Smoy in right spot to help Hoffman tie Meadows
Eric Smoy came to the rescue for Hoffman Estates Thursday night.
The sophomore slotted home what proved to be the eventual equalizer after teammates Brian Neu and Brad Powszok worked a perfect 1-2 on a short set-piece from the right side that found Smoy unmarked at the far post.
That enabled the Hawks (3-5-3, 3-3-1, 7 points) to play Rolling Meadows to a 1-1 standoff in MSL cross-over action on the Mustangs' home pitch.
Thursday's match marked the first of eight games in eight days for the Hawks, who will meet West Chicago tonight before a trip to the Jacobs tournament this weekend.
"Obviously we're going to be really tested in the next eight days, so tonight we moved some guys around a little to help preserve (ourselves) and to search a little bit to see what might work for us in the coming days," said Hawks coach Matt Sriver.
Sriver saw the switch of Neu to an outside back and attacking midfielder Salin Golotic to stopper help the Hawks turn things around at about the hour mark.
"We wanted Brian to get forward a little more, and it did," Sriver said. :And after Salin became more comfortable in the back, everything began to come together for us."
The Mustangs (3-11-1, 1-5-1, 3 points) made a handful of changes prior to the match because coach Peter Mikulak found himself without his top player, Chris Olson.
Olson recently injured his ankle and could miss at least one more match.
Mikulak countered the loss by moving Blake Olson up from his usual spot as sweeper.
What Mikulak may have not counted on was Olson's ability to strike a well-placed free kick or two.
Just before intermission, Olson did just that when he found the back of the net to give the Mustangs a 1-0 lead heading into the break.
"There was a brief opportunity (there) for me to shoot when the keeper was trying to set his wall, and me not having to take the time to ask the referee for 10 yards," Olson said. "With that chance, I kind of snuck a shot (in) the net."
"Wuilver (Cisneros), Saul (Baylon) and Charlie McCarthy were giving us some great runs up top and we were finding them from time to time, and everyone just seemed to step up tonight to help make up for not having Chris playing tonight," Olson said.
Baylon nearly helped the Mustangs regain the lead at 59 minutes when he broke free and attempted to chip Sebastian Kieruzal.
But the Hawks' keeper fully extended to grab the floating shot out of the air.
Kieruzal's save coincided with the Hawks finally finding their pace and energy.
Neu and Powszak, along with some extra effort from teammates Luis Lara and Moises Encisco, helped spark the Hawks.
"I thought for the last 10-15 minutes (of regulation) and throughout the two overtime periods, we probably played our best soccer of the night," Sriver said. "But credit Peter's team. They never let down, despite being shorthanded and deserve a lot of credit for their effort."