Tigers fall on late goal to Panthers
Glenbard North PK spells doom for WW South

 

By Darryl Mellema

An evening that started with all the pomp associated with Senior Night and continued with a halftime performance by the school’s dance team ended with a heartbreaking defeat for Wheaton Warrenville South’s boys’ soccer team.

The Tigers entered the final minute of play of a scoreless match having kept the ball in the attacking third for much of the match.

But none of that counted when Alex Kfoury’s pass sent Ryan Scott free as he ran into the Tigers penalty area. Scott was jostled to the ground as he began a move toward the goal, and a penalty kick was awarded. Eric Dailly converted that kick and the visiting Panthers had a 1-0 DuPage Valley Conference victory.

“We played fairly mistake-free in the back,” Wheaton Warrenville South coach Guy Callipari said. “One of the things we need to learn is to not put ourselves in a position where calls can go against you and change the outcome of the game. Whether it’s a good one or a bad one doesn’t matter. You’ve got to clean things up and not put yourself in that position.”

The defeat was the fourth in as many conference outings for the Tigers (6-9-1, 0-4), who still have matches with Naperville Central, Glenbard East and West Aurora in which to earn their first DVC victory of the campaign.

“Coming away from this, we’ve got to try to get ourselves back up,” Wheaton Warrenville South junior Alec Brazeau said. “Our whole season has been up-and-down and we’ve got to get ourselves back into it.”

Tuesday’s match being very muscular but not very creative as two teams that have struggled battled to move up in the DVC standings. Scoring chances were limited and tackles flew in at great pace and frequency.

“It was back and forth a lot,” Brazeau said. “(Dailly) had a good finish at the end there.”

Wheaton Warrenville South was always dangerous moving forward, but especially so when presented with long throw-in chances and from free kicks. Alec Brazeau handled most of those long throw-ins and while the Tigers never scored, they frequently created havoc as the ball caromed from one body to another before being cleared.

And there were some free Tigers players in the penalty area. Tom Kerby had a strong effort saved late in the first half one of his team’s better opportunities. But more often, either shots went wildly high or wide or Glenbard North (7-5-4, 2-2-1)  had its defense organized and dealt with the danger.

“We didn’t take care of the opportunities we had in the offensive end and that certainly kept them in the game,” Callipari said.

Scoring troubles have plagued Wheaton Warrenville South at times this fall, though junior Dan Burn has 14 goals.

“(Burns) is a great player and to get 14 goals with the kind of schedule we have, he has shown the ability to be in (great goalscorer) category,” Callipari said. “But to do that against four defenders alone, that’s a tall order to take that on yourself without someone to take off that pressure. We didn’t have enough of that tonight.”

As it heads into its final stretch of regular season matches, Wheaton Warrenville South has altered things defensively, shifting to a flat back four defensive lineup with a defensive midfielder withdrawn to play directly in front of those defenders.

“We are trying to support ourselves defensively,” Callipari said. “We had to stop the bleeding. We were allowing too many goals. We were scoring a lot at the time, but a score of 5-4 is not something we want to live and die by going into the playoffs against better teams.”

And with five matches to play, there is still plenty of time to begin a mini-surge that could carry into the playoffs.

“We just try to play like it’s our last game and keep putting everything into every match,” Brazeau said.

Callipari said there is still a lot his team can accomplish this fall before the season ends.

“Certainly I don’t think anybody’s given up on this season or started looking toward next year,” he said. “We’re still thinking that at some point in time, things will start to fall our way. That just hasn’t happened yet. But we have to remain positive and be mature about what is going on.”