Boys soccer: Becker, WW South rally to tie Oswego in final seconds

Brooks Becker had already seen a few set pieces end up in the back of the net prior to getting into position with seconds remaining in Wheaton Warrenville South's nonconference game at Oswego on Thursday afternoon.

Finishing the game similarly to how the Tigers started it with a goal off a free kick, Becker was able to sneak in the game-tying goal with 9 seconds left to lift Wheaton Warrenville South to a 2-2 draw.

"It feels amazing to kind of be down and then put your mind to it and get it back," he said. "It feels really good. The goals were all setpieces and with mistakes it's following the ball. That's how goals happen."

Aaron Escareno had kicked the game-tying ball to the opposite side of the box where Becker was able to finish. It was the fourth such play that resulted in a goal during the game.

"All four goals were balls played into the mix with a little bit of a scramble from the dead ball environment," Tigers coach Guy Callipari said. "It was just people on the defensive end not paying attention to details, and on the offensive side, it's paying attention to opportunities and consequently you have a tie that is probably well deserved."

Oswego (0-0-2) had limited Wheaton Warrenville South (1-0-1) to few scoring chances in the second half and only Jet Oherlein's rebound goal off a Chase Kedzior free kick that came 5:22 into the action.

"Now it does feel like a loss," Oswego senior Will Kastro said. "We played good for the majority of the game. It just comes down to the final 10 minutes every game. I feel like these (games) we've got to come out with the win. There's going to be more games like this in conference and I feel like it comes down to wanting it more so I feel if we keep pushing the entire game these ties will turn into wins more often."

The Panthers had broken a 1-1 tie with 30:54 remaining in the game as Kastro finished among a crowd deep in the box after a ball from Ryan Walsh.

"We were doing really well and were especially controlling the game in the second half," Panthers coach Gaspar Arias said. "We created a lot of scoring chances but those silly fouls at the end and just keeping out that goal affected us at the end."

Walsh put the Panthers on the board, drawing the game even at 1-1 not even five minutes after the Tigers first jumped ahead.

Oswego's Christian Theinkeu drew a foul and his ensuing free kick got knocked around to Walsh who scored on the play. Walsh found a good spot and made an aggressive finish by cleaning up Jared Ferreya's dynamite rejection with 30:10 left to go in the first half.

"I thought we moved the ball well a lot," Walsh said. "I think we defended well, other than the two set pieces, obviously. It's something you have to practice on so I guess we'll just get better on that on the season."