Upstart Wheaton North advances again
Ninth-seeded Wheaton North moved a step closer to the last weekend of the season in dramatic style when Jacques Ntahoturi hit the game-winner in the 83rd minute to stun St. Charles North 2-1 Tuesday in a Class 3A sectional semifinal boys soccer match at Hoffman Estates High School.
The victory sends the Falcons (8-9-5) into the sectional final at 6 p.m. Friday against No. 12 Schaumburg (13-5-1), which upset No. 2 seed Geneva 2-0 in the second semifinal.
The North Stars' (11-11-3) good fortune in the postseason ended suddenly after dominating play for most of the 80 minutes. They overcame a controversial penalty kick call and conversion in the 47th minute to finally draw even and appeared to be on the way to breaking the deadlock before Ntahoturi would end the hopes of the North Stars.
"It was clear that (St. Charles North) had the run of the play for most of this match, yet we were able to defend and play hard in order to keep their chances to a minimun, and in the end we were able to finish when the opportunity came to us," said a relieved Falcons coach Bryce Cann, who last year watched his team fall 3-2 to the North Stars in a sectional semifinal.
While Cann was correct in his assessment of how the North Stars would control the direction, possession and the attack, there wasn't enough bite needed to finish past Falcons keeper Nick Barry. The senior made several important stops along the way while urging on the play of teammates Pat Langan, Elvin Ahmeti, Vito Mulli and Zak Gudanik.
Langan would be involved in the first of several controversial calls when a scrum inside of the North Stars' box lasted far too long until the Falcons captain appeared to be brought down.
After a discussion along the near touchline by the two officials, the Falcons were awarded a penalty kick - which Langan coverted - and North Stars coach Eric Willson was booked for dissent.
"Was it a PK? Probably not," Willson said.
"But the fact is we didn't take advantage of our chances when we had them, and their keeper made some big saves for them, and that's just the way soccer goes sometimes," said the North Stars' Angelo Catalano.
Catalano would equalize after a frantic pace followed the Langan penalty kick at 47 minutes as the senior whipped the ball around the Falcons wall on a 25-yard free kick and squarely into the far corner.
The goal rocked the North Stars' faithful and gave Willson's club some newfound energy. However, Catalano, James Reed, Mike Winhoffer and others were unable to solve the Falcons - including a James Mrotek attempt at the back post on a serve sent in from Tyler Davis.
The North Stars bench would howl when the center official failed to see Josh Bennett bring a ball down with his hands around the midline. Seconds later the senior sent Ntahoturi through on the left side just three minutes into the first sudden-death extra period.
"It was a roller-coaster game that ended so quickly when I saw Jacques in the corner of my eye before getting the ball to him," Bennett said.
"It would be easy to talk about how the officials calls may have decided the outcome, but that's not fair, and it doesn't hide the fact that we just could not get the ball to go in tonight, and Wheaton North did when it had its chances," Willson said. "It's always tough to have your season end like this, but it's also part of the sport and the guys know it can end this way sometime."