Mustangs fall to Warriors in initial match of new rivalry

By Darryl Mellema

It wasn't just an idle tease to wonder if Metea Valley coach Josh Robinson remembered to go to the visitors' dugout prior to Thursday's match between his Mustangs and Waubonsie Valley.

Make no mistake, Robinson is 100 percent devoted to Metea Valley and his team's fortunes, but he's also a longtime assistant coach for Waubonsie Valley's girls team.

And the connections went deeper for this first meeting between Waubonsie Valley – the original Indian Prairie School District high school and Metea Valley – competing in its first varsity season this fall.

In addition to Robinson, for example, varsity assistant Craig Tomczak was a longtime assistant with Waubonsie Valley coach Angelo DiBernardo.

"We were all saying it was a little bit different," Robinson said. "Quite a few of them would have been competing to play for the Waubonsie Valley varsity squad."

Given all that background, Robinson was a little disappointed in his team's 3-0 defeat in the match that took place as a part of the Waubonsie Valley Invitational.

"It's frustrating," Robinson said. "In all honesty, I'm disappointed in the lack of effort today. I think Danny Shea put in a fantastic effort. Other than that, I don't know if people are worn out or what it is.

"We're in a long stretch of the season and maybe it's because of the hype of the game and it caught up with our kids a little bit. But we weren't as prepared as we needed to be, and it showed."

Playing without seniors in its first varsity season, Metea's players may be feeling a bit of the strain that comes from playing frequently every week since late August.

Waubonsie (4-10-2) scored the only goal it needed with five minutes to play in the first half through Jesus Hernandez. Second half strikes from Tyler Yanisch and Yvan Foonde completed a convincing scoreline for the Warriors.

The Warriors began to impose themselves midway through the second half, at a point when the Mustangs (7-10) had their best periods of connected play. Blake Erwin shot over the bar, as did Evan Cudone.

But the best chance came with six minutes to go and the match still barely in the balance at 2-0 when Erwin fed Ryan Solomon, whose shot was saved and a follow-up effort went wide.

"If we finished an opportunity there late in the game with it 2-0 and it might have been interesting the last couple of minutes," Robinson said.

"(Waubonsie Valley) worked very hard all game and we didn't match that intensity."

A brutal week continues for the Mustangs on Friday when they visit Lake Park for a 4:30 p.m. match. Metea concludes its Invitational play on Saturday with a noon match against Batavia.

"The tournament's a nice thing," Robinson said. “Unfortunately we put (Wednesday's 2-0 win against) Saint Viator in between and then play Lake Park. It's made it real tough. I like this setup for this tournament, though.

"Right at the end of the year, it's a great little tournament. We play four in four and we were supposed to play five in five. Fortunately, Lemont was gracious enough to switch to last Saturday."

Coming away from this hectic week, Metea finishes the regular season with a Tuesday home match against East Aurora, and then the Mustangs will host Lockport in a regional opener next Friday.