Fremd, Rolling Meadows win OT thrillers

It was a fitting finale to one of the biggest soccer matches of the regular season in the town of Palatine.

Matt Burkhardt would bring a big crowd to its feet one more time late Thursday night when the senior delighted the Fremd faithful with his game-winning strike in the 85th minute.

It gave the Vikings (10-2-2, 18 points) not only a 2-1 Mid-Suburban West victory over Palatine, but the right to hold the prestigious Celtic Cup hardware for another year, and bragging rights in this long-time crosstown rivalry.

The Vikings victory also moves coach Steve Keller's club into a three-way tie in the division with Conant and Barrington.

"Obviously this was a big match for (us) in a lot of ways, and one that was both physically and mentally demanding on several fronts against a team which is so good at taking you out of your game and making you play theirs," said Keller.

"Winning tonight was great because it was a match we really needed to stay with Conant and Barrington, but it also is a big win because its for the Celtic Cup, and against a lot of guys we all know and have played against and with ever since we were younger," offered Burkhardt, who combined with the Vikings' leading goal-scorer Lorenzo Savino in the opening moments to give the visitors a quick lead.

After that, the two clubs hammered and hounded each other from all quarters, trying to inflict enough damage in the attacking third to solve keepers Scott Sutarik of Fremd and Palatine (8-6-1, 4-2-1, 13 points) junior Evan Held, who both weathered a storm or two along the way to keep their respective clubs alive and well, despite a few close calls during the 80-plus minutes of play.

"We had some very good opportunities in that first half, and we gained back some of the momentum of this match after Kosta's (Risteki) PK," said Palatine coach Willie Filian, "but in that second half, I thought Fremd did a great job of taking a lot of things away from us, and we struggled in getting back to what we did (well) in the first-half, and saw most of the play in our end at that same time."

When the center official thought a Fremd player had brought a ball down inside the box in the 24th minute, an alert Risteski drove his spotkick at Sutarik, who stopped the blast with a superb effort, but gave up a rebound in close, which the alert senior pounced on and slotted into the back of the net to bring the match even at 1-1.

The Pirates would continue to be dangerous with their trademark dead-ball opportunities, with several long throws from Jeremy Velinski finding the mark in and around the area. But the Vikings did well to defend these throws to escape further damage heading into the break, including a nice piece of work from Jon Clark, who nearly found Jorge Caballero's diving header in front of Sutarik.

Keller's bench would be reduced by two when the Vikings' lost both Nick Tambellini and Ryan Molley to injury, from which neither would return after intermission.

"We were a little shorthanded in that second half after Nick and Ryan went out," Keller said, "but the guys did what they needed to do, and continue to give that extra something needed to help us get this win."

Held would use his height advantage on two separate occasions to come off his line and turn away a pair of marvelous freekicks from Spencer Filosa out of the area with impressive punches. Sutarik managed to go high enough in the air to turn away Velinkski's attempt to squeeze his serve just under the bar.

But Burkhardt would not be denied in overtime when he caught up to a Filosa helper sent from the right endline.

Meadows 3, Conant 2 (OT): Rolling Meadows coach Peter Mikulak has been saying for awhile there's never an easy night in the MSL.

Mikulak's team proved it Thursday afternoon on the Mustangs' home turf as they shocked another high-profile club from the MSL West, and in the process, stuck a dagger in Conant's title hopes.

Josh Koutas' game-winner in the 97th minute helped defeat the short-handed Cougars 3-2. Their valiant effort to come back from a 2-goal deficit ended when the senior finished just under the bar in a frantic ending of a match filled with controversy and frustration for visiting Conant (9-5-1, 6-3-0, 18 points).

"I don't really know how to explain our victories over Conant and our OT win against Fremd last week, except that we played really hard in the first half, and with a lot of confidence, which was important to the overall morale of the team in this match," said Koutas, who had a hand in all 3 goals for the Mustangs, including his opening strike at 21 minutes to culminate a wonderful start against a club which was had been hoping to end its week 3-0 and stay in the race for the top spot in the West.

"There wasn't a lot of energy in that first half, which is kind of hard to figure with this being such a big game for us," said Cougars coach Jason Franco, whose team is now at 18 points, along with both Barrington and Fremd. "It took us a while to get going and we fought back very well to get even, but even when we scored that great goal in the closing seconds to pull even (at 2-2), we weren't playing the extra sessions to tie."

Koutas and Chris Sanchez up top, and their mates in the middle, Kevin Wayne and Declan Delaney, were far too quick to the ball and efficient in a workmanlike way for the Cougars, who were unable to muster any type of attack in the first half and appeared to be in big trouble after Miguel San Roman made it 2-0 on a superb finish at the back post of a Koutas helper from the other side.

The Mustangs (5-10-1, 4-4-0, 12 points) were far from being in a comfort zone, though, and at 68 minutes, Joey Bosco brought the visitors closer with a header in the area to fire in a Nathan Cornell helper.

"It was kind of like two diffent halves of soccer for us," said Cougars midfielder Zach Conrad, who made a big imprint on the match after the break, and was a key figure in helping send it into OT.

With relentless pressure, the Cougars threw plenty of numbers forward in search of the equalizer, which they found in the 80th minute when Mike Miller elevated above several defenders to head Conrad's sensational free kick to the back post.

The goal coming with just 10 seconds in regulation sparked a huge reaction from the Cougars' bench. They were quickly brought back to earth moments into the first extra period when the center official ruled Bosco had deliberately run down Mustangs keeper Carter Gibson at the spot.

Bosco was immediately shown a red card, sending him off for good and forcing the Cougars to play a man down for the rest of the way, and until Koutas scored.

"I don't know if we would have won or not playing with 11 men, but that was an unfortunate call against (us) and one that at the very least should have been a foul and a yellow card," said Franco. "But make no mistake, Rolling Meadows outplayed us for most of the match and deserved its victory."