Wildcats lose barnburner to Naperville North

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By Darryl Mellema

Warning lights and sirens didn’t necessarily accompany every Naperville North corner kick and free kick in West Chicago’s half of play on Tuesday night. But each of those dead-ball situations brought a similar level of unease to the visiting Wildcats’ defense each time they had to try to blunt those scoring opportunities.

And as if to emphasize the point, Naperville scored its opening goal from its first set piece and scored the game-winning goal from its final dead ball situation of the evening in a 2-1 DuPage Valley Conference victory in a match that was as fine a representation of soccer as anyone will see this, or any, season.

“We always know we’re going to get a great game from West Chicago,” Naperville North coach Jim Konrad said. “They play hard and tackle hard but in a controlled way. I thought they did a great job up top making runs and being dangerous. We knew we had to give them a good effort and to work hard.”

The winning goal came with only 3 minutes to play and involved Evan Trychta sending in a free kick that Lee Grander helped further to Neil Wiaranowski, who put the ball into the net and kept Naperville North (8-0-1, 1-1) undefeated.

“Any goal at any time of the game is a good thing,” Wiaranowski said. “It just happens that it was getting late in the game and that happened to be the game-winner. It’s a great feeling.”

In emphasizing its set piece capabilities, Naperville North is using its strength and height to its advantage. It’s not an accident that Grander ended as the assist man on both of Naperville North’s goals.

“When you’re 6-3, you should get to those,” Konrad said. “Seriously, (Grander) does a nice job on those. The boys know that those are great chances for us to score. We have some big kids. Against most teams, we’re going to have the advantage, size-wise. And we’re very athletic and we’re going to play hard.”

West Chicago (7-3-2, 1-1) was aware of the danger in Naperville North’s set piece play. Being able to stop those attacks proved more difficult.

“We told the team that if we’re going to beat a team like this, and we can beat a team like this, we have to not give them opportunities,” West Chicago coach Steve Brugmann said. “We didn’t see a whole lot of opportunities in terms of them moving the ball through us on the ground. But every single free kick or corner kick is just absolutely dangerous.”

Naperville North had a series of strong chances in the match. In addition to their goals, the Huskies hit the crossbar, the post and forced a pair of goal line clearances. But those things wouldn’t have mattered without the goals.

“You have to convert your chances,” Wiaranowski said. “But we know not to get frustrated when things go wrong. We know to keep plucking away at it and one will go in, and that’s what happened to us.”

And West Chicago can take some solace from the fact that it not only recovered immediately from falling behind and scored, but the Wildcats were not pushed all over the field. But moral victories such as those weren’t really much consolation as Brugmann’s team left the field.

“We know we can play with the best and we are playing with the best teams,” Brugmann said. “We are playing respectably with the best teams. I’m getting tired of saying that, though. I want to say we’re playing with the best teams and that we’re beating the best teams.”

Naperville North attacked directly from the opening kickoff and earned a corner kick in less than 60 seconds when Joe Sullivan worked around his defender, shot hard from close range and forced West Chicago goalie Marcel Carrasco to make a strong save.

Max Auden took that right-sided corner kick, which was flicked in the center of the 6-yard box by Lee Grander to Sullivan, who hammered the ball into the net from outside the left post. Sullivan’s goal was his team-leading sixth for the Huskies this year.

“We feel we have the size and the athleticism that we can score off restarts on teams,” Sullivan said. “That’s what happened tonight.”

Almost immediately, West Chicago countered Naperville North's strong start and Jenaro Terrazas shot wide from long distance in the fifth minute of play. Two minutes later, the Wildcats were level with the Huskies when Esteban Fernandez sent a leading pass to Jesus Duran, who split defenders and shot into the goal.

West Chicago's revival continued for 5 minutes after Duran's goal, until Diego Munoz curled a shot wide from the top of the penalty area from a Terrazas pass. Munoz engineered many of West Chicago’s attacks with surging runs through the midfield and then with incisive passes toward the forwards.

“(Munoz) was again a real spark for us, just in terms of the respect teams are giving us,” Brugmann said. “It’s allowing him to make the passes. We always talk that if (Munoz) has the ball and if they’re giving us respect, you have to make sure as the outside midfielder or the center-mid, that you’re making those runs.”

The fact that Munoz didn’t provide the pass from which Duran scored shows the maturity in West Chicago’s play.

“One of the strengths of our attack is that it’s not just going to be one guy,” Brugmann said. “We’ve got a half-dozen guys who can make that run and they’re all willing to do the work”

Naperville North attacked immediately with Madisen Gonzalez sending a pass to Evan Trychta, who shot high.

A quarter-hour of midfield play with neither team ascendant ended with 13 minutes left in the half when Naperville North's Kyle Lindberg hit the crossbar from 30 yards. The rebound fell to Austin Maggard, whose effort was saved.

Sustained Naperville North pressure in the dying moments of the first half culminated in an Auden right wing cross that Sullivan headed over the crossbar.

West Chicago retaliated inside the final minute of play when Octavio Salinas' dipping long-range effort forced Naperville North goalie Kevin Anderson to tip the ball over the bar.

West Chicago had the first chance of the second half, though Naperville North dominated play after the restart. But the Wildcats threatened when Munoz fed Erick Baeza, who headed wide.

The Huskies continued to be dangerous from corner kicks. Seven minutes into the half, Auden sent a corner kick that Wiaranowski headed toward goal, forcing Gilberto Villa to head off the goal line. Moments later, Sullivan and Lindberg combined on the left wing, forcing the Wildcats defense to adjust and scramble away the ball.

Naperville North's pressure continued in the 16th minute when Sullivan took a shot that clipped the post. Two minutes later, Lindberg came in free on the right wing and shot narrowly wide.

“It’s a little frustrating,” Sullivan said. “But you keep telling yourself that ‘we’re tapping’ and that a goal’s going to come.”

West Chicago's second strong scoring chance of the second half came with 9 minutes to play when Carlos Martinez hit a low shot from the left wing that  Anderson saved.

An Auden left wing corner kick with 5 minutes to play was headed toward goal by Lee Grander but forced Carrasco to save.

Then Wiaranowski headed the game-winner. Sullivan nearly made the score 3-1 with 2 minutes to play but Danny Ortega cleared off the line.