Boys soccer: Escontrias hat trick lifts Kaneland past Sycamore

Angel Escontrias notched a hat trick after all Thursday afternoon in Maple Park.

The Kaneland midfielder, who converted penalty kicks for scores in each of the first two halves, had his goal off a free kick only moments after Austin Merreness' tally tied the Knights' Northern Illinois Big XII boys soccer match with Sycamore disallowed.

But the peculiar nature of the match took yet another decided turn after Kaneland keeper Hunter Smith stoned the Spartans' Matthew Coulibably from point-blank range in the waning minutes.

Taking a feed from Brian Bartholmew, Escontrias rifled a shot past the Spartans' keeper with 67 seconds remaining to give Kaneland a 4-3 victory.

"We knew we had to press," Escontrias said after his 3-goal match. "We couldn't have any balls in our third (of the field). I saw Brian make the run down the line and knew I had to get to the middle."

Sycamore (5-4, 1-1) made two critical mental errors: a handball and foul in the penalty box that Escontrias parlayed into easy scores.

"It was crazy," Escontrias said of twin penalty conversions. "I knew I had to put them in."

"Any time you give up 2 penalty kicks in a game, you're probably not going to win the game," Sycamore coach David Blachta said. "We put the official in the spot to make the call. We'll take it as a learning experience."

Following Escontrias' initial score off the handball, Bartholomew had his shot from the right side carom in off a Sycamore player to give Kaneland a 2-0 lead in the 38th minute.

But Sycamore halved its deficit behind an exceptional individual effort from Phillip Maillefer.

The junior forward, while sliding to the ground, scored with a left-footed runner with 48 seconds to play before the intermission.

Escontrias restored the 2-goal spread for Kaneland (3-3-3, 1-0-1) early in the second half when Bartholomew was fouled while bearing down on the Spartans' keeper.

But the caprices of the match soon swung in favor of Sycamore when Kaneland was whistled for an infraction in its penalty box.

Smith was defenseless against the subsequent David Schmitt effort.

"You see 3 PKs in the playoffs when it's going past overtime," Kaneland coach Scott Parillo said.

Less than two minutes later, Mereness forged the equalizer from inside the box on the left-side of the Spartans' offensive end.

Escontrias' blistering shot on a 22-yard free kick 87 second later was disallowed by the referee for a Kaneland player negatively influencing the Spartans' keeper.

"(The officials) are really emphasizing that this year,' Parillo said of the call.

But Escontrias was rewarded as the clock wound down to the final minute.

"Last year we couldn't beat them," Bartholomew said. "It's a different feeling now."

"It was a tough, hard-fought match," Parillo said. "With a game like this, it's a shame someone lost."