Falcons drop final DVC game to Glenbard East
Wheaton North loses on overtime goal in Lombard

By Gary Larsen

In a season of parity in Illinois high school soccer, the potential for upsets in regional play is high in 2010.

Benet coach Sean Wesley recently predicted that a double-digit sectional seed will knock off a top team in the coming weeks.

Both Glenbard East and Wheaton North might have teams that fit the bill.

“The top three or four teams in a section are obvious, but after that it’s up for grabs,” East coach Josh Adler said, after his side’s 1-0 overtime win over the visiting Falcons.

“It’s all about who comes ready to play the game,” Rams keeper Brad Suszek said. “If you come ready to play you’re going to have a chance to get a win. If you don’t, it’s going to be a loss.

“Every game we’ve lost has been by one or two goals. They’ve been close. We’ve got nine seniors on the team and we all know what the postseason is like.”

In fact, Tuesday’s game in Lombard featured two teams who play rugged schedules. Despite struggling to pile up wins this year, both the Rams and Falcons are well-acclimated to playing top competition with the postseason looming.

Adler’s Rams (4-14-1, 1-5-1 in DVC play) exited the regular season on a high note, knocking off Wheaton North (5-12-2, 2-4-1) to win their first DuPage Valley Conference game of the year.

One minute into the first overtime period, Brent Disterheft crossed a ball from left to right towards the far post, where Sam Dennis sent it back across to Senovio Sarabia, who went far post and then went crazy.

The Rams swarmed Sarabia as the group hug celebration carried on behind the goal on the south end of the Rams’ home field.

“It’s hard for them to understand that it’s all going to pay off, that they’ll get that opportunity to win a game. Today they got to finish it the way they deserve to finish it,” Adler said.

“For these guys, as tough as it’s been through the course of the season, we needed this one tonight. And who knows what that can do for us going into the postseason.”

Tuesday’s Rams-Falcons game was the fourth overtime game in DVC play this year for Glenbard East, and the third DVC overtime affair for Wheaton North. Neither side has lit up the scoreboard this season, but both play the kind of hard soccer that can go a long way in the postseason.

Wheaton North went all the way to a sectional title game last year, and Falcons coach Bryce Cann hopes his squad will utilize the hard-play approach that has carried the program for years.

He wasn’t thrilled with the effort his boys brought to Tuesday’s game.

“We talk about it and talk about it,” Cann said. “It’s a tough game to play, the last game before the playoffs get going, but we did not play very inspired. That’s really what it comes down to tonight.”

Wheaton North had the better of play through the 20-minute mark but only managed to seriously test Suszek at 16 minutes. Henok Russell got in deep on the left side and fired, Suszek sprawled to stop it, and a Rams’ defender stuffed the follow-up shot from the Falcons’ Isaac Oberlin.

Suszek saved a Zac Gudanik shot from distance in the 23rd minute as the Rams began to better defend the Falcons’ attack.
 
“They’ve got a lot of speed on the outside and sent some balls over the backs, and I thought (Suszek) did a nice job of reading situations and positioning himself really well,” Adler said.

Dennis forced Falcons keeper Nick Barry to make a diving save at 48 minutes, and Suszek handled a Jordan Richert flick in close one minute later. The Rams’ senior keeper charged off his line and slid to beat Jacques Ntahoturi to a ball at 56 minutes, and cut off serves well to the end of regulation.

“We played them a bunch in the summer and it’s a good rivalry,” Suszek said of the Falcons. “They were sending through-balls like crazy. We knew they were a good, hard-attacking team. I just had to be off my line. Sometimes I was, sometimes I wasn’t, but it when it came down to a save, I was able to make it.”

The Rams attacked hard through the final 20 minutes of regulation. Tyler Ford sent a shot wide at 72 minutes, and then ball ahead that Brandon Patino fired just wide at 77 minutes. Patino leapt after a serve one minute later but couldn’t get a piece of it, and Ford sent another shot wide in the game’s final minute of regulation play.

Disterheft, Dennis, and Sarabia combined for the game-winner with only one minute ticked off the clock in the first overtime.

“I think our big focus in the last week and a half has been simple, smart soccer,” Adler said. “We just have to do little things really well, not take chances in the back, find the midfielders, find the forwards, and build our play.

“Our wide play has gotten better. Finishing isn’t quite there but the opportunities are there. We’re getting more things on frame and more things into the final third that can give us that opportunity to end up with a ball in the back of the net.”

The 14th-seeded Rams open postseason play at home against No. 19 Willowbrook on Saturday, for the chance to play No. 3 Elk Grove in Tuesday’s regional semifinal. No. 6 Conant takes on No.  11 Proviso West in the other semifinal of the Elk Grove regional.

No. 18 Wheaton North plays at No. 15 Hoffman Estates on Friday, with No. 2 St. Charles North waiting in the wings in one semifinal of the SC North regional. No. 7 Bartlett and No. 10 Addison Trail square off in the regional’s other semifinal.

The Falcons upset a handful of higher seeds in last year’s postseason, and their coach hopes they put Tuesday’s effort behind them and bring the heat in Friday’s regional opener.

“I thought we possessed well, we linked well, but there wasn’t any spark or real pace to the game,” Cann said of Tuesday’s loss. “It was a very monotonous game to watch. For us, it comes down to not taking advantage of the opportunities we had.”