Tigers rally late to capture wild win over Whitney Young

By Curt Herron

While Guy Callipari would have likely preferred to see far less drama, it's safe to say that the Wheaton Warrenville South coach was pleased with the result in his team's match at Saturday's Pepsi Showdown.

The Tigers got a pair of scores from Yusuf Yusuf during the closing 10 minutes of play to capture a 4-3 victory over Whitney Young in the teams' final match of pool play in a contest played in LaGrange.

As a result of the come-from-behind victory, WWS (4-3-1) closed out pool play with a 2-1 mark. Its lone defeat came on Thursday when it fell in penalty kicks to Downers Grove North (8-0-1), which won Saturday to move on to the quarterfinals.

After suffering heavy graduation losses from last year's talented squad, Callipari realized that it would take some time for South to find its way, which could be problematic playing in rugged tournaments like Barrington and the Showdown.

It's been quite a roller coaster ride so far for the Tigers, who were involved in a match featuring five or more goals for the fifth time in just eight contests thus far this season.

Click to hear coach Guy Callipari interview

The Chicago Public League made the most of its few first half chances to get scores from Cole Keutzer and Cornell McCCullom to grab a 2-0 advantage at the break.

WWS responded by getting a pair of scores from George Doran to tie things back up. Nate Fuster assisted on the first score while Max Carey had a hand in his team's second goal.

After Keutzer connected again to give Young a 3-2 advantage, the Tigers answered one more time to first force another tie and then ultimately take their only lead of the match.

Yusuf scored his first goal with 9:10 left, thanks to an assist from Doran, and then got the game-winner with 1:36 remaining when he got free in front and placed a shot into the lower corner of the net.

The victory and strong showing in pool play provides a good boost for South, which kicks of its DuPage Valley Conference schedule on Tuesday when it hosts Naperville North.

Click to hear George Doran interview