Second helping doesn't satisfy Neuqua

William Butler, right, of Neuqua Valley tangles with Chris Johnson of Rockford Boylan during their team's third-place match at the Class 3A Boys Soccer State Finals on Saturday in Naperville.

(Jon Cunningham/Special to The Sun)

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As the team bus stopped at the Neuqua Valley Athletics wing and the boys soccer team filed off for the last time in the 2008 season, the team's leading scorer and co-captain Bryan Ciesiulka approached coach Jim Johns and simply said "great year, coach."

He couldn't have been more right.

Sitting next to their equipment on the final bus ride was a fourth-place state trophy as the Wildcats finished with a record of 21-6-2. The 21 wins were the fourth best in the program's young history and it was the second consecutive state trophy brought home by the Wildcats.

While the kids will look back and immediately remember the state weekend where they lost to eventual champion New Trier 4-0 in the semifinal round and Rockford Boylan 2-0 in the consolation match, Johns consistently says that the season was more than just those two games. Instead he focuses on the entire campaign, especially the tournaments where the kids grew as players.

"You have to divide the season into sections and not just look at the state tournament," he said. "We tried to go out and play attractive nonconference games that the kids would get excited about. It is nice to play teams out of state, especially when some of these teams end up winning state.

"We also played in the Best of the Midwest tournament for local bragging rights. We don't play any of these tournaments simply to get ready for state. We want our players to play against the best competition and learn how to play game in different situations like field size or formations."

Neuqua seemed to excel in playing teams both close to home and far away.

Including the playoffs, Neuqua went 4-2-1 against its Naperville-area rivals. The Wildcats beat both Benet and Naperville North twice, while falling to Naperville Central twice. The lone tie was against Waubonsie Valley.

Neuqua played four teams from out of state and went 3-1 against them. It saw three out of those four in the prestigious Collinsville Gateway Tournament. The Wildcats beat both teams from Pennsylvania and New York but fell to Wisconsin powerhouse Marquette High School.

"Going to Collinsville was a blast and all of the guys had a fun time and shared a lot of laughs during the trip," junior midfielder Scott Davis said.

After the Collinsville tournament, the refreshed and relaxed Wildcats went 4-0-1 in the last five games of the regular season. During that stretch, they outscored their opponents 19-5 in picking up a pair of shutouts.

Winning the regional and sectional tournaments were the most difficult parts of the Neuqua season due to the quality of the opposition and the closeness of the games. Five out of the six games were won by a single goal. However, in each game Neuqua did come out as the aggressor, scoring the first goal and never trailing.

"This is like winning a mini-state tournament and having all of these good teams in the same sectional is really a shame," Johns said after his team claimed its second consecutive sectional title. "You have all quality teams and anybody here can beat anybody."

To even get remotely close to where the Wildcats did was an accomplishment on its own - the program lost 20 seniors to graduation from last year's squad, which finished second in the state.

This year, the Wildcats truly needed a team effort to win games.

While last year's team had a few stars who produced the bulk of the goals, the '08 team had 16 kids pick up at least one goal on the season, with only three players scoring in the double digits (Ciesiulka 17, Davis 13, Ian Krol 11). Seven of the 16 players ended up scoring five or more goals, helping the team outscore the 2007 squad by 13 goals.

"When you lose seniors it is difficult because you lose that leadership and the ability to really play together," Johns said. "I think we were sluggish to start the season and it took us awhile to really learn and play together. I can't say that I'm surprised though that this team made it back to the state playoffs."

One of the key pieces for the Wildcats this season was Ciesiulka, who led the team in goals (17), assists (14) and shots (44). In Neuqua's short history, Ciesiulka is the only junior to be named a captain.

"Him being named captain tells you something about how the team feels about him," Johns said. "He was in on a lot of our plays but he also contributed with assists."

Another junior who stepped up was goalkeeper Jack Turancik. Heading into the state tournament, he'd allowed 18 goals in just 25 games played, making 40 saves. He earned 12 shutouts during the season and compiled just a .72 goals against average.

"Jack is a real important player for us as he is the first one to practice and the last one to leave and he is extremely educated," Johns said. "He's goes out and works hard and you really don't need to tell him to do anything, he just works out on his own."

In the state semifinal against New Trier, the Wildcats' second leading scorer, Davis, was injured while going up for a header in the first half. He wouldn't return for the rest of the finals.

While it hurt to watch from the bench, Davis has now focused his mind on both club soccer and Neuqua's '09 season.

"Ever since we were freshmen Bryan (Ciesiulka) and I said our senior year was going to be the year because we've known for a while that we were going to be one of the top teams," Davis said. "I have no problem being the person that a team depends on for goals. This year was fun and now I'm looking forward to next year."

For a couple players though, there will be no next year as among the 15 players who graduate from the 2008 squad are co-captains Jaymie Bullard and Robby Gargardo. Also leaving is Krol, who won a state title and third-place trophy as a leading member of the Neuqua baseball team in addition to his two state-tournament appearances in soccer.

"He's just a great athlete," Johns said of Krol. "You can say he's gotten a little taste of everything and he's one of many little stories that we had on our team."

Probably the most inspirational story is of senior Dan O'Leary, who played freshman year but then didn't try out again until this fall. He made the team and scored five goals and added eight assists.

"We knew he had played club and was welcomed back after making the varsity team. He was a great addition for us again," Johns said of O'Leary.

With a program-best two consecutive state appearances under their belt, the Wildcats hope next year the third time will be the charm.

The expectation to win it all, like they did in 2003, is far from unreasonable - half of the team's scoring comes back and the Turancik returns for his final season.