Cadets suffer first defeat at hands of Wildcats
By Chris Walker

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Steven Porcayo hasn't stepped into a classroom yet to begin his final year of high school.

Last year, he never stepped onto the field to play for the West Chicago soccer team.

Porcayo, like hundreds of his peers, is scheduled to begin school on Monday, but on Saturday, he was on the field helping the Wildcats defeat visiting Marmion, 3-1, during a rare Saturday night match-up.

After suiting up during his freshman and sophomore years in school, Porcayo dedicated himself to club play a year ago.

This fall, realizing it's his final opportunity to play in high school, especially with many of his peers who are also club teammates, the 6-foot, 176-pounder will give it a go.

So far, so great.

Porcayo scored with 21:29 remaining in the first half, receiving a beautiful long feed from fellow senior Edgardo Alcantar.

"I saw the open space and Edgardo played it perfectly to me in the box," Porcayo said. "I saw the goalie on his left side and that left a hole with the whole right side open and switched on him."

Although just three games into the season, Porcayo is more than satisfied with his decision to don the West Chicago uniform one final season.

"We have so much chemistry and know how to move without talking to each other so it's nice to be back," he said. "I play with so many of these guys on the same travel team so during the spring and I realized it was time to decide to come back."

Marmion (2-1-0) didn't have much luck in challenging the Wildcats. In fact, the Cadets had a difficult time just keeping up with them.

"You've got to give credit to them, they are very good all around and move the ball very fast," Marmion coach Ricky Del Toro said. "Playing on turf makes them ever quicker. We tip our hats to them, but we showed we can play with a high-caliber team, and for us, we scored two."

The Cadets actually only scored once, although senior Matthew Switzer appeared to score with 6:40 remaining in the second half to cut the deficit to 3-1.

There appeared to be confusion between the officials on whether or not Switzer's goal was indirect or not, but it was nullified and the shutout stood.

The Cadets didn't bury their heads, though, as Flynn Collins scored with 4:09 remaining to make it a 3-1 contest.

"We were down at halftime but came back with a different attitude and then they scored another one and then another one," Collins said. "We just never give up and have a lot of pride in our team. We just never give up."

Unfortunately for the Cadets, the score by Collins didn't give the team a chance to aim for the equalizer in the final four minutes.

Instead, they were still desperate, searching for a pair of scores in less than 250 seconds which is nearly as unlikely to happen against a good team as winning multiple millions in the lottery.

"West Chicago is a very good team and they showed a lot of pace and quickness," Collins said. "We just didn't step up today. We gave a good effort, but just didn't do what we needed to. Now we move on to our next game in Barrington."

West Chicago (2-0-1) wasted little time extending its lead to 2-0 in the second half as senior Jenaro Terrazas found the back of the net with 36:52 remaining.

At 5-foot-4 and 125 pounds of soaking wet after a Gatorade bath, Terrazas may not be physically intimidating, but he's one of the many speedsters on the West Chicago roster who will aim to utilize quickness to overcome the deficiencies that might arise against bigger, more muscular opponents.

"We know we just have to keep passing and moving the ball to be effective, especially against taller teams," Terrazas said. "When you're not as big as some of the other teams you have to pass and move and use your quickness."

The Wildcats received their final score from another senior as Diego Munoz simply lobbed a shot over the Marmion goalkeeper with 17:49 remaining in the contest to put the Wildcats ahead 3-0.

"The boys really worked hard today and communicated well," West Chicago coach Jose Villa said. "It was definitely good to see."

Communication and outworking opponents is crucial to the Wildcats, who will soon be diving into the carnivorous nature of the DuPage Valley Conference.

"I know the DVC is always going to have tough teams and competition," Villa said. "A lot of those teams are much bigger than us and we're 5-foot-7 average and maybe 130 pounds.

"So we've got some big guys to face, but the guys aren't afraid of getting in there on 50/50s and that's where we need be, and to use our speed and good possession."

Marmion, on the other hand, will look to continue to thwart growing pains as it heads into a tournament in Barrington this week.

"It's still just the beginning and tonight was a good test for us," Del Toro said. "Barrington is going to be great and we're still improving which is important because we're a young squad."