Devils' strong season ends in super-sectional

When last year's Hinsdale Central boys soccer team finished fourth in the Class AA state tournament, senior defender Alex Scott and the other returnees were determined that it was only the beginning.

"We didn't want to have a layoff season after last year's great run. We wanted to keep that going, keep the pride and the respect for the program," Scott said.

"We knew we were going to have a completely different team (this season), and it was basically another starting point for us. During the season, we just kind of built on what we did. We knew we were losing a lot of guys, but we also had a lot of great guys coming in."

This season's Red Devils got all the way back to the Class 3A Lisle Super-Sectional, one victory from another trip to the state tournament, but they were defeated by Neuqua Valley 3-0 Nov. 4 at Benedictine University.

This year marked the first three-class state series for soccer. The Red Devils (17-7-2) reached the quarterfinals for the second year in a row for one of the program's best back-to-back postseason performances after consecutive Sweet 16 finishes by the 2003 and nationally-ranked 2004 team.

"They talked about getting back (this season). It's become an expectation in our program to get to where we can compete for a state championship," Hinsdale Central coach Mike Wiggins said. "There's steps along the way as the season goes on to get us to where we need to be. I think we grew as a team. I think we got better as the season went on. Look at where we are (at the super-sectional). They did well."

The Red Devils came out strong the first 10 to 15 minutes, but they never really regained the momentum from Neuqua (21-6-2, 12 shutouts) after Bryan Ciesiulka scored the first of his two goals 23 minutes, 16 seconds left until halftime. The Wildcats, second in Class AA in 2007, finished fourth this year, losing to eventual champion New Trier 4-0 and Rockford Boylan 2-0 for third place.

Even after losing two NCAA Division I defensive players -- goalie John Shakon (Wisconsin-Milwaukee) and four-year starter David Tiemstra (Ohio State) -- this year's defense collected 15 shutouts to break last year's program record of 14 behind senior goalie Sean Donovan (13.5 shutouts) and junior Jack O'Donnell (1.5). Assistant coach Justin Cronin, who works with the goalies, has been with the Red Devils the past two seasons.

"This was my one year to start. I walked into the season wanting to make an impact and to go into the record books was a bonus," Donovan said. "I would say (this year's key) was sheer determination. A lot of us have played together for a long time, but at the same time not a lot of us played a major role to the success of last year's team. We got to see how fun it was for them to play well and get recognition. We were determined to build on that success and finish what we started the year before."

The Red Devils' 2-1 sectional-title victory over Morton Oct. 31 epitomized their determination. Hinsdale Central came from behind for the first time against a Morton team that beat them 5-0 in the regular season and hadn't allowed more than one goal. Scott scored the game-winner with a great individual effort.

"We just took an example from last year's seniors. We saw how much they wanted it," Scott said. "It doesn't really hit you when you're a junior, but when you're a senior, you really start to understand how much it can mean to you, being your last season. We didn't want it to end."