Wildcats out of synch against visiting Wheaton Academy

By Darryl Mellema

Cohesion is sometimes a difficult thing to find early in a high school soccer match.

And when you’re a team like West Chicago that thrives on ball movement, deft touches and some individual flair, if that cohesion is just a little missing, it can lead to a frustrating evening.

The Wildcats never played poorly in Tuesday’s season-opener against Wheaton Academy. But they also failed to find the net while the visiting Warriors scored the goals to claim a 2-0 victory.

“In our scrimmage on Friday night, we were connecting with the ball,” West Chicago coach Steve Brugmann said. “Our center mids just didn’t gel quite like they were.”

Despite the loss, the Wildcats were hardly downbeat as they left the field.

“There’s stuff to build on,” Brugmann said. “Obviously there’s stuff we need to fix. But we definitely have some talent and I’m still confident.”

The Wildcats took the field in a 4-2-3-1 formation, where two defensive midfielders sit behind a line of three forward-minded midfielders, all in support of a lone striker.

And there was plenty to appreciate in their play, especially from one of the deep-lying midfielders – Aldair Vega, who seemed to be at the heart of many positive moves by his team. Vega, fellow defensive midfielder Antonio Maldonado and Diego Munoz, who played more forward, provided a central triangle to the Wildcats’ midfield. Giovanni Gomez and Jared Perez worked the flanks while Esteban Fernandez worked as the target player.

“We’ll look at some things, and one of them will be that formation,” Brugmann said. “This is the first time I’ve played that formation. We liked it at the beginning of the season. We came into last season without any central mids. This year, I’ve got five of them and any of those five can play and can play at center mid.”

No matter how a team lines up, there is always one constant – a single player in goal. And that player – Adrian Porquayo – was vital to his team on Tuesday. He covered for what defensive breakdowns occurred and made a handful of strong saves.

Porquayo stood tallest 20 minutes into the match when he had to save from Gareth Flynn when most players on the field stopped playing after a West Chicago defender doubled over in pain at the top of the penalty area.

The referee allowed play to continue as there was no obvious injury and the ball was still in-play. Flynn took the ball straight toward goal free of the defense and hit an undefended shot that Porquayo saved.

One minute later, Porquayo saved from Frank DellaTorre and the Wildcats’ senior was a main reason the teams went into halftime still tied at 0-0.

“He’s a guy who’s going to take away a lot of one-on-one chances this year,” Brugmann said. “He’s sharp all around.”

Wheaton Academy changed that scoreline 37 seconds into the second half. Moving quickly from the kickoff, the Warriors scored when Josh Urban sent a through ball to Gareth Flynn.

After being initially unsettled by the goal, the Wildcats found their attacking moves working early in the second half. Thirteen minutes into the half, Gomez passed to Perez, who hit a crisp shot on the ground to the left post that forced Warriors goalie Jesse Carmody to move swiftly to stop.

But it was still Porquayo who was the busier goalie. He saved from Urban after 16 minutes of play after Mark Rougas sent defense splitting pass to Urban at the top of the penalty area.

Three minutes later, DellaTorre sent a similar ball to Tim Daniels, whose 34-goal 2009 campaign set him as one of the offensive stars in the state. Daniels took a touch after receiving DellaTorre’s pass that gave him time and space to shoot – and then he scored.

Daniels left the field five minutes later with a suspected broken ankle after falling awkwardly under a challenge from a West Chicago player.

“I feel bad,” Brugmann said. “He was the one in the first half we felt we had to stop. He was kind of key for them.”

After the delay while an ambulance arrived and Daniels was stretchered from the field and transported to the hospital, the match resumed. And West Chicago continued its improvement after that resumption.

“Even at the end of the second half, I felt we had a little continuity in the midfield, where we were getting the one-two touch and we had the pass-and-go and we opened up the midfield.”

Although he didn’t start, sophomore Jenaro Terrazas was one of the highlights in midfield for West Chicago. He especially thrived when, down 2-0, the Wildcats pushed three players into the forward line.

“He’s kind of like the Energizer Bunny,” Brugmann said. “He just doesn’t stop.”