Senior Tomas Kunickas and his Riverside Brookfield High School boys soccer teammates remember the 2023 season-ending loss all too well.
The Bulldogs gave an inspired effort but lost to Morton in the Class 3A Morton Regional final 4-2 on penalty kicks after a scoreless tie through regulation and two 10-minute overtimes.
“It was sort of motivation for all of us, for me mostly,” Kunickas said. “Since I missed a penalty kick, I feel like I can’t miss anymore and I’ve just got to try harder and try to fight back for my team and hopefully win a regional this year.”
The result especially resonates because RBHS has 14 seniors and six returning starters from last year’s 10-11-1 team that was second in the final season of Metro Suburban Conference play with a 3-3 record.
“A great core, a lot of talent, a lot of IQ,” RBHS coach Ivek Halic said. “Especially when you have that kind of (regional) performance, losing in PKs in that fashion, playing a great game, that always feeds that hunger. The boys are even more hungry than ever.”
Senior Diego Villegas joined graduated Max Swicionis as 2023 all-sectional players and Kunickas was honorable mention all-sectional.
Villegas, Kunickas and senior Josef Guerrero also were among five All-MSC players.
“[I want] to keep trying harder and hopefully get the same thing and hopefully get that all-state that we’re hoping for,” Villegas said.
Other returning starters are seniors Noah Berndt, Xavier Salamanca and Liam Hickey.
Other varsity returnees are seniors Martynas Bieliauskas, Diego Castillo, Samuel Manjarrez, Cole Rubio and Ethan Sandusky and sophomore Kenzo Delemos.
Varsity newcomers are seniors Dominic Bostedo, Vincent Duong and Brandon Elizondo and juniors Austin Castilla, Reese Jackson, Pablo Ponce, Eros Valadez and Logan Wilson.
Tri-captains Villegas, Kunickas and Hickey, as well as Berndt and Salamanca, have been on varsity since they were sophomores.
Hickey started in 2022, but was injured all of last season with a hip fracture.
“Extremely excited. I’ve been waiting for this moment for about a year now (to play),” Hickey said. “Our goal is to have a record well above .500 and probably making it past sectionals.”
In the Windy City Classic, RBHS (2-1) has shown determination by winning its last two games on penalty kicks, beating Shepard 5-4 Saturday morning after a 3-3 tie and Washington 5-3 Thursday after a scoreless tie.
Against Washington, Hickey, Kunickas, Castillo, Villegas and Elizondo converted while goalie Valadez made one save. Because of a red card, the Bulldogs played one man down since roughly midway through the first half.
“[That victory] showed we can stick together as a group and stay resilient even if we’re a man down or struggling,” Kunickas said.
The Bulldogs lost their season opener to Lockport 4-1 Aug. 28. Sophomores Luis Alvarez and Liam Wallace have been promoted from JV for the tournament.
The Bulldogs’ last regional title was 2019. This season, the Bulldogs join the Upstate Eight Conference, playing in the seven-team East Division.
“Coming into a new and even better conference, one of our main goals is to do well, maybe get first or second, and prove ourselves,” Kunickas said.
LTHS boys soccer
Senior tri-captains Mason Burda, Fred Chen and Chris Medina enjoyed quite a ride with the Lyons Township boys soccer team’s second-place 3A state finish last season.
With Burda the only returning starter, the Lions are pretty much starting over to reach another memorable destination.
Chen, Medina, and seniors Kellin Bourjaily, Ryan Siegel, Filip Soldat and Devin Wong were part of the state roster as reserves.
“We all remember that (championship) game so we want to see if we could do that again,” Chen said.
“We lost a lot of great players but I feel like we have a lot of great players coming up so we’re pretty excited to see what we can do this year as well.”
Varsity newcomers are seniors Gabriel Aguilar, Sean Dunne, Victor Marinov, Matt Peterson, Johnny Rocha and Kyler Stoiber, juniors Ryland Avants, Luke Gough, Jackson Lesner, Joe Ratcliffe, Nick Reilly and Victor Sklaryk and sophomores Julian Avdiu, Ari Chen (Fred’s brother), Hayden McTigue and Cormac Moran. Rocha is a transfer from St. Laurence.
Midfielder Burda (4 goals, 4 assists) and Medina (3 goals, assist) were multiple-goal scorers for the 2023 Lions (20-7-2), who lost to New Trier 3-1 for the state championship after beating Naperville North 1-0 in the semifinals.
LTHS coach Paul Labbato already has been pleased by the progress of this year’s Lions (1-2), who lost Thursday’s rematch with Naperville North at home 1-0 after the season-opening 1-0 loss to Plainfield North the previous day.
Naperville North was ranked No. 1 pre-season by ChicagolandSoccer.org and the Lions No. 13.
“We’re kind of in a building [process], figuring out what we’re doing,” Labbato said Thursday. “I’m encouraged with the performance, just that [our players] could hang with a team like this. Our goalkeeper [Ratcliffe] did a nice job.”
Rocha and Avants were other varsity newcomers who started Thursday. A revamped defensive line had Fred Chen and Wong on the interior and Dunne and Rocha on the outsides.
“We lost a couple of key guys but we’ll be fine,” Wong said. “We’re just building as a team. Our teamwork already is a lot better and our team chemistry is getting there.”
On Saturday, the Lions opened the New Tournament by beating Round Lake 6-1. Burda and Reilly scored twice and Wong and Moran had one goal apiece.