Boys soccer: Timothy Christian defeats Kaneland
The chills, cough, fatigue, fever and shortness of breath are some of the many symptoms of bronchitis.
Apparently, an inability to score game-winning goals isn't one of them.
Battling through illness, Timothy Christian senior Jimmy Allen scored the go-ahead goal midway through the second half and the Trojans protected their lead, earning a 3-2 victory over Kaneland in Wednesday's Class 2A Wheaton Academy sectional semifinal.
Allen's header off a corner kick came with 21:43 remaining in the game and answered Kaneland's game-tying goal from Tucker Jahns just five minutes earlier.
"Lately I've been a big threat on corner kicks and Michael Martens has been putting great balls into the box for me," Allen said. "I just somehow got loose and I was able to get on the ball and put it away. All I can ask for is a good ball in like that."
Kaneland (15-4-3) came out of the gate as the aggressor, jumping on the Trojans just 1:51 into the action on John McCaffrey's corner kick that found Brian Bartholomew's head.
Ulysses Herrera, Tucker Jahns, Zach Smith and McCaffrey all had shot attempts to extend the Knights' lead in the ensuing 20-25 minutes, but they were unable to finish. This was something that plagued Kaneland all evening. They created plenty of opportunities but came up unrewarded on numerous occasions.
"We can't say we didn't have enough chances to score," Knights coach Scott Parillo said. "We had a ton of chances but didn't put them away and that just happens sometimes. We have to deal with the fact we didn't finish and when you can't finish you go home and the other team gets to stay on."
Timothy Christian (17-6) started out sluggishly, although Kaneland seemingly had something to do with it. The Trojans awakened once Isaiah Whitaker took a cross from Martens and shot off the crossbar, but not enough to keep it from caroming into the back of the net on a bounce.
"We've been a little slow to start the last few games, but once we get our feet underneath us, we go," Trojans coach Stephen Fernandes said. "We created a few dangerous chances for ourselves in the first half, not many, but we finished the ones we had."
That included Whitaker's shot from about 15 feet outside of the top of the penalty area with 1:54 remaining before halftime, which slipped past Kaneland goalkeeper Hunter Smith.
"All season I've been trying to get a goal like that," Whitaker said. "I just took a touch and gave it a good hit and it went in. We needed some momentum and energy out there and I think that riled up the boys and was just what we needed to get ahead."
It was a tough way for the season to end for the Knights, but with 10 sophomores and a freshman on the roster, the future is bright for the program.
"This was a fun season," Parillo said. "It just was one where we were hoping we could go a little bit longer."