Magic connects on three goals in nine minutes to rally past Fire U-15/16

By Curt Herron

It certainly was not what you expected to see from a team that has played excellent defense throughout the season.

But the Fire Academy's U-15/16 squad experienced a surprising breakdown in Sunday's match with the Chicago Magic.

After going 240-plus minutes since allowing their last goal, the Fire yielded two in the course of just three minutes.

To make matters worse, the Magic added a score a few minutes later to give them three during a nine-minute span.

And if it weren't for some great saves by keeper Christian Lomeli, things may have even been worse for the Fire.

It all resulted in a painful 3-1 Great Lakes Division loss to the Magic at the College of DuPage in Glen Ellyn.

Prior to the match, the Fire (6-4-3, 21 points) had yielded four goals and had nine shutouts in division play.

They'll try to get back on the right track on Wednesday when they face Indiana United in their final home match.

Then its off to Ohio this weekend for dates with the Internationals and Columbus Crew to end the regular season.

The Magic (5-5-3, 18 points) also will travel to Ohio this weekend after playing host to Sockers FC on Wednesday.

Things started off great for the Fire, who grabbed the early advantage and had plenty of chances to add to that.

The Fire took a 1-0 lead in the sixth minute when Louis Bennett made a free kick from just outside of the box.

About five minutes later, the Fire had three great opportunities to increase their advantage, but came up empty.

Joel Salmeron had a short try deflected by keeper Philip Huang and Elliot Borge's rebound was cleared by a defender.

Jesus Medina fired off a line drive to complete the dangerous sequence, but the Magic keeper hauled in the attempt.

During the next few minutes, Francisco Sajuan, Salmeron and Medina were all either high or wide on scoring chances.

Shortly before the break, Lomeli blocked a short try by Jonathan Hernandez, on the Magic's best first-half threat.

The Fire threatened before the whistle when Bennett lined a free kick off a wall and Salmeron's corner was stopped.

Following a long try from Bennett and a deflected shot from Sajuan early in the second half, the tide began to turn.

A short attempt by Jonathan Cervantez preceded a penalty kick from Connor Mulhern, which Lomeli was able to block.

Cervantez followed up on that a bit later by sending a shot from the side which the Fire keeper had to punch away.

The Magic finally scored in the 68th minute when Josue Chavez sent in a free kick that was headed in for an own goal.

Hernandez nearly found the net right after that goal, but Lomeli came out of the net and deflected his shot away.

But the Magic made the most of their next opportunity when Erik Rodriguez sent a pass to Hernandez, who connected.

A few minutes after Lomeli punched away another potential score, Cervantez hit a liner off a pass from Rodriguez.