It’s been an exciting start to the season so far for the CHS boys Soccer team. The boys began the season strongly with a tie against Northridge, who was ranked in the Top 15 in the state at the time. Following that draw, the only hitch in the Trojan’s season was against South Bend St. Joseph, losing 1-0, but they have now gathered 7 wins during the rest of the season. The team now hopes to crack the Coach’s Poll Top 20, after a big win against Munster last weekend. The Trojans, who remain undefeated in their conference, have three conference games left on their schedule. Winning all three would guarantee a DAC championship.
The team this year has 12 seniors, a number which means a team stacked with experience, leadership, and great team chemistry. All three team captains, Quinn Fleming, Will Burkhart, and George O’Connor, are seniors.
“I think this senior class has gotten very close. I think we’re all a good group of guys and good leaders and hopefully we can lead our team to continue our success,” O’Connor said.
The team has had a productive summer and season so far, and the stats can help to show it.
“I think we’ve done a great job. We have a much better record than last year and we’re scoring a lot more goals, good job in general over all,” O’Connor remarked
O’Connor understated the number of goals his team has scored, with the goals scored at 49 while only allowing 6 as of September 11. Senior goalie Sam Macker along with junior Elliott McEvoy have done an impressive job of keeping the opponent score so low, with both goalies seeing the Varsity field during the season. Junior striker Cal Stuckert leads the team in the goals category with a ridiculous 17 goals, while fellow junior Zarek Sierazy (6 goals and 7 assists) and senior Michael Shumate (8 goals and 8 assists) also have impressive statlines.
In fall sports, a productive summer can drastically improve the potential a team has in their season. The boys soccer team, who practices in the summer at Dogwood Park soccer fields, had a very productive summer.
“I think over the summer at the PFW camp we had a good game against Homestead and we won that one 3-0 and that one was the start where we knew we had something special,” Fleming said.
While the summer tournaments and practices are good indicators of a team’s season, the team had to be prepared for Northridge as a season opener, a team which was high in the state rankings, higher than Chesterton. The boys took on the challenge in a slight rain game and had a tough game. Seniors Burkhart and Zach Bernal accounted for Chestertons two goals, matching with the opponent’s two goals to tie the game.
“It was kind of a good wakeup call; and then after that things were clicking and we just did well,” Fleming recalled of the tied game.
An important step to the season for the team was the game against Valparaiso. Spectators learn a lot about a team after they find their first slip. After the team took their first and only loss so far to South Bend St. Joseph, their schedule called for Valparaiso next. Last year, Valparaiso ended a historical losing streak against the Trojans, winning the game 4-0. This was the first time since 2014 that Valparaiso had beaten Chesterton in boy’s soccer. This year, after watching the Vikings celebrate in the stands with their home fans, the Chesterton seniors were ready and proved to be up to the challenge.
“I thought we did pretty good this year. Last year we had a fall and this year we worked really hard for that game, and we played a pretty good game,” left wing Burkhart reflected.
Chesterton showed great skill and talent in the first half, scoring four goals. Stuckert and Sierazy split them, each scoring two. Valparaiso would have a stronger second half, but Chesterton came out the victor with a score of 4-2.
“That was a much better game than last year, and they were a talented team,” said O’Connor.
Although they are excited about their victories in the earlier stage of the season, the team is far from done. When asked about their upcoming challenges, the captains had some opponents bookmarked in their minds.
“This weekend we’re playing Penn and Goshen on the same day so that will definitely be a challenge, but we’re looking forward to it,” O’Connor said.
Beyond the weekend, Fleming noted some games against well ranked teams, and put the season into perspective so as not to get ahead of himself.
“The first half of the season, our schedule is a lot easier. The second half of the season is going to be a pretty hard test. We got a couple hard games coming up against Harrison, Concord, and then Crown Point, who’s probably our biggest rival in the DAC so it’s going to be important to get those wins,” Fleming explained.
Crown Point looks to be the biggest obstacle for the Trojans winning the DAC championship. The team travels to Crown Point next Wednesday for the game, and the Trojans look prepared for a great game. The seniors would love to win the DAC in their last year at the school.
“I think we are ready for Crown Point, people are working really hard. I think it will be one of our hardest games this year, with a lot of emotion going into it, and we’ll take the win,” Burkhart concluded.
