Tuesday night. In the first minute of the game, Diego Castellanos played a great through ball to Jimmy Martin who chipped the ball over the goalie and unfortunately missed just wide. The team fell behind 1-0 in the first half after about ten minutes and still trailed at halftime. The team needed to pick up the speed of play in the second half. A couple of unfortunate mistakes led to us falling behind 3-0 with 30 minutes to go. The team continued to battle after Jake Lu scored from near the end line after a scramble in the box following a corner kick. The team continued to press and create chances through Jimmy and Diego. The defense also cut off any chances for Nazareth to score. Johnny Flores Ruiz cut our deficit to 3-2 with ten minutes left after a great finish from Diego's free kick. The team continued to push, but unfortunately could not find the equalizer and our season came to an end with a 3-2 loss. We want to thank the players for a great year and all of the effort that they put into it.
Week of October 10th
Varsity The team ended their regular season this week with two conference games. We started the week with a rainy game against Addison Trail. We fell behind 1-0 before Jake Lu scored a great goal from the top of the box into the side netting to even the game at 1-1. We went into halftime trailing 2-1. Jacob Charters played very well defensively throughout the game and Diego Castellanos helped to organize the attack. The team ultimately fell 5-1. The team finished their regular season with a 10-0 loss against a very strong Morton team.
On Tuesday night, we had the chance to honor our nine seniors at Senior Night. We want to thank them for their leadership and dedication to the program over their time in high school. Our seniors this year were: Feras Alnass, Owen Atkinson, Diego Castellanos, Jacob Charters, Danny Ciesla, Jorge Miranda, Mladen Mrskic, Oscar Padilla, and Aryan Patel.
The team begins regionals next Tuesday, October 18 with a home game against 6:30 against Nazareth. Please come out to show your support!
Freshman The Hornets played Hinsdale Central at home on Monday. During the first half our team had a few mistakes but also some great opportunities on goal. Jake Lu entered the game at center back and steeped up to win a ball in the midfield that he play through to Aidan Yen who shot and scored our first goal of the game. Nolan Lopez had a great shot on goal that was saved by their goalie. The half ended with us trailing 1-2. In the second half, Ethan Ebreo took a corner kick and placed it in the box, it deflected off of one of their defenders and went in the goal! Then Faris Peña dribbled into the box and was fouled earning our team a PK. Ethan took the PK and scored! This brought the score to 3-5. Unfortunately we couldn’t make yo the other goals and lost 3-7.
On Wednesday the Hornets played their last game of the season against Downers Grove North. The team played a tough first half keeping the score tied at 0-0 at the end of the half. Our defense consisting of Kelan Nicol, Alan Cushing, Adolf Galinski, Andrew Leonardson and Nolan Lopez did a great job steeping up and winning the ball and keeping things organized. During the second half we had a slow start which allowed DGN their two goals. Near the end of the second half the hornets were really trying to score. Great combination plays were made between Ayman Najjar, Ethan Ebreo, Jad Qaddoura, Alex Damis, and Aidan Yen. Unfortunately all of our combinations got us close to the box but we couldn’t get a shot off. The team lost 0-2.
The Hornets ended the season 2-16-1. Our team played each game much better than our record shows. We had a tie for our leading goal scorer between Ayman Najjar, Ethan Ebreo, and Faris Peña who each had 4 goals for the season. Our player with the most assists was Ethan Ebreo with 5 assists in the season!
Week of October 3rd
Varsity The team had a tough performance on Tuesday night against Willowbrook. We struggled to maintain organization and made some key mistakes defensively. The team fell 9-0 in our game that night. The team then took on DGS on Friday. We got off to a slow start falling behind 3-0 quickly in the game. The team settled in and played much better during the second half. Diego Castellanos put a free kick at the bottom corner, but the DGS goalie made a good save. The defense was much more organized and Feras Alnass made some excellent saves to keep us in the game. In the end, we weren't able to score and the game ended 3-0. We are looking forward to finishing out our regular season next week and honoring our seniors on Tuesday night at home against Addison Trail.
Freshman The Hornets played Addison Trail away to start the week. During the first half Ayman Najjar made multiple great saves in goal. Kelan Nicol and Andrew Leonardson defended tough at center back winning the ball in the air and preventing goals. Kelan Nicol made a save defensively that prevented a goal. Late in the half, Faris Peña dribbled down the right sideline past all of Addison Trail’s team and scored our first goal of the game. At the end of the first half the score was 1-4. During the second half, Ayman Najjar made a huge save on a shot that was on the right side upper 90. Ethan Ebreo took a free kick at the top of the box and took a perfect shot that was unfortunately saved by their goal. Ayman Najjar moved up to forward and stole the ball from their backline and shot and scored our second goal of the game. The Hornets lost 2-8 but they battled the entire game.
Later in the week the Hornets played Proviso West away. We had a slow start to the game and struggled to get used to the field conditions and let in two goals early in the first half. Lazar Martic made a great save on a free kick. Yazeed Almatarneh did a great job stepping up on the back line and winning the ball in the air. During the second half we made a mistake that allowed an easy goal. But the team kept working hard. Yazeed took a free kick at half that he kicked to Faris Peña who headed the ball over and into the goal. Ethan Ebreo created a distraction that prevented the goalie from saving Faris’s goal. Alex Damis played great through balls and passes to his teammates from center mid. Later in the half, Ayman Najjar dribbled down the middle of the field beat everyone, shot and scored! Jad Qaddoura had multiple opportunities to score, but all were saved by the goalie. Our last goal came from Faris dribbling past the other team and then he shot and scored our third goal of the game. The Hornets lost 3-4 and played a much better second half. They worked hard the entire second half to try and tie the game.
Week of September 26th
Varsity The team had a busy week with three home games. They started the week with a conference matchup against Leyden. An unfortunate deflection and a penalty kick found the team down 2-0 heading into halftime. We got back into the game during the second half and picked up the intensity. Jake Lu cut the lead in half with a great finish from the top of the box to the lower right corner. The team continued to push and create chances, but unfortunately, couldn’t find the equalizer and fell 2-1.
The team took on Hinsdale Central on Thursday night. We took a 1-0 lead midway through the first half after a great counterattack. Richie Pikula took a shot which Mladen Mrksic tapped in the rebound to give us the lead. Davin Olsen and Jacob Charters kept the defense organized and limited Central opportunities during the half. We went into halftime tied 1-1. We continued to battle with Central throughout the second half and took a 2-1 lead with 15 minutes left through an unbelievable finish by Jimmy Martin. Some unfortunate deflections and an injury ended with a 5-2 loss.
The team ended their busy week with a matchup against Brother Rice. The team was short-handed due to injuries and picked up a few more during the game. After falling behind 1-0, Mladen Mrskic evened the game with his fourth goal in five games to send us into halftime 1-1. The team struggled to get things going in the second half and fell to Brother Rice 3-1 to end the week. We’re looking to bounce back next week with games against Willowbrook and Downers Grove South.
Freshman The Hornets started this week with a home game against York. York scored an early goal off a corner kick that caught our team off guard. Then another mistake defensively allowed York their second goal of the game. The Hornets kept working hard throughout the half and earned 2 corner kicks. On one of the corner kicks that ended up outside of the box, Adolph Galinski crossed back in to give us a second chance on the play. The Hornets ended the half down 0-3. During the second half Ayman Najjar played goalie and do a great job making saves and sending long punts to our team. Jad Qaddoura played great a center mid, finding the ball from his teammates and connecting good passes. Our team did not give up all game and kept working to try to score. The team only conceded one goal in the second half on a PK. We lost 0-4.
Then on Wednesday the Hornets had an away game at Proviso East. During the first half, our defender got beat inside giving them an open shot at the goal and giving them the lead 1-1. Jad Qaddoura, Aidan Yen, and Ethan Ebreo all make great crosses into the box but our team wasn’t there to finish. Later in the first half, Alex Damis took on multiple players in the box and took a shot which forced a hand ball and gave us a PK. Alex scored the PK scoring his first goal of the season and tying the game 1-1 before halftime. In the second half, Aidan Yen dribbled past their defense and passed the ball to Jad who shot and scored bringing our team up 2-2! Later in the half, Proviso scored two goals on us where we did not defend well. The boys fought hard all game to try and equalize with a few minutes left but ran out of time. Our team lost 3-2.
Week of September 19th
Varsity The team started the week with a matchup against Nazareth. After stopping some early chances by Nazareth, the team took control of the game. The team took a 1-0 following a Mladen Mrksic cross which was flicked by Jimmy Martin and finished off by Ben Bartninkas. The team quickly added a second goal from a great Owen Atkinson pass which was finished into the side netting by Mladen. The team added a third before halftime from a through ball by Jimmy to Jake Lu to give us a 3-0 lead at the half. Early in the second half, Jake was the first to a bouncing ball in the box and scored his second goal of the game. Jimmy then added another goal from a great near post run to finish a cross from Richie Pikula. The team ended the night with a big 5-2 win over Nazareth.
The team then took on Glenbard South on Thursday night. After falling behind 1-0, the team battled back to even the game at 1-1 from a Mladen Mrskic goal after a Ethan Ebreo corner kick. We entered halftime tied 1-1 and wanted to continue to keep Glenbard South under pressure. Davin Olsen and Jacob Charters kept the defense organized and limited chances for Glenbard South. The team took a 2-1 lead after a cross by Johnny Flores Ruiz was deflected in by a Glenbard South defender. The team closed out the game and went home with a 2-1 win.
Freshman The Hornets started this week with a home game against Leyden. Ethan Ebreo played goalie for us and made a lot of great saves! Alex Damis, Andrew Leonardson, and Jad Qaddoura connected passes in the center of the field during the second half. Our defense consisted of Kelan Nicol, Yazeed Almatarneh, Alan Cushing, and Adolf Galinski who worked hard all game to try and slow Leyden down. Our team lost 0-7.
On Wednesday we continued conference play against DGS. Our team had a rough start to the first half with two mistakes that allowed in two goals, however the team kept playing. Ethan Ebreo dribbled into the box where Eric Perez took over and shot and scored! Making the score 1-2. During the second half, the team was ready to make a comeback but with numerous injuries during the half we were low on numbers. We lost 1-6.
Then on Thursday we played Glenbard South at home. Our team was ready to bounce back from some previous losses and play a great game. Our first goal came from a through ball that Alex Damis played to Faris Peña who shot and scored his first goal of the season. The Hornets kept the pressure on the other team and created multiple more chances to score. Aidan Yen took advantage of a rebound their team gave up in the box and scored our second goal of the game. Lazar Martic played left mid during the first half and made excellent passes to his forwards to start our offense. During the second half, Justyn Giadla played right mid and received a pass across the field from Aidan Yen that he shot and scored! Jad Qaddoura took multiple corner kicks that he placed perfectly in the box. Kelan Nicol had multiple heading attempts off of the corners but couldn’t score any of them. Justyn played a great pass to Ayman Najjar who volleyed the ball with an amazing shot that hit the post of the goal. Faris Peña played forward and passed a through ball to Eric Fournier who shot and scored making the score 4-0. Nolan Lopez played defense during the second half and made a clear across the field that prevented Glenbard South from scoring. Lazar also made great saves in goal during the second half to keep our shut out. Our last goal of the game was a corner by Jad who kicked it to Ayman who scored. The Hornets won 5-0!
Week of September 12th
Varsity The team started a busy week with a matchup against Lisle. The game was fairly even throughout most of the first half with both teams creating a couple of chances. Jacob Charters and Davin Olsen kept the team organized defensively and shut down most opportunities that Lisle had. We gave up a goal with a minute left in the half and went into halftime down 1-0. The team battled back during the second half and tied the game through great passing between Jimmy Martin, Jake Lu, Ethan Ebreo and was finished with a goal by Johnny Flores Ruiz. The game remained even throughout the rest of the half and ended with a 1-1 tie.
The team took on a very strong St. Laurence team on Thursday. Justyn Giadla and Feras Alnass made some great reaction saves in goal and Owen Atkinson played well in the middle. The team struggled to create many opportunities and we fell 8-0 to the Vikings.
The team then turned around and played Thornton on Friday night. We were short-handed and struggled to create scoring chances. Owen Atkinson was all over the field and Davin Olsen helped keep the defense organized. Our best chance was created in the second half when Jake Lu hit a long distance shot off the crossbar. The game ended with a 4-0 loss. The team is ready to bounce back next week with three more games.
Freshman The Hornets started this week with a home game against Willowbrook. During the first half our team earned multiple corner kicks that Ethan Ebreo placed nicely in the box. Aidan Yen played the ball in the box as well and we weren’t there to finish any of our chances. Alan Cushing did a great job at left back stepping high and winning the ball from Willowbrook’s forwards. Andrew Leonardson and Yazeed Almatarneh played great at center back, keeping a high line to run their team offsides and wining the ball to start the attacks. One through ball got past our back line which allowed Willowbrook their only goal of the game. In the second half, Jad Qaddoura took the ball into the box and tried to get a shot off and was fouled in the process. The ball deflected off the other team and Jad scored! He tied the game 1-1. Lazar Martic played goalie in the second half and made a diving save. Ethan Ebreo took multiple shots and our corners kicks. Ethan had a perfect cross that Jake Lu scored! Later, Yazeed played a long ball to Jake which assisted Jake’s second goal of the game. Jake earned a hat trick when he scored his third goal of the game on a pass from Eric Fournier. The Hornets came back to win the game 4-1!
On Wednesday the Hornets played Morton away. Lazar Martic made multiple saves in the first half. Ayman Najjar dribbled down the right sideline past multiple Morton players to work the ball out of the back. The whole team worked hard to try and defend Morton’s attacks. We unfortunately lost 0-8. On Thursday the Hornets played St. Laurence at home. The first half was rough and we were losing 0-7 at half time. The team didn’t give up and did a great job in the second half keeping a shut out. They worked hard to clear the ball and made clean passes. Ayman Najjar made multiple saves to keep a clean slate. The Hornets lost 0-7.
Week of September 5th
Varsity 9/6 Tuesday On Tuesday the Hornets traveled to Proviso east for their first conference game of the season. The team came in confident and hungry for a win. After 10 minutes into the first half Jimmy created our first chance by dribbling through Proviso’s defense and laying off an easy finish for Johny making the score 1-0 for the Hornets. First half ended 1-0 but the Hornets weren’t ready to stop and were looking for more. The Hornets were doing a great job keeping possession of the ball and that paid off after Jimmy made another great assist and Ritchie took a great shot 25 yards out and right passed the keeper making it 2-0. Not too long after Diego made a great pass splitting the Proviso defense and assisting Jimmy for the third and final goal of the game. Hornets finished the game 3-0 and 1-0 in conference.
9/8 Thursday Hornets had their home opener versus Joliet Central. The team was excited to play in front of their fans and feeling good after the strong win versus Proviso. The team started off the game strong creating chances right away but Joliet Central goalkeeper was proving that the Hornets were going to have to work hard in order to get a goal passed him. After many attempts Jimmy dribbled through a couple defenders and laying the ball off to Johny for the first and only goal of the first half. Hornets were ready to go in the second half, Jimmy scoring his 2nd hat trick of the season and Diego getting his first of the season had the game finishing 5-3 for the Hornets getting their second consecutive win.
9/10 Hornets visited Argo on Saturday looking for a 3rd consecutive win. Game started very physical and it took the team a while to match the physicality that Argo was showing. After a hard fought 15 minutes Argo was able to get a shot that left goalie Justyn without a chance making it 1-0 for Argo. Going into the 2nd half the Hornets we’re fighting for the win, Jimmy and Ben both got a goal to make the game 2-2 after 60 minutes of play. Fatigue started to kick in do to the heat and lack of substitutes, giving Argo the opportunity to score and finishing the game 2-5 for a Hornet loss.
Freshman The Hornets started this week with an away game against Glenbard West. Justyn Giadla made a huge save at the beginning of the game tipping the ball just over the top of the net. Andrew Leonardson drew a foul just outside the box. Ethan Ebreo took the free kick shot and scored! Putting our team ahead 1-0. Then Glenbard West crossed the ball to the back post where we had left a player open and they tied the game 1-1 before halftime. During the second half, our team continued to try to create chances to score. Ethan took another free kick that Aidan Yen brought down with a touch to Andrew who put a shot on goal. Then Ethan played a ball to Aidan through Glenbard West’s backline that Aidan was able to get to, and shot and scored our second goal of the game which allowed us to take the lead 2-1. Adolf Galinski did a great job covering on defense and Braeden Atkinson worked hard to cover the weak side during the second half so that no weak side goals could be scored against us. Lazar Martic made a save off of a corner that had multiple deflections. Yazeed Almatarneh did an excellent job of winning the ball from their forwards and clearing it out. Nolan Lopez held the ball at forward to allow our team time to get up the field. Braeden had a goal saving play that Lazar was able to catch and prevent a goal. We had an opportunity for a PK goal late in the second half but it was shot over the goal. The Hornets lost 2-5.
On Friday the Hornets started the Lockport Tournament against Lockport during the first half we had a corner and 2 free kicks but we couldn’t convert any of them into goals. It was a rough game for our team and we lost 0-5.
On Saturday the Hornets continued the Lockport tournament with the first game against Lincoln Way East. Eric Perez stepped up to be our goalie and made a huge diving save in the first half. Aidan Yen made great runs at forward and connecting many passes with Eric Fournier who was playing out wide. Faris Peña played multiple positions and beat other players on the wing. Kelan Nicol and Yazeed Almatarneh worked hard clearing out the ball on defense to protect the goal. The Hornets lost 0-4 but only conceded one goal in the second half which was a huge improvement over the first half.
The Hornets played a second game Saturday against Joliet West. Faris Peña gave a pass to Nolan Lopez who shot. Aidan Yen took a free kick for our team. We created some chances during the first half. The other team took a long shot from just over half that scored putting us down 0-1. During the second half our team kept working and trying to move the ball forward. We earned a few corners and a PK. Ethan Ebreo took the PK and scored to tie the game for us! The game ended in a tie 1-1 which led to a 3 man shootout since it was a tournament game. Ayman Najjar saved the first two shots for our team, but only Yazeed Almatarneh scored for us so we unfortunately lost in PKs. Our team played a great game especially after already having played a game that morning.
Week of August 29th
Varsity On Thursday the Hornets traveled to Lemont for our 4th game of the season. Within the first ten minutes while we were trying to adjust to playing on a grass field Lemont took advantage of a poor clear by the defense and took a quick shot that goalie, Justyn Giadla, could not get to. Efforts by captains: Owen Atkinson, Diego Castellanos and Jacob Charters were not enough to keep the team in the game during the first half as the team went down 0-3. A couple changes were made going into the second half including substituting in goalie, Feras, who saved the team from 4 goals with great saves. Diego Castellanos had the Hornet’s best chance hitting the post from a 25 yard free kick. Unfortunately, Lemont was able to break down the defense and netted another 3 goals ending the game 0-6 for a Hinsdale South loss.
Freshman The Hornets started this week with an away game against OPRF. OPRF’s speed caught us off guard in the beginning of the game and we tried to adjust to it. Justyn Giadla made great saves in the first half including saving a PK! Kelan Nicol controlled the defense by covering his teammates anytime they got beat. Braeden Atkinson stepped hard to the ball every time to win it from the opposing team. Ethan Ebreo and Alex Damis connected passes at center mid. Ethan also took a free kick and corner kick that he placed in the box for our team, but we were unable to score. In the second half, Lazar Martic won the ball out of the air on defense and pressed the other teams back line when he was playing forward. The boys worked hard until the end of the game but unfortunately lost 0-7.
On Wednesday the Hornets played LT at home. Our team changed our formation and found much more success connecting passes to our team. We earned a corner during the first half that Ethan Ebreo took and found Ayman Najjar in the box. Unfortunately we couldn’t score. Justyn Giadla made tons of saves to keep the score 0-0. Braeden Atkinson played tough defensively and helped our team keep a clean slate as long as possible. We were also able to pass back to Justyn which allowed us to get out of pressure and clear the ball. One strength of the game was finding Jad Qaddoura’s feet at forward who held the ball and tried to find his teammates. With only a few minutes left in the half we missed an opportunity to head the ball and clear it out, allowing LT their first goal of the game. During the second half the Hornets were fired up trying to equalize. Ethan Ebreo sent the ball over LT’s back line to Ayman Najjar who cut the ball back and shot and scored our first goal of the season!! This tied the game 1-1. Our team played tough the entire half with Kelan Nicol, Alan Cushing, Lazar Martic, and Adolf Galinski doing everything they could to prevent LT from scoring. After a hard fought battle the Hornets unfortunately lost 1-3 but played a great game!
Week of August 22nd
Varsity The varsity boys soccer team started their season at the Windy City Shootout tournament. They began the tournament with a 4-1 win over Juarez. Jimmy Martin started the scoring midway through the first half with a great shot in the box to the bottom left corner. He then gave us a 2-0 halftime lead by scoring his second goal of the game by scoring on a breakaway with 8 seconds left in the half. Mladen Mrksic scored a great header goal on a free kick from Diego Castellanos. Jimmy then completed his hat trick and scored his third goal to put us up 4-0. Juarez was able to pull one back, but Justyn Giadla did a great job in goal and made a few saves in the closing minutes to keep the score 4-1.
The team moved on in the tournament and took on Reavis in the second game. The teams were well matched throughout the game. Diego Castellanos played a great free kick into the box which Owen Atkinson volleyed on frame, but their goalie was able to make the save. Owen had another good chance from a corner kick by Diego but it just missed the goal. Reavis scored midway through the first half and we trailed 1-0 at halftime. We continued to battle and Jacob Charters and Davin Olsen kept the team organized defensively. We had three chances to score on three straight corner kicks midway through the second half and Reavis's goalie was able to make some good saves. Reavis scored from a corner kick with 3 minutes and we ended the game with a hard-fought 2-0 loss. The team ended the tournament with a 4-1 loss to Andrew on Saturday.
Freshman The hornets started their season with an away game at Nazareth. After some first game jitters got out of our system our team started playing great. Kelan Nicol and Yazeed Almatarneh stepped up to win the ball and challenge the other team at center back. Adolf Galinski, Alan Cushing, and Braeden Atkinson helped keep a high line and stepped up the field to win the ball from the other team and begin our offense. They also kept Nazareth offsides a few times. Andrew Leonardson, Alex Damis, and Ethan Ebero controlled the center mid by connecting passes to their forwards and trying to play some through balls. We took multiple shots on goal throughout the game. Ayman Najjar used his skill to get past their back line and put some shots on goal. Aidan Yen worked hard on the outside to win the ball and try to help our team score. Ethan Ebero took multiple corners and placed them in the box, but we couldn’t get on the end of them to score. Justyn Giadla kept a clean slate with a few saves earning us the shutout. Overall, the hornets played a great first game and tied 0-0.