DeJong's late strike forces tie with WEGO
By Bill Stone

Senior forward Andie Lazzerini helped West Chicago take care of the hard part in Thursday’s game, scoring not once but twice against host Glenbard East.
Nothing could help her or the Wildcats deal with their emotions afterwards.

Glenbard East senior Jess DeJong was jubilant to score with just 38.5 seconds left in regulation as the DuPage Valley Conference rivals settled for a 2-2 tie in Lombard. It was DeJong’s second goal of the game with both assisted by junior Alex Ruffer.

“We tied, but it feels like a loss, kind of. We had them. The last 30 seconds, they tied it up,” Lazzerini said. “They played hard, too. They’re a good team but we wanted a DVC win. We’ve played our best every game, but sometimes the goals just don’t’ come for us so that was another one of those nights.”

After two scoreless 10-minute overtimes, the Rams (9-3-3, 0-2-2 in DVC) and Wildcats (7-7-3, 0-4-1) were left still searching for their first victories in conference action.

West Chicago had won two of its last three games. Glenbard East had won its last four in a row, all of them by shutout.

“Obviously, we wanted to get a win out of it, but just to tie it up is way better than a loss,” Ruffer said. “I feel like we were just really frustrated the whole game. We were tired to see the (2-1 score). It just felt a lot better because we were pressing all game.”

DeJong, who now has 10 goals this season, put the importance of her late goal behind only a couple of others in her career. There was the game-winner last year against Hinsdale Central with 4:44 left and her April 2 goal in the Rams’ 3-2 DVC loss at Naperville Central, their first goals scored against the Redhawks in nine years.

They scored the equalizer behind the fundamentals and strategy they’ve often discussed and practiced. Ruffer took a pass from sophomore Jessica Whipple, worked wide right of goal and then crossed the ball perfectly to DeJong, who made herself wide open in the middle of the box to convert.

“We practiced it, taking the ball down to the end line and putting it right back up to the top to the 18,” DeJong said. “We practice it and it happened. I just saw the space and I just ran into it and then I called it and she gave it to me.

“I think (Ruffer has) assisted like all of my goals. Pretty much all of them, I think, except for two free kicks, which she probably got fouled on. I know one of them for a fact was, Naperville Central.”
The Rams struck first on DeJong’s goal off a Ruffer free kick with 7:51 left in the first half, but Lazzerini tied it for the Wildcats on only their second shot of the game 1:42 before halftime.

West Chicago pulled ahead 2-1 with 30:36 remaining in regulation as freshman Maddie Aguilar ran in a cross following a beautiful run down right wing by senior Katie Becker.

Before Lazzerini’s goal, the Rams hadn’t allowed a goal since back on April 10 in a 3-0 loss at Naperville North.

“This is the first goal that has been scored on us in the last five minutes of either half,” Glenbard East coach Kent Overbey said. “This being the first time for it to happen is a good thing, but for it to happen in a big game like this against West Chicago, it really changed the momentum and we felt that in the second half we didn’t come out with the energy.

“But we fought back and I was proud. In the past, those are games that we would have let slip through our fingers. Ties, we’ll take them, but not ideal.”

The Wildcats felt the same way. They put themselves in position to win consecutive games for the first time since a three-game winning streak from March 27-28 by scoring multiple goals for the third time in the past four games. Before that, the Wildcats hadn’t scored multiple goals since March 28, contributing to four DVC losses, three by one goal.

“You’re never pleased when you’re ahead and then you end with a tie, but at least with the way that they play, I’m proud of the girls. They’re doing a great job,” West Chicago coach Cesar Gomez said.

“I enjoy coaching this group and seeing the result. That scoreboard doesn’t always tell us what the game was. We outpossessed them probably 68 to 70 percent of the time. Every pass was with purpose. We put an emphasis on patience and passion. I saw it today, and it’s going to get better.”

Both teams overcame lineup and emotional adversity to achieve their part of the tie.

The Rams had a scoring flurry with three decent chances 10-to-11 minutes into the game and got a lift when DeJong scored her first goal. She one-timed a cross made by Ruffer from 25 yards near the right sideline that bounced once through the crease.

With 3:50 left in the half, Ruffer nearly made it 2-0 when she blasted a shot from the top of the box that shook the crossbar but came back out.

When West Chicago threatened two minutes later, Glenbard East defender KJ Nelson blocked a shot by Alexa Vega, but the ball remained on dangerous turf.

Lazzerini poked the ball and it sailed through the crowd into the upper-left corner of the net for her team-high 13th goal this season.

“It was just like, ‘Shoot on frame. Hope for the best.’ That tends to work sometimes so it worked out in this case,” Lazzerini said. “Whenever they score on us (first), we tend to lose that game. We haven’t really had a comeback yet this season.”

“It definitely was a complete turnaround,” Ruffer said.

The goal invigorated the Wildcats’ offense. They earned the game’s first corner kick with 33:15 left, but defender Maria Berrum trapped it and DeJong cleared it.

Becker then made a long run down the right sideline to serve a dangerous cross that flirted with the goal line. As Glenbard East goalie Veronica Fairbairn tried to stop it, the ball was deflected into the air by a defender. As the ball fell, Aguilar engulfed it with her body and got it past the goal line just before it was cleared.

“When she kicked it out, I was like, ‘That’s in. That was in,’ ” Aguilar said. “I really wanted to score. This was my game. I really thought it was mine. I’ve got to give (Katie credit). That was great for her to do.

“It hit my body (only), but I don’t care. A goal’s a goal.”
Aguilar had re-entered the game less than four minutes earlier. With 13:50 left, she nearly increased the Wildcats’ margin, but her shot off a Lazzerini pass went off the crossbar and Fairbairn smothered the rebound.

“She’s our second-leading scorer right behind me so she’s been doing great all season, and she’s a freshman,” Lazzerini said.

West Chicago held the lead despite the pesky DeJong and speedy freshman forward Brittany Paganucci, who was covered man-to-man most of the night by freshman Karen Ibarra. After a great passing combination with DeJong and Ruffer, Paganucci nearly tied the game with 5:16 left. Paganucci beat defenders and charging goalie Gaby Navejas to a ball at the top of the box, but she pushed the ball just wide to the left.

Overbey said he was pleased how his players kept pushing but maintained their composure to find the net again.

“We kept chipping away. We didn’t panic. We weren’t just kicking the ball up the field. We stayed within our offense,” Overbey said.

Whipple set up the tying score after being helped off the field with 9:46 left in the first half. Her return for good with 25:56 left was doubly important because Berrum left the game with a hamstring injury and had to be replaced by Taylor Hallcox, otherwise part of the outside midfield rotation with Whipple and Jordyn Fulton.

“The trainer checked (Whipple’s) knee out and it looked like it was just a deep bruise and not any ligament damage. We were fortunate to have her back,” Overbey said.

Glenbard East led 21-13 in total shots, but the Wildcats led 5-1 in overtime and had a 4-0 advantage in corner kicks.

The Rams’ best overtime chance was a doozy. With less than two minutes left, Ruffer dug out the ball and got it in the top of the box, where a sliding Paganucci pushed the ball just wide.

With four minutes left, Lazzerini had made an explosive and dangerous run down left wing but then pushed her shot wide of the right post.

“I had the (defender) beat and it was just me and the keeper with the girl on my back,” Lazzerini said. “We practice that all of the time. I was just thinking, ‘Second post, second post,’ and unfortunately I just didn’t hit it the right way. It happens, but it could have been that I was exhausted, playing 100 minutes, but it was a tough game.”
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