Huskies settle for 2-2 draw with hosts in Leyden Invite

By Curt Herron

After both Oak Park and River Forest and Leyden won Tuesday matches in Leyden's Eagle Invite, their matchup two days later figured to be very interesting.

That certainly proved to be the case on Thursday at West Leyden in Northlake, but not necessarily for the reasons that you would ordinarily expect.

In a match featuring plenty of drama from both sides, the Huskies and Eagles wound up settling for a 2-2 draw, a result that neither was happy about.

Although not thrilled by seeing his team give up the final goal with less than three minutes remaining, OPRF coach Paul Wright had bigger issues.

And those involved the officiating, which the Huskie boss was definitely not pleased with, as evidenced by some yellow cards given to the OPRF bench.

That matter was the first thing that Wright addressed afterward, arriving on his analysis of the particulars of the match later in the conversation.

Click to hear coach Paul Wright interview

The troubles involving the officiating crew clouded what was otherwise a very interesting match featuring its share of strange twists and turns.

And much of the drama and intrigue that unfolded happened in the final half, with most of it concentrated on about the last 22 minutes of play.

After OPRF (1-0-1) scored the most conventional goal of the evening just over 11 minutes after the break, the script started to turn toward the unusual.

Leyden (1-0-1) forced the first tie on a 50-yard free kick with just over 20 minutes remaining and OPRF moved back in front on an own goal with 7:12 left.

But as the Huskies seemed to be finally ending the drama, the Eagles suddenly made something out of seemingly nothing to even things once more.

Oscar Chavarria tied things at 2-2 with 2:53 remaining after he connected from close range on a play that was set up by a pass from Arnoldo Reyes.

The Eagles even produced one more threat in the final 15 seconds of the match, but senior keeper Sam Euler hauled in a liner from Edwin Sanchez.

Although pleased to claim a draw rather than a defeat, Eagles coach Mark Valintis was disappointed that his squad needed to stage a late rally.

Click to hear coach Mark Valintis interview

OPRF looked like it might emerge with a victory after it went up 2-1 with 7:12 to go when a shot deflected off of an Eagle defender and went in.

Junior Ryan Huettel started the sequence off when he flicked a shot toward an open net and senior teammate Nick Gadsby got a touch on the ball.

In between the match's first first two and last two scores, both squads relied on free kicks to set up what proved to be the best scoring chances.

Euler punched away a long free kick from Fernando Camacho, a short while after Huettel was wide on an attempt from just beyond the top of the box.

About three minutes after Leyden had tied things up for the initial time, Euler was just high on a free kick that came from about 50 yards out.

It was in a similar scenario in which Leyden forced a 1-1 tie with 20:31 remaining in the match, thanks to a long try that got by OPRF's keeper.

Camacho lined up for a free kick from about 50 yards out along one sideline and sent a liner that just sailed over Euler and inside the far post.

That score came less than a minute after the Huskies had almost gone up 2-0 but Eagle keeper Marco Granda punched away a short header by Gadsby.

Shortly after OPRF junior Stephen Golz was wide on a grounder, Leyden's David Wisniewski got free in front but his try was stopped by defenders.

The Huskies struck first with 28:40 left when senior Thomas Lamm sent an attempt from about 25 yards out that found the opposite side of the net.

By contrast, there was much less drama during the initial 40 minutes of play as both squads struggled to put together good scoring opportunities.

One of the host's best chances came about 13 minutes in when they had a loose ball in front of OPRF's net but it was cleared away by defenders.

With just under 21 minutes left before the break, Lamm got free past defenders but his shot try was stopped by Granda well in front of the net.

There also was some drama during the final three minutes of the half, beginning with a liner from Enea Pojani which forced Euler to dive for.

OPRF had a last-second scoring chance following a long free kick that briefly bounced around in front of the Eagles' net before time ran out.

The Huskies, who meet Larkin on Saturday in their final match of the Leyden Invite, beat Riverside-Brookfield 5-2 in Tuesday's season opener.

Scoring goals for the winners in Tuesday's match were senior Gadsby, juniors Henry Burt, Golz and Huettel and sophomore Gian luca Locasto.

Lamm added a pair of assists while senior Roman Zwarycz and juniors Mike Bower and Golz also assisted on scores for the victorious Huskies.

Others who make up this year's contingent of eight seniors on OPRF's squad are Tracy Davis, Kelly Foran, Bryan Johnson and Cory O'Donnell.

Additional juniors are Max Neuman, Danny Pasternak, Mike Rajter, Zack Weigel and Dimeji Williams while Elias El Metennani is a sophomore.