Boys soccer: Kopanicak’s late goal sends Bartlett past South Elgin

Sebastian Kopanicak’s toe didn’t slip over the end line as he gained possession of an Omar Castro pass in the 68th minute of Bartlett’s home game against South Elgin on Tuesday night.

But the ball had slipped past the South Elgin goalkeeper, leaving Kopanicak with an opportunity he simply couldn’t afford to miss.

Kopanicak delivered and the Hawks held off the Storm, 2-1 in an Upstate Eight West game.

“I saw Omar (Castro) and he put his head up and I was making a run and he played an amazing ball, but the keeper went out for it but unfortunately he missed it,” Kopanicak said. “And I kept it in on the line so I knew the keeper was out so I went straight for the goal and finished it through.”

South Elgin (9-2-1, 1-2) had tied the game at 1-1 early in the second half on Alan Munoz’s penalty kick.

The Storm followed with some pressure, but were unable to convert any of their chances.

“The beautiful thing about soccer is anything can happen,” Bartlett senior defender Olivier Gromadzki said. “You can be winning 1-0 one minute and the next thing you know, they score two and you are down. It’s about keeping consistency and finding your groove again like we did when they tied it 1-1. We didn’t put our heads down, we kept going.”

Similarly, when the Hawks (6-4, 2-0) first scored, it was less than a minute after they nearly surrendered a goal.

South Elgin junior Matt Lipp’s shot caromed off Bartlett goalkeeper Daniel Martinez’s chest. Oliver Kosciolek was able to run down the clearance and beat his defenders, scoring just 4:09 into the action.

“I saw my defender lining up his foot to drive it over the back line and I saw the bounce and defenders were disconnected so I knew if I ran behind them I would get to it,” he said. “Then I got past one and took it straight forward again and kept running down and saw an opening bottom of the corner of the goal and shot it and it went in.”

Money was raised as this was an awareness game for pulmonary fibrosis with youth scrimmages at halftime and a food truck.

“In the second half things started to pick up by both teams, the fans and the student section,” Hawks coach Anthony Glorioso said. “It was really crazy in a sense with the energy and a ton of people in the stands screaming.”