LANSING, MI – Tonight, the John Carroll Blue Streaks once again laced up their boots with their final non-conference match of the season inbound; a high-impact contest against North Park University.
After their back-to-back losses this past week, John Carroll desperately needed a win stepping onto Motor City soil tonight, a soul-crushing loss to Denison on their own stomping grounds followed up by a 5-3 loss in Grand Rapids had the team in low spirits heading into the beginning of the week. The team certainly needed to turn on the burners and gain positive momentum into conference play this coming Saturday.
With both teams entering the contest 5-2-1 with an angst to return to the national rankings, the competition was on. The long travels and grim weather created an atmosphere for a grudge match, which certainly fit the mold for.
The Blue Streaks would make their trip worth every second, leaving Hope Sports Complex with a 1-0 stellar win.
Two coaches who have been immersed in their respective programs since their adolescence painted a fascinating picture for the match at hand. John Carroll coach Dejan Mladenovic, a 2006 graduate of the John Carroll soccer program, was immediately recruited into the coaching staff, being on the team as an assistant coach before taking over for the legendary Hector Marinaro in 2021.
On the other hand, North Park head coach Kris Grahn became a graduate assistant in 2011 while in graduate school before being promoted to the coaching staff in 2013, being an assistant coach until his promotion as head coach in 2019. Grahn was also a valued player during his tenure, being awarded two All-American awards, and four All-Conference awards, and holds multiple records (tied second for goals in program history, and leads program history in both assists and points). Just another layer of intrigue and story for these two infantries before taking the pitch.
With the screech of the official's whistle through the thick clouds and rain from above, the match was underway. If either side of the ball has anything to prove, it must be now. The first meeting in history between the two teams finally commenced.
The opening stages of the match set the tone very prominently. North Park came out the gate with their established but flexible 4-2-3-1, overlapping fullbacks and playing physical, quick soccer with plenty of linkup play to create some pressure on the Blue Streaks' back line. The Blue Streaks quickly responded in kind, leveling that demand in physicality, and looking to bolster their offensive creativity in response to a slightly dormant week before.
Despite some fantastic offensive progression from both teams at hand, neither one could find a proper end product, many attacking chances were thwarted by defensive acumen, misfortune, or strikes of the ball only a mother could love.
Besides a few decent scares for both sides, including a strike off of the crossbar from Johan Bjorck for the Vikings, neither team would budge defensively with heavy congestion in the defensive third, and the first half would come to a scoreless close.
In the second half, things would look about the same for both sides with defenses holding strong. With that, the Blue Streaks' slow, methodical cutting away of North Park's momentum would go under the radar before finally coming to fruition.
In the 56th minute of play, John Carroll would finally break the deadlock. The Blue Streaks would come down the left-hand flank with a head of steam led by Hayden Haffner. Haffner's momentum would attract the attention of the masses, and the North Royalton native would find the open space to square it across the middle. With a slight flick of the ball from Jack Foht, the ball would fall to Patrick Koenig in the middle with the goal wide open for a simple tap-in. A massive goal from Koenig would send him flying to the JCU bench in celebration, and Wenzler's Warriors would finally put their foot in front.
After this, a switch would flip within the Vikings. Still staying technically level-headed, but putting a little bit more anger into their play-tackling a little harder, moving the ball quicker, and putting far more commitment into their physical play. The Vikings knew they had to give it everything they had for the last 34 minutes of this one.
A night of high tension, velocity, and a hunger for carnage finally drew to a close as the clock ticked away its final seconds.
Despite Vikings' valiant efforts and a few scares, John Carroll would come away with an absolutely massive win for their season, advancing to 6-2-1 and hoping to recapture a Top 25 spot in the coaches polls going into OAC play.
Wenzler's Warriors will be back into action this coming Saturday as they travel down to play the Quakers of Wilmington College to complete a three-game road spell. Kickoff is at 5:00 pm.
