Beecher's Duenas among most improved

Who are the most improved players in the area in soccer this year? Who are the surprises? We surveyed area coaches, and this is what they told us:

Beecher

Beecher coach Dawn Micele named forward Alex Duenas as her most improved player on a team that was 7-4 overall and 1-0 in the River Valley Conference.

"He has always been an offensive threat but has really stepped up this year," Micele said of the nine-goal scorer. "More importantly, he has five assists. He's worked hard to become a complete player."

Freshman midfielder Jake Krabbe, who hadn't played soccer for several years, was tabbed as Micele's biggest surprise.

"He's stepped in and given us some valuable minutes," Micele said. "He's a hard-nosed player who uses his speed to give defenders trouble, but also does a great job of marking in the midfield. I'm excited to see what his future holds."

Homewood-Flossmoor

At 4-7 overall and 0-4 in the SouthWest Suburban Red through Thursday, the Vikings aren't having a great year, but coach Todd Elkei is pleased with defender Armando Lopez, whom he calls the most improved player, and goalkeeper Gilberto Garcia, his nominee for surprise player.

"Lopez really stepped up and led us in the back," Elkei said. "His leadership and play have given us a chance to win every game. Garcia is new to varsity play and is our starting keeper as a sophomore. He makes the big save and has performed beyond our expectations to this point."

Rich East

The Rockets were hoping to level their record at .500 when they played Bloom Township on Thursday, but the Blazing Trojans had other ideas, scoring an 8-1 victory.

Falling to 5-7 overall, 3-4 in the SICA South by such a resounding margin dampened the mood, but coach Mark Zaban hopes he's found a couple of solid players in seniors Andrew Deitch and Brian Ellison.

He tabbed Deitch the most improved.

"He's become our leader both on the field during games and at practice," Zaban said.

As for Ellison, Zaban said, "This is his first year as a soccer player and he's started every game. He's very hard-working and a very coachable player at midfield."

Rich South

The Stars squandered three one-goal leads to rival Rich Central on Thursday, which disappointed coach Mark Curran. However, the schedule, which consisted of five matches in as many days, had something to do with that.

It also allowed Curran to see his players in many situations, including defender/midfielder Trent Kriha, a junior. Curran picked Kriha as his most improved player.

"He qualified for sectionals as a (sophomore) wrestler," Curran said. "He never touched a soccer ball before Aug. 15. He decided to come out this year, and look how far he's come from Day 1. It's been amazing to watch. We'll count on him for some big things this year."

With the team having a 2-10 record and striker John Williams having scored 20 of the Stars' 22 goals through Thursday's match, Curran wouldn't pick a surprise player..

Rich Central

Consistency has been a long time coming for Rich Central's 2-8 soccer team, in part because the Olympians are young. That may prove to be to their advantage down the line. Right now, coach Nic Jones counts a pair of seniors as his most improved and surprise players.

"The surprise is Aaron Williams, a defender," Jones said. "I wasn't aware he was the soccer player that he is. He's a really quiet kid. I've needed to move him around from midfield to stopper. (Thursday), I had to put my sweeper in goal, and Aaron stepped up as a sweeper."

Jones picked midfielder Zachary Woods as his most improved player.

"He just started playing a year or two ago," Jones said. "He's willing to learn. I'll be yelling at him all the time. He takes it all in and comes back the next day and tries to show me something."

Tim Cronin can be reached at tcronin@southtownstar.com or (708) 633-5948.