Panthers hold off Blackhawks to claim first DVC victory

CLICK HERE FOR PHOTOS COURTESY OF JAMES HOMA

By Darryl Mellema

No one would have said with any degree of accuracy that Glenbard North was in a scoring drought heading into Tuesday's match against West Aurora.

But the Panthers hadn't been scoring anywhere near the number of goals they felt they should have compared to the chances they created.

That changed on Tuesday in Aurora when Glenbard North was ruthless in front of goal.

In addition to the four goals they scored – which equaled their season high, the Panthers had a large number of chances to add to that total in what ended as a 4-3 victory over their DuPage Valley Conference foe.

"We were trying to go forward and to make forward runs," Glenbard North senior midfielder Danny Campagna said.

"That's what our coach has been working with us on with those of us in the middle. That's what he wants and that's what happened."

Campagna scored the first goal of what ended as a wild DVC affair when he took a Ryan Anderson pass with 15 minutes left in the opening half. Campagna moved on goal and scored.

"I made a forward run and that's what we've been working on in practice," Campagna said. "We've been working on breakaways and beating goalies one-on-one. That's what we've worked on and it works."

Campagna has never been a prolific goalscorer for Glenbard North – until recently.

In fact, he had never scored at all in his varsity career until the September 23 match with St. Francis at the St. Charles East tournament.

A goal against Burlington Central followed and now Campagna has a three-game scoring streak and three goals for the season.

"In the beginning of the season, I was hanging around more in the back, more defensive-minded," Campagna said.

"I talked with my coach and he told me he wanted me to get up, to go forward. I'm going up now and I feel more confident making runs up the field and still getting back."

West Aurora (13-5, 2-3) made Glenbard North (5-4-5, 1-2-1) work for its victory with a series of comebacks.

Cesar Garcia equalized before haftime and the teams were tied 1-1 after 40 minutes of play.

Campagna provided the right wing cross from with Alex Kfoury scored the Panthers' second goal.

And when Ryan Scott passed to Eric Dailly, whose shot was blocked – there was Jon Colucci to net the rebound and suddenly, with 21 minutes to play, Glenbard North had a 3-1 advantage.

"It's been a struggle for us, the last few games, to find the back of the net," Glenbard North coach Greg Chrisman said.

"We're creating opportunities, but we're not scoring. Luckily we've been hanging onto ties and not been getting losses. But we need to start finishing."

West Aurora found another comeback inside the last six minutes that became absolutely manic before the final horn sounded.

First, Cesar Garcia scored on a free kick and the Blackhawks trailed 3-2. Then Dailly took control of a Campagna free kick after the ball tipped off the hands of West Aurora's goalkeeper.

"I was just taking the chances that became available," senior forward Dailly said. "I had hit the crossbar twice and I finally got it to go in."

Goals like Colucci's and Dailly's were especially pleasing for Chrisman.

"It shows that someone already created a shot and we have people following up," Chrisman said. "We're getting numbers forward and that's great to see."

The Blackhawks closed again to 4-3 when Danny Rotolo headed the ball into the net with 3:59 to play – and very nearly scored an equalizer in the last minute of play.

"It's fun but there's a lot of stress out there," Campagna said. "There's a lot of heart-pumping and things like that. You can never have enough goals in games like these. They were red-hot coming back."

Opportunism was key to the offense for Glenbard North.

"We were just taking the chances that were available and we capitalized," Dailly said. "Those last seven minutes, it really came down to the wire.

"They came back and they were playing fast. We had to play fast, too, get the ball to the corners and try to get shots on goal."

While Glenbard North's record nearly resembles a table top, one of the byproducts of this year's results is that the Panthers have only lost four times in 15 matches.

"That's something to grow on and to build on," Chrisman said. "I think they gain confidence every time they step on the field."