Tigers drop DVC battle to West Aurora
By Steve Nemeth
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While West Aurora’s coaches and players talked about an emphasis on offense, it was the Blackhawks’ defense that helped preserve a 3-2 home victory over Wheaton Warrenville South.
Having had a 2-0-1 start to the season take a sour turn, the victory was not only a first DuPage Valley Conference triumph (1-2) for West Aurora, it was a confidence boost bigger than improving the season record to 4-6-1.
From the visiting Tigers’ perspective, it was a disappointing outcome on several levels: first was having the DVC standard leveled at 1-1, second was losing for a fourth time in the last five matches; and lastly, having an even more promising 6-1 start now become a 7-5 record.
Perhaps the opening minutes set the tone as South had several potential goals blocked by Blackhawk defenders. Just over 10 minutes into the match, the Tigers’ Patrick Nielsen had a breakaway opportunity thwarted when West goalie Alex Guillen rushed off his line to make a save.
There was still 26:30 left before halftime when West Aurora’s additional practice time spent on shooting produced a dividend. The Blackhawks were awarded a penalty kick; however, WWS starting keeper Tim Reinders blocked the try by Geovanni Martinez only to have the West Aurora junior defender race in to slip a follow-up into the back of the net.
“I had to react quickly to his block and just did my best to make it inside the left post,” Martinez noted.
The visitors had a potential equalizer on a well-placed cross but Yusuf Yusuf had his attempt sail over the crossbar and the deficit grew to 2-0 with 10:34 remaining before intermission. That’s when West co-captain Danny Rotolo blasted a 29-yarder from the right wing for his initial goal of the season.
“This was my first game as an attacking midfielder, so I took on a couple defenders to get open and I just did what we had worked on in practice, shoot hard and high,” Rotolo said. “It was so nice to see the ball hit the back of the net and to get a league win.”
Wheaton Warrenville South was able to narrow the gap 2:17 left in the opening half as scoring leader Max Carey had a solid boot turned away by Guillen, but the rebound off the save was knocked home by Yusuf.
“Max always takes great shots that are hard for any keeper to stop, so I made sure to be there to cover a rebound and it worked,” Yusuf said.
The second half wasn’t three minutes old when Guillen was whistled for taking too much time and the resulting free kick for the Tigers produced yet another series of blocks by Blackhawk defenders.
Then with 25:07 remaining in regulation, Martinez simply rocketed a 31-yarder under the crossbar, the perfect position to keep WWS back-up goalie Julio Crisostomo from having an opportunity for a save.
“The keeper was toward the opposite side so I just aimed for the other post,” Martinez said in regard to his match-winner.
“We didn't give up at any time and best of all we took what we worked on in practice and put it on the field. (Assistant coach) Kevin (Briars) deserves some credit for helping put more of an emphasis on offense,” explained Blackhawk boss Joe Sustersic, who was sidelined for part of the week by illness.
That situation left Briars --- WW South Class of 2005 --- with some mixed emotions.
“It was a little weird preparing to beat the program I came from, but once the game started, it was easy to focus on the kids I’ve been coaching all year,” Briars explained. “Bottom line is we coach them to win. With coach not having too much of a voice, it was nice to play a more active role in practice and to have what we worked on pay off. But I’m still learning a lot from Joe and I know he and the kids earned the win.”
Of course the Blackhawks didn’t earn that triumph without more than just a few scary moments thanks to the Tigers.
With a renewed attack, Wheaton Warrenville South was applying steady offensive pressure when the host fans had their worst fears heightened. The Tigers made it a 3-2 contest with 5:27 still to be played.
Salvador Alvez gained possession in the right corner and sent a solid cross through the goal crease and Yusuf tapped it in from four yards out.
“It was a very nice cross that got past their defender so I just had to flick it inside the left post,” Yusuf said. “Unfortunately my next try didn’t turn out as well.”
At least not for the Tigers, who attacked again after the re-start with a through ball that Yusuf aimed for the far right post only to have the ball carom off the post with 4:23 still remaining.
Having dodged that potential game-tying shot, the Blackhawks really relied on clearance kicks whenever they got possession. South’s bench was convinced the visitors deserved at least a direct free kick inside the final two minutes, but there was no whistle.
“We might have been a little unfortunate in the end with Yusuf’s miss and no call, but it goes back to us giving up three easy goals,” WWS coach Guy Callipari admitted. “You do that against any good team and they’ll make you pay. We didn’t quite have our legs tonight; give credit to West because their transitions were quick and accurate. We chased the ball a little too much.”
Having entered the contest with 13 goals in the previous 11 matches, Carey wasn’t satisfied with simply recording an assist or the loss.
“Once again this was an example of why the DVC is one of the toughest conferences in the state. Every team is always going to fight hard for a win regardless of record, and we always know some of the (opposition) players which make it tougher to lose,” Carey concluded.
Prior to the West Aurora loss, Wheaton Warrenville South figured it had gained a leg up in the loop race with a 2-1 overtime win at West Chicago. While the Tigers have six of their next seven contests at home – the last of which is Naperville North – the regular-season slate and DVC chase conclude with road trips to Wheaton North and Naperville Central.
West Aurora hits the road to face non-conference foe Romeoville followed by a DVC trek to Naperville North and participation in the Rock Island Invitational before two more league home dates as part of the remaining schedule.
