Addison Trail bounces back in second overtime
In practice on Monday, coach Ryan Dini had his Addison Trail soccer team work on a lot of 10-minute short situations.
A day later, that certainly came in handy.
After surrendering the tying goal in the final 20 seconds of regulation, the Blazers overcame that temporary heartbreak with a goal by Jonathan Hernandez in the second overtime session to defeat Wheaton Warrenville South 2-1 in a Class 3A regional semifinal on Tuesday.
Addison Trail, which is hosting the regional, advances to Saturday's final against Glenbard North, which defeated York 1-0.
"We were working on situations, up one, down one, tied in overtime," Dini said. "I kept telling the guys, we are prepared. We've been through these situations before. Obviously it was a crushing goal, but we continued to believe. We found a way to get it done, but give Wheaton Warrenville South credit, they brought it."
Each team had one quality chance in the opening overtime period, but the score remained tied until the goal by Hernandez, which came with 4:10 left on the clock. The sophomore was fed a perfect low cross in the box by Fernando Alvarado and the forward one-timed it into the back of the net.
"It was a great pass by Fernando," Hernandez said. "Amazing. As soon as the ball came to me, I knew it would be a goal. I saw it in my eyes. I took the shot and hoped for the best."
The Blazers had opened the scoring with a goal by Enrique Luna less than four minutes into the first half as the junior ran onto a ball and popped it over Tigers' goalie Adam Mrzlak, who finished with 7 saves. The shot bounced just before the endline and into the top of the goal.
Wheaton Warrenville South had some qualify chances throughout, including three near misses by Adrian Guzman over the first 40 minutes. Addison Trail goalie Cosme Garcia made four more saves after halftime before the Tigers found the equalizer with 19.2 seconds showing on the clock on a goal by Danny Jimenez. He collected the ball with his back to the goal, turned and shot a low-liner into the left corner of the goal from more than 20 yards out.
"I saw the ball deflect off Anthony (Berardi) and I saw it come my way," Jimenez said. "I just turned and hit it with the inside of my foot. It was exciting, we got an extra 20 minutes for our high school season."
WW South finished the season with a 6-13-2 mark and a 4-3 record in the DuPage Valley Conference.
"That's kind of been our problem," Tigers coach Guy Callipari said. "We will create opportunities. It was never in doubt that we would create opportunities. What was in question is could we finish the opportunities we create. And we weren't on the mark there, though the finish and equalizer by Danny was right on."
As for the Blazers, they get a rematch with Glenbard North, which defeated them 2-0 in the championship game of Addison Trail's tournament on Sept. 5.
"We know each other well," Dini said. "It will come down to who wants it more. We are happy to get another shot at them."