Grens, Meadows settle for draw in MSL opener
By Chris Walker
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Elk Grove senior Ben Castellanos took a peek at the scoreboard and only hoped for two things.
For one, he wanted a final opportunity to take a shot on goal. Secondly, he wanted that single, game-changing chance to occur before the buzzer sounded.
After all, who wants to score a potential game-winning goal after the clock reads 0:00?
Castellanos received both, but maybe he should've pursued a genie for a third wish that could've helped him make a triumphant sprint across the field in glorious celebration.
In the waning seconds of not regulation, but the final of two overtimes during Tuesday's Mid Suburban League East opener for both squads, Castellanos pounced on a ball that trickled his way after a massive scrum in front of the goal that saw one team desperately attempt to score the game-winner, while the other was doing its best to send the ball as far away from harm as possible.
Totally understanding that he had no time to waste before the match would end, Castellanos was able to get a good foot down and rifled a shot toward the net and Rolling Meadows' keeper Alejandro Camarillo. The chance he so desperately wanted had most certainly come his way.
Camarillo didn't catch the shot, but was able to deflect the ball away. It caromed off the bottom of the crossbar as time expired and the home fans exhaled a sigh of relief.
Meanwhile, Castellanos wandered away in disbelief with his hands on his head. He nearly won the match at exactly the 100th minute.
"I actually didn't think I'd get that good a shot," Castellanos said. "I just tried to calm myself down and finish the shot. I knew possessing the ball wasn't going to work so I stayed patient. I wanted to go with my right foot, but as the touch went down I went with my left as quickly as I could."
There wasn't a victorious celebration for Castellanos and his teammates, but they left Rolling Meadows with a 1-1 draw in what proved to be a highly entertaining matchup, as both teams fell just short of netting the game-winner in both late regulation and throughout the two overtimes.
"There were plenty of good shots from the 20-yard line that both sides took so it was pretty fun stuff," Grenadiers coach Joe Bush said. "Every year when we play (Rolling Meadows) it's either a tie game or a 1-goal (difference) game. We never have a team winning by four. It's been a good rivalry and our kids play hard and their kids play hard."
Elk Grove (1-0-2) took a 1-0 lead with 34:15 on the clock in the first half. The Grenadiers were extremely fortunate to jump ahead to the early lead as 50 seconds earlier they nearly allowed an own goal.
"It was a scary moment and luckily it worked out the other way," Castellanos said. "In practice we've been working a lot on communicating more. My teammates are used to me running in the middle with the forwards and this time I called for the ball and got it."
And he delivered. It would've proved to be enough if not for Freddy Zarante.
Zarante scored the equalizer with only 18:47 remaining in regulation. The hosts were long overdue to score, especially since they were constantly on the attack after letting their guard down early and falling behind.
"We did really bad in the first half and our coach told us to get pumped, to play hard and show we want to win," Zarante said. "In my opinion we probably dominated the second half. We had so many more opportunities but only got the one in."
Both teams had a pair of shots on goal in the final 15 minutes of regulation but neither was able to deliver. Mike D'Acquisto nearly sent the crowd into a frenzy with just 1:16 left in regulation but his shot was just about a foot high as it sliced from left-to-right.
While Castellanos' final bid for victory in double overtime might be remembered most, it overshadows Manuel Pillado's 40-yard free kick with just 2:16 left that nearly was mishandled and snuck in.
Conor Murphy's shot on goal with just under two minutes left not only just missed the back of the net, but just had had a little too much mustard on it that none of his teammates could reach it for a header.
They were knocking on doors, but just couldn’t budge their way in.
"We scored the goal in the first 20 minutes so I thought we were good there," Bush said.
“We’ve been talking about getting more guys involved and moving the ball around. (Rolling) Meadows did a great job of disrupting passes, being the aggressor and as the game went on we were chasing our tails a bit.”
Still, the Grenadiers never gave up and produced their own share of scoring chances.
“We never really get down and just kept fighting for the ball and doing out best to win,” Pillado said. “We just couldn’t get the win tonight.”
Bush praised the play of Guillermo Anaya, Jon Arzeta and Murphy.
“Guillermo did a nice job of distrupting passes and I thought Jon did a great job in the midfield,” Bush said. “And Conor came off the bench and had a real nice shot that hit the post late in the first half. It would’ve been nice to be up 2-0, but it doesn’t always roll that way.”
