St. Charles East answers West Chicago's challenge
Pancho Correa made one of those special plays that triggered a thunderous response from the West Chicago fans Tuesday night at home against St. Charles East.
Unfortunately for the Wildcats the celebration didn't last for long as St. Charles East answered with the go-ahead goal 33 seconds later. The Saints would never trail again in Tuesday's 4-2 Upstate Eight River victory.
"It's that bounce back ability that we talk about," Saints coach Paul Jennison said. "They put one away and you certainly don't think your team needs that shock, but maybe that sparked them because they came straight down and got another."
West Chicago (2-2-1, 1-1-1) fell behind in the first six minutes as St. Charles East senior Taylor Ortiz was able to direct a header into the back of the net with 35:42 still on the clock.
The Wildcats were able to hang within striking distance and nearly drew even with 25:16 left before halftime. Correa was able to pull ahead of a defender to get a fairly open shot on goal, but St. Charles East keeper Steven Ownes was able to make the save.
Sometimes players don't get a second chance, but Correa was able to use his athleticism to create an even better one just a couple minutes later, breaking away and then perfectly booting a hard rolling shot just into the left corner of the net to make it a 1-1 game.
Before the cheering had even subsided though, the Saints were celebrating the go-ahead goal on a penalty kick from Ortiz.
"I got tripped out from behind the box and just put it in," Ortiz said. "We love to come right back at teams. If we get scored on like we did tonight, we just want to go right back at them and give them everything we've got."
St. Charles East (7-0-0, 1-0-0) extended its lead to 3-1 with 17:58 left in the first half on a header from Zachary Newman. The Saints then enjoyed the two-goal advantage at halftime.
"Going in up 3-1 at halftime was fairly favorable for us," Jennison said. "I didn't think we did much to warrant being two goals up, but that being said, it's always nice to have those set pieces in your locker as well."
The Wildcats wouldn't go away quietly though, pulling within 3-2 with 27:31 left in the game on Angel Santana's rebound goal off a free kick.
"I felt we were kind of back in it and just one step closer to equalizing," Wildcats coach Jose Villa said. "Unfortunately, they scored the fourth one and kind of took the wind out of us at the end."
It was Tyler Robbins who gave the Saints their two-goal cushion again, scoring with 18:07 remaining.
"Lot of credit to West Chicago," Jennison said. "Technically, hands down, the best team we've seen all year. Some of their kids, especially (Oswaldo Estrada) were exceptional on the ball."