Wolves get a boost vs. South Elgin
By Seth Hancock

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With undefeated Naperville Central coming up on Saturday, the Oswego East boys’ soccer team needed to build a little momentum.

Coming off a 6-1 loss against Waubonsie Valley, the Wolves bounced back by defeating nonconference host South Elgin 3-1 on Thursday. The win snapped a three-game winless streak for Oswego East.

“This was beyond more than important for us even though it’s a nonconference game,” Wolves’ coach Steve Szymanski said. “It was needed to get their confidence back. There’s been some bickering in practices recently, but you can tell by looking at them now that this win lifted them up a bit.”

Oswego East (4-6-2) had to rally from a 1-0 deficit after the Storm (4-6-1) tallied the game’s first goal with 12:13 left in the first half. Christian Perez passed the ball up from about 40 yards out to Phil Saccameno who took the ball in from the left side of the keeper’s box and scored in the right corner of the net for the South Elgin lead.

However, just over two minutes later Ryan Jenkins knotted the game up with his first of two goals for the Wolves. Jenkins’ shot came from about 25 yards out, and he found the top right corner of the net just out of the  reach of the diving hands of Storm goalkeeper Tyler Shipon (3 saves).

“It’s pretty important that when you go down you come right back,” Jenkins said. “When you fall behind your heads are down, but I think my first goal really helped because it tied the game up pretty quickly.”

Oswego East led 2-1 at halftime thanks to a Cooper Fell goal off a Noel Zepeda assist with 3:11 left in the first half.

Jenkins’ second goal came with 4:38 left in the game off a Nathaniel Paisley assist.

That goal cemented the victory for the Wolves and sent the Storm to to their fifth straight loss and sixth straight game without a win.

“We’re not playing well right now,” said South Elgin coach John Uveges. “You can go across the board and we’re not passing well, not attacking and creating chances well and not defending well. We’re just not playing hard enough and with the intensity needed, and that shouldn’t happen on your home field.”

The Storm was missing several players to eligibility issues and injuries. Two key players missing were defenders Spencer Scott and Alberto Bustamante.

Despite that, the Storm did have several chances to tie the game in the second half. Saccameno had a handful of strong attacks and both Tyler Piszczek and Quinn Uveges had solid scoring chances.

However, South Elgin managed just one shot on goal in the second half which required a great leaping save by goalkeeper Sean Phetchanpheng (3 saves). The Wolves defense of Danny Madrigal, Noel Zepeda, Josh Walter and Danny Ruiz were able to keep the Storm relatively silent through the final 10 minutes of the first half till the end of the game.

“We just wanted to make sure they didn’t get any more shots off,” Madrigal said. “This was a pretty important game for us just to get confidence.”

“I thought the first 30 minutes of the game South Elgin had the better of play,” Szymanski said. “I don’t think our defense was playing bad, but our midfield wasn’t closing the holes fast enough.”

The Storm’s lone shot on goal in the second half came with 25:20 left on the clock as Adam Smith took a free kick from 50 yards out which Owen Bott headed near the left post. Bott’s shot was aimed for the top right corner of the net but was snagged by Phetchanpheng.

Phetchanpheng also made a great diving stop in the first half off a Perez shot 24 minutes into the match.

John Uveges was happy with the play and intensity of freshman Jakub Borla who was playing in his first varsity game, and Uveges hopes his varsity squad took notice.

“There are JV players just dying to come up,” Uveges said. “We’re going to really tighten up, and I’ll play with eight players if I have to. The way we’re going to do this is we’re going to hold them accountable for their mistakes.”

Oswego East had 10 shots on goal to South Elgin’s 4. Storm goalkeeper Michael Cortes made 4 saves in the second half.

Szymanski was happy with energy shown by sophomore defender Joey Coliton, and the Wolves offense was balanced with scoring chances coming from a plethora of players. Paisley, Madrigal, Alex Torres and David Hernandez each had at least one shot on goal and both Oliver Czopek and Oscar Martinez had solid scoring opportunities.

“This was one of our more important games,” Jenkins said. “We were coming in with some struggles and needed a win.”

“This game gives us some confidence,” Madrigal said. “We’ll come out more confident, more ready for Naperville Central.”