Boys soccer: Addison Trail claims 13th straight victory

Addison Trail's boys soccer team has enjoyed such a dominant season that it hasn't played many games with frantic finishes.

Playing in just their third game that was decided by a single goal this fall, the Blazers answered Downers Grove South's late equalizer with the game-winner five minutes later to earn a 2-1 West Suburban Gold conference victory on Tuesday in Addison.

It was the 13th straight victory for the Blazers.

"It's always a battle when it's us and them and they've gotten us the last couple years so it was nice to get them," Blazers coach Ryan Dini said. "It's a great win for us going into the playoffs because we had some adversity. A team comes on our field and ties us and we haven't been in a lot of close games this year so it was good to see how they'd respond, especially in getting ready for the playoffs."

Addison Trail (18-1-0, 5-1-0) scored the game winner when a Downers Grove South player struck the ball accidentally with 7:54 remaining for an own goal as it went away from goalkeeper Parker Smith.

"I was proud of the kids for working hard like they did and to come back," Mustangs coach Jon Stapleton said. "Unfortunately we had a little destruction on our end to give them one there, because that can't happen."

The Blazers struck first in the 14th minute when Jonathan Hernandez took a cross and flipped it to Tom Kania.

"Johnny got it to me and I saw my chance and headed it in," Kania said. "I felt like that gave us a lot of momentum. We've scored a lot of goals this year so we know we just have to keep pushing through and applying pressure until they make a mistake or something else happens."

Downers Grove South (9-4-4, 3-2-0) was beginning to run out of time before Peter Becht scored with only 13:12 remaining.

"Peter made a good decision and Tom (Wielgosz) was kind of a screen," Stapleton said. "One of the good things that Peter does is putting the ball on frame for us and Tom made a decision to be a decoy there and not take a touch."

An opportunity for both teams to have a game decided by PKs for the first time was averted when the Blazers scored the own goal to earn the victory.

Uriel Martinez and Jason Solares had scoring chances for the Blazers sandwiched between the equalizer and the go-ahead goal, but both were off target.

"We created a lot of chances," Dini said. "We'd get in to their offensive third and just couldn't finish, but they're a good team and we knew it was going to be a battle."

They Blazers were also strong in the middle with Ruben Amaro leading the way.

"Ruben Amaro was phenomenal," Dini said. "He was winning 50/50 balls and distributing, and overall, it was a great team effort."

Both teams were without one of their top players, as Enrique Luna didn't play for the Blazers and Nicholas Rohl was out for the Mustangs.

"I think we played pretty well, a little shorthanded, but that's why we're a team," Stapleton said. "We've been trying to find the consistency in all phases of the game. We can be as talented as anybody when things are going well. We just have got to work on finding that for ourselves."