Suburban Life soccer notes: Sizzling Semin Razman leads Wheaton Warrenville South to first-ever DuKane title

Wheaton Warrenville South’s players rushed the field toward the main grandstand Tuesday night.

The Tigers wanted to celebrate a rare achievement in recent program history with the large throng of faithful fans who endured a cold, winter-like evening of soccer.

By beating St. Charles East 4-1, the Tigers secured their first-ever DuKane Conference championship in the seventh year of the league– and their first conference championship since 2009, according to Wheaton Warrenville South coach Guy Callipari.

The Tigers (11-5-5, 6-0-1) rode the sizzling foot of junior midfielder Semin Razman to a convincing victory over the Saints. Razman recorded a hat trick to run his season total to 21 goals, scoring the first three goals for the Tigers before reserve Liam Smeir added the final goal with three seconds left.

Razman said the Tigers’ season took a positive turn following a 4-0 loss to Maine South in a bracket title game of the BODYARMOR Series on Sept 29 at Lyons Soccer Complex. Since then, the Tigers have yet to lose a game, posting a 7-0-1 record.

“It feels great because we’ve worked toward this goal all season,” Razman said. “We’ve put a lot of blood, sweat and tears. It feels great. We came out on top and felt like we worked so hard for it and deserved it. I feel it comes down to how much we want it. After our loss in the BODYARMOR final, it humbled us and we learned how to connect with each other and know where everyone is making those runs. We figured out our team and we’re looking really good.”

Wheaton Warrenville South senior defender Quintin Oker, who missed the Maine South defeat due to an illness, showed his worth to the backline over the final month of the season.

“It feels awesome because we’ve been talking about this since our freshman year,” Oker said. “We’ve been talking about how good this team could be, so it’s nice to see everything come together. We had a great win and played as a group. I think BODYARMOR was a wake-up call for the team. We really needed to lock in and started to take practice seriously and came together as a group. We’ve been undefeated since that loss.”

Callipari took a relaxed approach to the conference championship by keeping his emotions in check, but the veteran coach did cherish the accomplishment.

“I’m really happy for the guys, especially our senior class,” Callipari said. “I’ve known some of them, like Jet Oehrlein, since he was seven years old, so to see their effort pay off in the way it has and going undefeated in this conference is an incredible feat.”

The Tigers have a familiar foe in their Class 3A regional semifinal playoff opener, playing at host St. Charles East on Tuesday.

Glenbard Cup set for tonight

Glenbard West is seeking its fourth consecutive Glenbard Cup in Thursday’s road game against Glenbard North.

Glenbard West coach Phil Wicyk laid out a basic gameplan to knock off the Panthers.

“The big thing about this game for our program is we want to win our fourth straight,” Wicyk said. “We want to defend it again. On top of that, the big thing also is we need some momentum going into the playoffs. We’ve been on a rough skid playing some tough competition lately in Wheaton Warrenville South, Hinsdale Central, Romeoville, Oak Park-River Forest. The results didn’t go our way in those games, so we’re looking for some type of confidence heading into the playoffs.”

Glenbard West (12-8-3, 3-3-0 West Suburban Silver) is trying to get back on the right track in an up and down season filled with severe highs and lows.

“The big thing we need to prepare for Glenbard North is to take advantage of where I see a weakness,” Wicyk said. “We have to control the midfield and maintain it and also we have to find success on the outside and be able to win the one-on-one battles. We’re looking forward to a great game.”

Glenbard North (5-10-4, 2-4-1 DuKane Conference) is looking to continue its recent run of positive results after beating Wheaton North 4-0, losing 3-1 to Wheaton Warrenville South and defeating Batavia 5-1 on Tuesday.

Extra time

York nearly became the second team to lose at Timothy Christian last Friday night. A week after Timothy Christian defeated Wheaton Academy in double-overtime in front of 2,000 fans, the Dukes scored on a penalty kick in the 61st minute to secure a 1-1 draw against the Trojans...Fenwick captured its first win of the season by knocking off St. Francis on Senior Night. The Friars (1-12-3) have lost seven games by one goal this season.