Rams' attack struggles vs. WW South
By Eddie Burns

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There are enough distractions for a coach throughout a season and throughout a match, that it is nice when things go according to plan.

That is what happened for Wheaton Warrenville South coach Guy Callipari during Tuesday’s DuPage Valley Conference match against Glenbard East.

The match presented him with a significant challenge as the Tigers celebrated senior night and Callipari had all 17 seniors in his program dress for the varsity match and he wanted to get all of them playing time.

Fellow seniors Max Carey and Yusuf Yusuf made the task a bit easier when they teamed for the match’s first goal 28 seconds into the game. Carey later added another goal to help the Tigers to a 2-0 victory in Wheaton.

“We had six seniors from the other level come up to play tonight so we were 17 seniors strong,” Callipari said. “So, in a perfect world you like to see that opening so that gave us some flexibility and opportunity.”

Carey set up the initial goal when he played a wonderful ball to a streaking Yusuf along the far sideline. Yusuf corralled possession and worked his way toward the Glenbard East goal before ripping a shot past Rams goalie Ammar Al-Ghoul.

“Max played a great ball through,” Yusuf said. “We are always working on creating opportunities like that during the first portion of the match and tonight that paid off for us.”

Carey said he knew if he could get the ball to Yusuf, that he would be in position to be dangerous.

“It was a great run by Yusuf as he got around their defenders I saw the potential for a great scoring chance,” Carey said. “He used his muscle to over-power their defender and the capped it off with a great finish.”

It was the exact type of start that Glenbard East coach Josh Adler wanted to avoid.

“The effort is always there, but we just need to put things together in the way that we need to play,” Adler said. “Mentally, we were fragile in the first 30 seconds of the match – they popped one in on us and then we played with them for the next 39 minutes, 30 seconds.”

After Yusuf’s goal, the remaining portion of the first half was fairly even. The Tigers (10-6-2, 3-2 DVC) did have a number of quality chances, but Al-Ghoul was up to the challenge as was WW South starting goalie Timothy Reinders.

In the 23rd minute, Glenbard East (3-12-1, 1-5) had its best scoring chance of the match when Samir Ghiasi sent a cross to where teammate Will Rodriguez was waiting, but Reinders managed to make a diving stop on Rodriguez’s attempt.

“We created some opportunities, but just not enough,” Adler said.

The second half was a much different story as the Tigers simply dominated play and never really allowed the Rams to generate much of anything in the offensive third.

“We had a good second half in terms of closing in on them, putting shots on goal and basically peppering their net while creating a lot of scoring opportunities,” Callipari said. 

Al-Ghoul was the main reason the match didn’t get out of hand. Al-Ghoul recorded 10 saves and thwarted off several other scoring chances with help from his defense consisting of Matt Rossetti, Johnny Longo, Nick DeJong and Trevor Cook among others.

“He was blitzed,” Adler said. “At the same time, he came off his line well and when he had to make some saves, he made some saves. I thought he played outstanding. He was our golden boot tonight.”

Al-Ghoul said it he had no choice but to go about his business in the back.

“It was definitely frustrating that the team struggled so much at getting the ball forward, but I have to admit being able to get some action is always nice,” Al-Ghoul said. “Honestly, I’d much rather not have to do anything and have our team keep possession on the other team’s end of the field, but that just didn’t happen tonight. It was a bit un-nerving to always have the ball on our side of the field. I just had to stay in my stance and be ready and make the save when the opportunities present themselves.”

Carey was finally able to give the Tigers a little extra breathing room when he ripped a left-footed shot from about 28 yards out into the upper corner and past a diving Al-Ghoul in the 62nd minute.

“He was amazing for them,” Carey said about Al-Ghoul. “I just got a great chance and I converted.”

Yusuf said he and his teammates knew Carey’s 17th goal of the season was coming.

“We were not surprised because Max has a great shot,” Yusuf said. “He had so many chances that you knew one of them would eventually find the back of the net and that is what happened.”

The Tigers were so dominant in the second half that neither senior goalie who played, John Batke nor Julio Crisostomo, recorded a save in the second half. Callipari made sure all three senior goalies saw time in net.

“We had no attack going forward,” Adler said. “We spent too much time defending. They are a good pressing team going forward. They do a good job of finding their strength in the middle of the field and they have guys who can crack the ball from different areas of the field. WW South did an excellent job of finding those guys and trying to present themselves with those opportunities.”

Both teams wore alternative uniforms as the eight schools throughout the DVC took part in a Multiple Sclerosis Awareness campaign wearing orange-and-white uniforms that were provided by ReddPromo. The Rams wore white shirts with orange numbering while the Tigers wore orange shirts with white numbering. Together the Rams and Tigers raised more than $900.00 through t-shirt sales for the fight against MS, which is incurable.

West Aurora coach Joe Susteric was diagnosed with the disease two years ago and sort of spear-headed the event, which Callipari said the league hopes it can grow in similar fashion like the Volley for Cure campaign that volleyball teams throughout the league have promoted for the past few years.

Both the Tigers and Rams posed for a group photo before the match.

“It is great for the teams and great for the boys to be able to provide service and give back,” Callipari said. “It’s not often that you see two teams pose for a photo before a match and that was great sportsmanship to see. It worked out really well tonight. This was just the first year we tried something like this and I look for us to build on this.”

The players agreed.

“It was for a great cause and it was cool to wear something other than our regular jerseys,” Carey said. “It was nice to do something for a special cause.”