Boys soccer: Downers Grove North relaxes too soon against Oswego East
Downers Grove North saw that it's not impossible to rebound from a 2-goal deficit when it rallied to beat St. Francis during Monday's game in the Plainfield Classic tournament.
On Thursday the Trojans appeared on their way to advancing to the semifinals with the early advantage over Oswego East, but the Wolves responded with three unanswered goals to win 3-2.
"Leading up to this we had a really good run in the tournament," Trojans coach Michael Schmitt said. "The first half we came out with some energy and got a couple goals and I think we kind of rested on that and thought that was enough. A 2-0 score is such a dangerous score and we were on the opposite end of that on Monday and won 3-2. That third goal is so important and we didn't get it."
Downers Grove North (4-5) got a goal from Alessandro Karrow in the 11th minute off of a free kick from Eddie Ursulic and then Sam Bull scored off a corner kick from Peter Bednar midway through the half for a 2-0 lead, but just five minutes later Oswego East sophomore Carter Boberg scored his first high school goal.
"We got the perspective of what St. Francis got (on Monday) and it's really hard to come back once the momentum swings," Bull said. "I think we saw them as 0-2 in this tournament and think we kind of looked over them. It feels great to be the underdog and win and it really (stinks) to be the big guy and lose."
Oswego East (3-6) netted the equalizer with 8:55 left in the first half after a long pass from Dimitri Huitron was secured by Ethan Klosterman and crossed to Dacarlos Parodi-Yu. It was a beautiful looking play by the Wolves, but Trojans goalkeeper Gavin Crowson rejected the shot. It bounced right back in front of Parodis-Yu and this time he finished it.
"We struggled getting ourselves back in the game," Schmitt said. "We didn't give up by any means and we were unlucky we couldn't, but we didn't convert any of the chances we had and as more of the game went on we mentally checked out a bit."
The Wolves scored the go-ahead goal with 27:59 left in the game as Boberg was able to get onto Ethan Klosterman's pass just beyond the near post and sneak it through.
"I just placed it into the net where the keeper wasn't," Boberg said. "That's when the adrenalin kicked in and everyone started coming alive."
The Trojans went on the hunt for an equalizer of their own with Bull, Aidan Flores and Trygve Hansen taking the team's best chances, but they couldn't get anything past Oswego East goalkeeper Owen Kiilsgaard over the course of the final 60 minutes.
Flores nearly drew the Trojans even with 25:11 left in the game as his shot caromed off the opposite post.
"We had some decent built up and possession play but didn't have enough to get the result we wanted," Schmitt said. "The positive is we kept on fighting. We just didn't have anything on the other end of it to at least get a point to send us to the semifinals. We needed a positive result, a tie or win, but it wasn't in the cards."
- Chris Walker
Geneva 2, South Elgin 0:
Geneva's offense had to go to plan B Thursday night in its nonconference match with South Elgin.
Unable to successfully finish their attacks, the Vikings turned to set pieces.
The strategy work as Geneva scored on plays that began as a throw-in and a corner kick to blank the host Storm 2-0. It was the Vikings' third clean sheet in a row.
"The final product wasn't a sharp as we hoped for," said Geneva coach Jason Bhatta. "Sometimes in a game like this, when you are not as sharp on attacking and you don't get the final product that you want, then you can rely on set play goals and we did."
The Vikings' first goal came with 4:38 left in the first half. Jaden Ahern's throw-in from 15 yards out toward the goal was headed in by Alex Joubran.
- Jared Birchfield