Tigers show fight but fall to West Chicago

By Paul LaTour
Photos courtesy of David Dix

For 60 minutes it appeared West Chicago and Wheaton Warrenville South were content to keep their battle a low-scoring affair.

That appearance changed drastically in the final 20 minutes. The teams combined for five goals during that stretch as the host Wildcats held on for a 4-2 victory in a DuPage Valley Conference match Tuesday night.

The Wildcats (5-7-2, 2-2-1 DVC) snapped a three-game losing streak in keeping the Tigers (6-8-1, 0-3) winless in conference play.

“We’ve been doing a lot of things lately that have clicked, but we just haven’t been able to win any games from it,” Wildcats coach Steve Brugmann said. “So it was nice to see some of that stuff, especially the finishing in the final third. It was exciting.”

The Tigers had chances right away, but both times the Wildcats defense turned them away. In the second minute, Dan Burns sent a pass through the defenders to find George Doran in the penalty area.

Doran controlled the ball and slipped around Adrian Porcayo, who left the goal open behind him. Doran pushed a shot toward the open net, but defender Gilberto Villa slid back into the play to clear it out of bounds.

Porcayo then stood tall against Burns in the sixth minute. Porcayo made a toe save with his left foot on Burns’ first attempt, then got in position to block Burns’ next shot before a Wildcats defender cleared it from danger.

“That gave us a boost,” said Wildcats defender Christopher Quintana, who made a nice defensive play in the 53rd minute to turn back another scoring threat. “Every time we make a good stop or Porcayo makes a save everyone gets fired up.”

The Wildcats countered with a scoring attempt in the 12th minute. Diego Munez sent a long cross to the far post, but a header from Esteban Fernandez was deflected by Tigers goalie Josh Dix.

Dix wasn’t as fortunate 13 minutes later against Fernandez. Fernandez took a left-footed blast from 16 yards out that deflected off Dix’s hands above his head and just under the crossbar, giving West Chicago a 1-0 lead.

That score stood as the teams went to the halftime. Both goalies made three saves in the half. The Wildcats had the better of the play in the latter portion and did a better job keeping the Tigers at bay.

The Tigers were unable to muster much of an attack after the opening six minutes. But they had a good chance early in the second half when Doran carried down the left side and poked a high shot that just cleared the crossbar, hitting the football crossbar behind the net.

That came after the Wildcats were thwarted by the actual crossbar, preventing them from adding to their lead. Jared Perez took a shot from inside the penalty that clanged off the crossbar behind Dix (8 saves). The ball ricocheted past another West Chicago player and out of danger.

The Tigers defense was back at it in the 53rd minute to save another potential Tigers goal. A long through pass to Erik Yamane was broken up by Quintana, who sprinted to the top right corner of the penalty box to knock the ball from Yamane just as he was preparing to shoot.

Dix came up with the save of the game in the 58th minute. Wildcats midfielder Giovanni Gomez tapped the ball back to Jenaro Terrazas, who sent a high shot from 28 yards that Dix jumped to deflect over the crossbar.

A scary moment came with 20:36 remaining when Quintana bumped heads with Doran. Both players were removed from the game and were being tested for concussion symptoms by the athletic trainers. Quintana returned five minutes later, but Doran didn’t return.

When play resumed the Tigers tied it with a left-footed low goal by Dan Burns with 19:15 to play.

The game stayed that way for less than a minute. Jenaro Terrazas restored the Wildcats’ lead with a beautiful give-and-go play with Esteban Hernandez executed at full speed. Terrazas’ goal made it 2-1 with 18:25 left to play.

But the scoring wasn’t done. With 11:50 remaining the Wildcats struck again when Munoz scored off a free kick from Aldair Vega.

“It’s really disheartening when you fight really hard to come back and tie it, and then you go down two goals real quick,” Burns said. “We’re 0-3 in conference, which is somewhere we would not like to be. But I don’t think our record reflects our talent. We’re not as bad as our record shows.”

The Tigers came back again to make it a one-goal game when Dan Tomazin scored after a couple deflections following a free kick from just beyond the penalty area. Tomazin slid the ball – and himself – into the goal just inside the right post.

With just over a minute remaining the Tigers nearly got the equalizer. But Porcayo (5 saves) grabbed hold of the ball in a crowd with Tigers forward Yusuf Yusuf bearing down.

The Wildcats ended the scoring when Vega scored on a free kick from 19 yards out with under 23 seconds left.

Though the Tigers are still searching for their first DVC win of the season, coach Guy Calllipari took heart in the way his team battled.

“The most obvious (positive) was the willingness to fight back when you’ve got key components sitting out,” Callipari said. “The game definitely got stretched and that’s what being in a deficit will do. It was a conference match and we’re struggling to get back-to-back victories, so you’re going to have to take risks.”