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Boys soccer: Buffalo Grove turns the tables on Wheeling

When Buffalo Grove's boys soccer team dropped a heartbreaking 2-1 game to Wheeling in the regular-season finale, it would dash the hopes of a second consecutive Mid-Suburban East title for the Bison.

Tuesday night at BG's Grant Blaney Stadium, the Bison (11-7-2) would avenge that loss with a 3-0 victory to end the Wildcats' season (10-6-5) while sending themselves into their own Class 3A regional final Saturday at 6 p.m. against Barrington.

It took until near the hour for Brian Perez to open the scoring, before teammate Shane Adams would add another eight minutes later to all but secure the hard-fought victory on a bone-chilling, windy night at BG's home park.

"We knew after losing that game to Wheeling we would have another chance, but we also knew how important it would be the first to score and when we did it was all we needed from that point on," said Perez. "It was a big goal for the team and for myself because I haven't been putting the ball in the net for us of late."

Neither side produced their fluent best during the first period with some of that due to the blustering winds as well as strong defending, which kept possession at a low percentage rate.

The Bison did manage to create four free kicks and one corner in the first 10 minutes, only to fail to put not a one on frame at 'Cats keeper Elio Santana.

BG's midfield, led by senior Ryan Kim, would win most of the 50-50 balls in the air and on the floor in the first half which did not go unnoticed by Bison coach Darren Llewellyn.

"We did a good job of controlling the midfield, which meant that their two best players, Luis Aviles and Jason Rivas, were not allowed to take over the game, much like they did during our first meeting especially (Aviles) on the outside," said Llewellyn.

Both Aviles and Rivas went close during a 15-minute stretch in which the Wildcats (10-6-5) had most of the play in the first half but that would be one of the few instances when the MSL East champs were on their front foot.

With more urgency displayed after the break, at times it was an ill-tempered affair up until the Perez opener and after Adams doubled the advantage.

Perez latched onto a wonderful early ball on the far right side from Adams before unleashing an unstoppable angled drive into the far inside corner.

Adams found his way free into the box to direct an Alex Berk corner into the back of the net at 62 minutes.

Alexis Escobar would settle the intense contest when he caught the Wildcats pushing numbers forward with the third and final goal of the evening seven minutes from time.

"I don't really know what to say right now," said Wheeling coach Kevin Lennon. "We came so far after such a slow start and to win the division, and play at a high level in the final few games of the season says a lot about this team which right now I am very proud of."

"Sasha (Tylnyy) did a very good job on Rivas and collectively, we kept Luis Aviles from taking over on the outside while at the same time our back line defended well as a unit to keep their chances to a minimum," added Llewellyn.

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