Boys soccer: Bartlett, Streamwood battle to a draw
Back-and-forth action, highlight-reel style goals further exciting a vocal crowd, Bartlett and Streamwood engaged in some playoff soccer Tuesday night with one exception - play would have continued until someone won.
Instead the Upstate Eight crossover contest between teams that share Millennium Field finished in a 3-3 draw that elated Bartlett, and slightly deflated the Sabres.
The Hawks (9-5-2) erased the bitter taste of a 4-1 loss that interrupted a six-match unbeaten string thanks to Oliver Saile's second "bend it like Beckman" direct kick, the last one coming with 1:44 left in regulation. Although Streamwood (7-6-4) can now claim four straight without a loss (2-0-2), there was frustration over letting two leads slip away.
"Allowing that last goal so late, and giving up a free kick on an unnecessary foul, yeah in our minds it almost feels like a loss, especially since we had two leads," Streamwood coach Matt Polovin admitted. "Yet we had positives. We were down and executed set pieces really well."
Bartlett defender Bryan Recinos saw an opening and blasted a 39-yard shot that curved left and caromed off the left post to get by Sabre goalie Nick Gaviria for a 1-0 Bartlett lead just 9:31 into the game.
Streamwood negated that when Edwin Rueda's free kick was headed home by Erie Ortiz with 13:55 left in the first half. Although those were the first goals for Recinos and Ortiz, the Sabres took the lead thanks to a familiar combination: Rueda to Donnie Sosa. Thanks to another free kick, Reuda notched his team-best seventh assist on a sharp header that served as Sosa's team-high 10th goal for the season, just 8:07 prior to halftime.
As the clock wound down, the intensity went up and there was 9:35 left in regulation when Saile curved his direct kick to the right of a Streamwood defensive wall but inside the left post to beat Gaviria.
Having shifted for a more aggressive attack, the Hawk defense failed to return to its four-back formation and a missed clear led to Aldo Lazaro's opportunistic 10-yard strike from a one-on-one with Bartlett goalie Jake Hasenstein. That 3-2 lead came just 22 seconds after Bartlett's tying goal.
"I had to take a quick breath and focus on just putting it in the back of the net," Lazaro said of his near wide-open chance. "At that point, it felt like a win, so giving up that last goal is very disappointing."
Gaviria picked up a yellow card in rushing out to defend a Bartlett breakaway and that led to Saile's chance with 1:44 to go. With Danny Dominguez in the net for Streamwood, Saile curved his shot to the right of a defensive wall, but comfortably inside the right post.
"My very first kick sailed over the crossbar, but helped me get the pace and aim right for the next two," noted Saile, who now has 3 goals to go with his team-best 8 assists. "After my first goal, I planned to go the other way on the second shot and hit it just right. It's still not the win we wanted, but it's better than losing and I still don't feel we've played our best soccer."