Mustangs' Mascitti defeats Huskies too

Mike Mascitti is haunting Naperville this season.

The Downers Grove South senior had a goal and an assist in a 2-1 Mustangs' win over Naperville Central on Sept. 20, and he scored the lone goal of the soccer game in Saturday's 1-0 win over visiting Naperville North.

Mascitti's goal came on a free kick, but his aggressive play around the pitch stood out in Downers Grove.

"Mascitti is a handful," said Huskies coach Jim Konrad. "He's just so big, and it's tough to handle him in the air."

"He played with a lot of energy. It's a team effort, but he's one of our leaders," said Mustangs coach Jon Stapleton.

The Mustangs played the better possession game for nearly all of the contest in improving to 12-4-2 on the year.

"That's our key. The games that we've slipped up, we've lost sight of that," Stapleton said.

"But we're very similar teams, and that lent itself to more of a soccer game. We linked up very well today."

The Mustangs applied the steadier attacking pressure throughout the first half, and sent the best two chances of the half wide of net. Marcus Salinas and Mascitti each sent a good chance wide of the post through 40 minutes.

The Huskies' Andrew Menendez sent a good handful of long free kicks in on net in the first half, but his squad struggled to find space in the run of play to launch a dangerous shot.

"We knew what to expect, but what surprised me a little bit is that they outworked us, especially in the first 60 minutes," Konrad said. "Eighty percent of the tackles were going their way.

"They fought for every ball, and if it wasn't for our back four winning balls in the air, it could have been an ugly game for us."

The Mustangs finally got a payoff for their attacking pressure in the second half, when Mascitti lined up a free kick from 22 yards out and blasted a low-rolling shot past the Huskies' wall of defenders and inside the post.

"I wasn't going to go over the wall, so I just tried to power a shot to that left post," Mascitti said.

"We know that every time we see a Naperville team, we have to play our best. They're a great side, and today we just did the right things."

After Mascitti's goal, the Huskies picked up their intensity to the final buzzer but came away empty.

"It's a shame that it takes that, but that's the nature of games across the country - when you give up a goal, your effort level raises," Konrad said. "We needed that kind of effort from the start of the game."