GBN Soccer Dominates Niles North for Conference Win

With 13 seniors on its roster this year, the Glenbrook North boys soccer team has the depth of experience to contend for the conference crown.

Three of those seniors scored in the Spartans' 3-0 win over Central Suburban League North foe Niles North on Wednesday night in Northbrook.

GBN dominated the game from the outset, scoring in the third minute of play. Jack Rosenbach slammed a loose ball into the open goal after a miscommunication in the Niles North defense.

The Spartans (4-2-2 overall, 1-0-1 conference) continued to press the Vikings with shot after shot, but didn't convert some great opportunities.

"Against top-notch teams, like [the] Top 10 in state, we're going to have to finish every chance we get," junior midfielder Michael Simon said. "We're not going to have all these good chances, so we're going to have to finish what we're given."

GBN coach Paul Vignocchi said his team did a good job of playing wide to open up space in the Vikings' defense.

Senior midfielder Nick Olsen took advantage of that space to set up Chad Silver for a goal less than two minutes before halftime.

"Nick Olsen is one of our captains and he's kind of our general in the middle of the field," Vignocchi said.

Spartan Jeremy Albert added the third goal for his team midway through the second half. Albert's initial shot was saved, but he fought off the goalkeeper to shove in the rebound.

The Spartans hit the crossbar and a post once each and forced a lot of quality saves, but three goals were more than enough because Niles North only forced GBN goalie Quinn McAnaney to make five saves, most of which were routine. It was the Spartans' fourth shutout of the year.

"Our defense stepped up," Simon said. "They knew what we needed to get done and we got it done. We have two shutouts in a row now. They're doing a good job back there."

Senior defender Dan Bleeker deferred most of the credit.

"I don't think they had the best attack and the ball was on our half most of the time so they didn't get as many opportunities to score," Bleeker said. "In the back we need more depth. We need to cover each other in the back more."

The Spartans seem to have righted the ship with two straight wins following a four-game winless streak. Vignocchi is happy to see his team bounce back.

"You're going to have some roadblocks. You're going to have to deal with adversity throughout the season, and we just kind of had a little bit of one right now. We played some good teams. Libertyville is ranked and Carmel is up and coming, I think," Vignocchi said of the two teams that defeated the Spartans.

Vignocchi gave senior defender Ryan Stern a lot of the credit for the turnaround.

"He's just solidified our back line," Vignocchi said. "When we went through this little drought, our defense was kind of struggling. Ryan has taken it upon himself to be a leader back there and has done a nice job. It's given our goalkeeper not a lot of work during the games, which is fine with me."

The Spartans tied Highland Park in the conference opener and results against Deerfield and Maine West will likely decide if the veteran team can send off the seniors with a conference title.