West Aurora's late heroics key win over Wildcats
Alvarez, Koth team up twice to doom West Chicago on the road

By Casey Callanan

Overtime victories taste a little sweeter when the equalizing goal comes with just 15 seconds left in regulation.

West Aurora found that out first hand in its 4-3 victory at home over West Chicago on Wednesday.

Even with West Chicago keeper Adrian Porcayo playing at a high level West Aurora surged back while facing a two-goal deficit late in the second half.

Blackhawk junior Matt Koth tied the game at 3-3 with just fifteen seconds remaining and then scored again in overtime to earn the crucial conference victory.  

Koth’s two goals were setup by senior midfielder Mario Alvarez.

Alvarez spent much of the game as a facilitator, but scored two goals of his own. His goal with ten minutes left in regulation to make the score 3-2 was the catalyst in the Blackhawk’s amazing comeback. 

“When we were losing by two I knew that if we kept playing as a team anything could happen,” Alvarez said.

Early in the match action seesawed back and forth. Neither team established a rhythm until twelve minutes into the game when West Chicago sophomore Jenaro Terrazas broke free from a cluster of Blackhawk defenders. Terrazas fired off a shot accurate enough to put the Wildcats up 1-0.

“We just started off slow, but coach got us motivated at halftime,” Koth said.

West Aurora’s offense came to life after the Wildcat goal and they proceeded to control the ball for roughly eighty percent of the first half. 

“At halftime I told our team we were doing too much ball watching and not enough tracking of players,” said West Chicago coach Steve Brugmann.

The Wildcats fought off every scoring opportunity the Blackhawks poured on in the closing minutes of the first half. West Chicago defenders Daniel Hernandez, Christopher Quintana and Louis Boers consistently wrestled the ball away as each slipped away.

Along with the solid goalkeeping of Porcayo it looked as though West Aurora’s time to score would never come, but instantly that changed with 32 seconds left in the first half.

West Chicago committed a handball in front of its goal to allow a West Aurora penalty kick. West Aurora senior Mario Alvarez crushed the kick into the back of the net and the score was tied 1-1 at halftime.

“Alvarez played an outstanding game. He’s out spark plug,” said West Aurora head coach Joe Sustersic. “At times we play as well as he plays and today was one of those games.”

The West Chicago offense had a new spring in its step after halftime with Terrazas leading the charge. Just two minutes into the half Terrazas’ quick pass to Diego Munoz put the Wildcats back on top 2-1.

The Wildcats continued to attack the net after the Munoz goal. For the first time since the opening minutes of the game West Chicago was constantly winning the possession battle.

Cesar Gonzalez scored the final goal for the Wildcats and with thirty minutes to play West Chicago led 3-1. 

Porcayo’s aggressive play at goalie was rewarded until Alvarez fired a goal from the weak side that completely changed the game.

The Blackhawks trailed by one with forty seconds to play and were awarded a direct free kick from about forty yards away. The kick produced an immediate scoring chance for West Aurora senior Cesar Garcia, but his shot was deflected out of bounds.

On the ensuing corner kick Koth found himself in good enough position to send the game into overtime. The Blackhawks scored off another corner kick as Alvarez found Koth once again for the game winner.

“I’m always looking for (Koth) on the corner kicks since he’s the height of our team,” Alvarez said.

West Aurora brought senior Abel Diaz into the game in the second half and he delivered for the Blackhawks. Diaz made three saves and did not allow a goal at a time when the Wildcats were eager to score the knock out punch.

West Aurora travels to play Romeoville on Saturday while West Chicago returns to action Thursday against Wheaton North.

“It’s going to be tough to bounce back, but pride and hunger will help us,” Brugmann said.