Hawks use four second half goals to rally past Bulldogs

By Seth Hancock

When faced with a halftime deficit last season, it was a good bet that the Bartlett boys soccer team was going to lose.

However, this year's season opener proved to be a much different affair for the Hawks as they rallied from a 2-1 halftime deficit to beat the visiting Batavia 5-2 on Tuesday evening in both squads' first game of the year at Millennium Field in Streamwood.

Andrew Triantos played the role of hero for the Hawks (1-0) as he recorded a hat trick and provided an assist in his first varsity game.

"I just wanted to come out and try and help my team win," Triantos said. "I actually woke up at 5:30 this morning anticipating the game. I was really looking forward to my first varsity game."

Triantos netted the tying goal with 36:58 on the clock in the second half as he headed a throw-in from Tyler Lake, and Triantos put the go-ahead and hat trick goal in on a Fabio Aiello free kick with 24:57 on the clock.

The Hawks took a 1-0 lead about 18 minutes into the game on Triantos's first goal as he found the lower right corner of the net from just outside the left corner of the goalkeeper box.

" We're all really close right now, and I thought we played well as a team," Triantos said. "I thought everybody was making their passes, and we played together."

The Bulldogs (0-1) answered the early Bartlett goal by netting a pair of goals in the final 10 minutes of the first half.

Lalo Cuautle tied the game up with a free kick just outside the top right corner of the box as he found the upper left corner of the net with 9:12 left in the first half.

Cody Witkowski picked up an assist with 1:30 left in the half as he put up a floater to Cameron Callipari, who was able to finish with an easy tap-in for a 2-1 Batavia lead.

"We stayed with it and didn't quit in the first half," said Batavia coach Mark Gianfrancesco. "We played the ball well and stepped up and won the free balls on defense when we were seeing success.

"But we just played like that for about 30 minutes which isn't enough."

Bartlett's fourth tally of the game came with 24 minutes left to play as Brett Dini headed a Triantos corner kick.

Aiello finished the scoring with 20:25 left on the clock as he took a shot from about 30 yards out to find the net.

"We were shaky for a bit in the first half. The second half was more indicative about what our team can do," said Bartlett coach Ben Beary.

"I told the guys at halftime that we've been here before. I don't think anyone in the (Upstate Eight) conference worked as hard as we did in the offseason. We've worked on these situations, coming from behind, during the offseason."

Despite the loss, Gianfrancesco is confident that the Bulldogs can fix some of the mistakes that were made.

"We were not prepared for the set plays in the second half," Gianfrancesco said. "(Bartlett) came out and scored right away in the second half, and we just came out lax in the second half.

"Three out of the four second half goals came on set plays, and those are things we can fix. We can right the ship, and this is just the first game."

Goalkeeper Alex Busch stopped six shots in front of the net for Bartlett while Ben Steskal stopped five for the Bulldogs.
    
This was also the first game for Batavia as a part of the newly-aligned UEC, but because both squads are in separate divisions, the game does not count towards their respective conference record.