Hoffman Estates emphatically fires back

With 2 overtime losses and a draw in their last three matches, the Hoffman Estates Hawks have had a rough go of things lately.

But maybe things are beginning to turn around for coach Matt Sriver's lads.

The visiting Hawks (4-10-2, 2-7-2) fired back to score 4 unanswered goals and defeat red-hot Fremd 4-1 Thursday night to end their Mid-Suburban League regular season on a high note.

"Finally," exclaimed Sriver, who watched the Hawks fall 3-2 in overtime to West power Conant and defending MSL champion Hersey 2-1 Wednesday night - not to mention a 2-2 draw with Palatine earlier in the season.

"The great thing about this team is that it kept a really positive attitude all throughout this recent streak, and even in our loss to Hersey, the bus ride home was all good and everyone was feeling upbeat," Sriver said. "That's why when we went down 1-0 tonight, I never felt we couldn't come back and get ourselves a win, even against a team like Fremd which has playing so well of late."

The Vikings (5-9-2, 3-6-1) earned a 2-2 draw with defending state champion New Trier earlier in the week to make their record 3-0-1 in the last four matches.

"We have been playing better with each game, and came into this match confident that we could keep (it) going," offered Fremd coach Steve Keller.

"But we didn't play well in the back, and we didn't control the midfield, and when we had opportunities to score, we didn't finish, and that all adds up to a loss to a team that played well after having a run of bad luck."

The Vikings, which donned their road shirts on this evening after the match was moved over from the Hawks stadium as work continued on the track, opened with confidence from back-to-front, and would look confident on the ball as they played quickly through Michael Heika and Spencer Filosa in the middle.

A poorly played square ball in the Hawks' end allowed Filosa to collect and control on the left side, before the Vikings captain smashed his left-footer from an impossible angle at and then off keeper Michael Gordon and into the back of the net at 28 minutes.

"I don't think either one of us was worried when Fremd scored first," said Hawks senior Brad Powszok, speaking for teammate Sishuh Zerihun, who were both held to just a few touches in the first half, and unable to shine as they have as the Hawks' scoring leaders this season.

The Hawks quickly drew even when Fernando Reyes made something out of nothing when he struck a well-aimed shot into the upper right corner from 30 yards.

Sixty seconds later, Josh Pearson would give the Hawks the lead for good when he thumped home a rebound given up after a superb point-blank save on Reyes by Vikings keeper Jeff Pearson.

"Getting those 2 late goals to get the lead was huge for us," said Zerihun.

Gordon would help keep the Hawks in the lead when he would stop Nick Makowiecki and Filosa. But the sophomore and his club had to feel lucky at the hour mark when Andrew Freeman's nifty heel flick sent Lorenzo Savino through and all alone, which ended with the Vikings leading scorer shooting wide.

Searching for the equalizer, Keller would add a third striker up top, while urging his club to push forward, and the Hawks would take advantage on the counter as the Powszok-Zerihun duo struck for goals at 75 and 79 minutes to put the match out of reach.

"This is the type of win that we all needed, and it comes at a good time for us with the regionals beginning next week," said Powszok, who finished brilliantly on both of Zerihun's helpers.

Palatine 2, Elk Grove 0: Kyle Held got the shutout as Palatine (15-1-1, 10-0-1) wrapped up the MSL West title and berth in the MSL Cup. The Pirates will host East champion Prospect at 7 p.m. Thursday.

Schaumburg 3, Barrington 2: Erhan Caglayan scored 2 goals and Declan Geraghty had the other goal for Schaumburg in the MSL West victory.

Leyden 5, Willowbrook 1: David Wisniewski scored 2 goals, Eric Ruiz and Arnaldo Reyes had a goal and an assist and Edgar Mendez scored for Leyden (12-5-1, 5-0) in the West Suburban Gold victory.

Maine West 2, Maine South 2: Angel Herrera and Ryan Ybarra scored for Maine West in the Central Suburban crossover draw with rival Maine South.