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West Chicago upsets St. Charles East for regional crown

Trailing upstart, determined West Chicago 1-0 in the second half, St. Charles East pressed harder and harder for the equalizing goal Friday night in the Class 3A St. Charles East regional championship game.

That goal never came, thanks to West Chicago's freshman goalkeeper Ricardo Porcayo, some gritty defending from Jesus Fernandez, Antonio Velazquez, Sean Sweeney, Josh Guercio and others, and the No. 8 seeded Wildcats stunned the No. 1 seeded Saints, 1-0.

"My main focus is the ball, my team and not letting anything get past me," said Porcayo, playing just his sixth varsity match. "It was a lot of pressure. All I was thinking was keep my head in the game, don't get distracted."

West Chicago (10-9-2) will play the winner of Saturday's game between St. Charles North and Rolling Meadows in the Class 3A Bartlett sectional at 5 p.m. Tuesday.

It's just the second regional title in school history joining the Wildcats' 1997 team.

"It's very important," said senior Oswaldo Estrada who scored the only goal and was carried off the field by a jubilant group of West Chicago students. "This is our dream, this is what we were waiting for."

West Chicago parents, family and friends stayed long after the game taking pictures and exchanging hugs.

"All the credit goes to them," Saints coach Paul Jennison said. "I'm not going to say we were the better team today. They were."

Estrada's goal came midway through the first half after a Saints handball. Estrada took his kick from about 22 yards out and bent it around the wall and inside the post.

Estrada put the pressure on the Saints defense all night, using his speed to create numerous scoring opportunities even in the second half while the Wildcats kept attacking with the lead.

"He's a special player," West Chicago coach Jose Villa said. "He's a player most teams keep their eye on and today he found a way to finish and make it happen. He's had a great season and a great career and he didn't want it to end tonight."

The Saints had several chances in the second half. Zach Manibog launched one long throw-in after another that the Saints often got their head on but couldn't put the ball in the back of the net.

Porcayo left the game briefly after getting cleated, and Anthony Garcia entered and made a diving save on Tyler Champine's shot to keep it 1-0.

Porcayo returned for the final 15 minutes and faced heavy pressure but never flinched, and several times his defenders helped clear the ball away including one by Velazquez with just 35 seconds left when it looked like Chris Edgerton was going to score the equalizer for the Saints.

It was a frustrating way for St. Charles East (15-3-3) to end its season after beating West Chicago 4-2 earlier this fall. The Saints came into the year with high expectations and will graduate 17 seniors.

"Sometimes, that's just the way it is," Jennison said. "It was a hard-fought match and it's not about us, this is all about them. Congrats to West Chicago. Hand on heart, we can't complain, no excuses, they had a game plan and won.

"That's the beauty of soccer and the heartbreak. We thought we had a great opportunity this year. We've got some very talented seniors we're going to miss."

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