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Wheaton Warrenville South junior forward Semin Razman is on a hot streak.
Not surprisingly, so are the Tigers.
Semin added to his impressive start, scoring a goal, off a corner kick, in the second half to power the Tigers to a 1-0 win over Wheaton North on Sept. 26.
The Tigers (5-2-4, 2-0-1) captured the Wheaton Cup trophy for the fifth straight time, plus earned a quality DuKane Conference road victory.
Semin has seven goals this season, not including the three goals he lost when the IHSA ruled the Tigers had an ineligible player
“What Semin does is he makes everyone else better in that they concentrate so much on him,” Wheaton Warrenville South coach Guy Callipari said. “They need to worry about the behind, therefore, we have play in front. We’re just not taking opportunities, where he pushes that line back, so they have to respect that and then we should be taking opportunities where they exist and not always trying to take that last pass into him.
“Everyone wants to reward his runs, and he wants to be rewarded on his runs. He overhit a shot in the first half over the keeper. He’s minus three goals because we lost two games statistically because of the IHSA. Otherwise, he would be at 10 goals in 10 games. Other than two games, he’s scored in every game.”
Semin said he was happy to keep the Tigers’ streak against the rival Falcons intact. Semin, who scored a pair of second-half goals against Brother Rice earlier this season, came up clutch again against Wheaton North. His right-footed off, off an free kick from Jet Oehrlein in the 50th minute turned out to be the game winner.
The Tigers equaled their win total from last season in the victory. Semin, who had nine goals and four assists last season, is on track for a double-digit season in goals.
“I’m pretty good, feeling like we have to keep moving together,” Semin said. “I feel like I have a good chemistry with the team and they are finding me every single time.
“We wanted this bad. Every year we come into this and know what’s at stake to win the Wheaton Cup and conference is at stake. We won’t shy away and are here to play and win.”
The combination of Razman and Oehrlein is causing havoc for opponents this season, sparking the Tigers for a run at the conference title.
Oehrlein said he has built up his chemistry with Razman.
“We were talking about our plays,” Oehrlein said. “I had to put it back post. Semin earned it. I saw his head out of the crowd, and he knew where to go. I feel I have almost every single assist on his goals. Every time I pick up my head in the midfield, he’s the one kid I’m looking for.”
Wheaton North update
After earning a solid conference win over Batavia, Wheaton North couldn’t sustain the momentum against Wheaton Warrenville South.The Falcons, a young and promising team, dropped to 2-9-1 and 1-1-1.
Wheaton North coach Joe Klingelhoffer anticipated some growing pains this season, especially with senior defender Jackson Galbraith the lone returning starter from a 4-13-1 team in 2023.
“It’s a loss that hurts, but also keeps us hopeful because (WWS) is a good team and we’re playing much better than we were a month ago,” Klingelhoffer said. “We’re learning and getting better. I was really happy with the way the guys played tonight. It’s some of the passing, moving and defense we’ve played. I told the guys this is the best so far we’ve looked skill-wise and physically. That just means we have to keep moving forward and keep getting better.”