West Chicago surges past St. Viator
A 4-goal explosion, including three in a six-minute span, helped send West Chicago (5-1-2) on its way as the Wildcats cruised past St. Viator 4-2 in the opening round of the Pepsi Showdown on Tuesday afternoon in Arlington Heights.
Esteban Fernandez got the Wildcats even at 44 minutes; then, after teammate Richard Paret gave the visitors the lead for good, Fernandez scored again to give the visitors a 3-1 lead in the 50th minute. West Chicago maintained a 2-goal advantage until a late strike from Spencer Moore pulled the hosts closer just three minutes before game’s end.
“That was a very good second half of soccer for us,” said Wildcats coach Steve Brugmann, whose team will likely face the tournament’s No. 7 seed, Morton, on Thursday as play continues in the championship bracket. “St. Viator did a great job in that first half of staying organized while playing compact in the back, which we had trouble figuring out.
“But once we started to play the ball wide, with quick touches, and (changing) the field, after the break, we finally began to play the way that we are capable of. And we were fortunate enough to score a few goals.”
The Wildcats, fresh off their title with a 3-0 effort at the Hogan Tournament in Palatine over the weekend, enjoyed most of the possession and run of play in the first 40 minutes. They seemed to find Paret and Diego Munoz at midfield on command, but the Lions (1-3-2) tightened up in their own end and never really allowed their guests to get quality chances on keeper Mike McGrath.
Despite allowing its opponent close to 80 percent of the touches, the Lions went into intermission with a 1-0 lead, courtesy of Kyle Sukowicz, who finished in the 11th minute with the help of Kevin Patzke and Andrew Ferrante.
The Wildcats’ best chance of the first half came at 28 minutes when Muniz found Paret, but the senior captain steered his attempt wide of McGrath.
West Chicago drew even just after the break, then ran rampant through the Lions for 2 more goals to break open a close match.
“When I look at how many goals we gave up today, and how many more we’ve allowed this season, I know this isn’t the St. Viator soccer that we’re playing,” said St. Viator coach Mike Taylor, whose bench is hurting with a variety of ailments, including one of his best players, backline star Troy Wheeler, who may be held out for the rest of week to rest his injured right leg. “West Chicago is a very good team technically, and they do a great job of knocking the ball around, and getting everyone involved.
“I thought we showed some energy when we got back to within 1 goal (3-2), but we literally allowed them to come right back to go up (4-2) ... and that’s just the way we’ve been playing this season thus far.”
Hernandez’ cracker past McGrath was a thing of beauty, but it couldn’t match the brilliance of the next two West Chicago goals. Jesus Duran found Paret, who finished at the back post, and three minutes later, Hernandez used a deft touch in the air to direct a header into the back of the net.
Spencer Moore tucked in a shot off the post from Jackson Owens in the 77th minute, but off the whistle, the Wildcats’ marched right down the center channel before Danny Ortega slotted Gilberto Villa’s helper.
Schaumburg 1, Barrington 0: Alan Santana scored the only goal for Schaumburg (4-1) with 37:15 left in the second half of the MSL West match. Jake Savino got the assist and Ben Beard had 5 saves in the shutout.
Buffalo Grove 4, Wheeling 1: Irving Eloyza, Alex Masciopinto, Kiril Likhovid and Allan Santiaguillo scored for Buffalo Grove in the MSL East. Sergio Nunez scored for Wheeling.
Conant 8, Palatine 0: Andres Alfaro notched a hat trick plus one as he accounted for half of Conant’s goals in the MSL crossover. Nathan Cornell scored twice and Tristan Conrad and Silas Lin scored goals.