Blackhawks fall to Oswego East on late, late goal
By Eddie Burns

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Oswego East and West Aurora appeared to be headed for a tie, but then the most unexpected thing occurred.

The Blackhawks went to play the ball back to goalie Alex Guillen. Oswego East senior midfielder Alex Torres ran toward Guillen looking to distract him and it worked.

Guillen mishandled the ball, Torres secured possession of the ball and raced past Guillen and Torres sent the ball into open goal with 24 second remaining. It was Guillen’s third of the match and, more importantly, it lifted the Wolves to a stunning 4-3 victory on a sun-splashed Saturday afternoon at Ken Zimmerman Field in Aurora.

“I wasn’t expecting them send the ball back,” Torres said. “We were trying to force them to go outside and the ball ended up right there in the middle. I was able to cut it through, secure possession and place it in the net.”

Torres and his teammates celebrated wildly after the deciding goal was scored.

“To score in the last 30 seconds, that was really crazy,” said Oswego East senior Danny Ruiz. “I didn’t think that was going to happen. It goes to show you that you can never give up on a ball.”

Guillen’s goal helped Oswego East (2-4-1) complete a comeback after the Wolves found themselves down 2-0 not even 20 minutes into the match.

“The boys have to look themselves in the mirror and make the decision on what they can do to get better,” said West Aurora coach Joe Sustersic, who saw his side lose for a third straight match while dropping its record to 2-3-1 overall. “You can’t have a 2-0 lead and give up two goals unanswered, we fought back, but they stole that game from us. My stats show that (Oswego East) scored four goals and we had two saves. Unfortunately, we can’t do anything about that.”

It was a match where both sides took advantage of the other’s mistakes.

Goals by Manny Gurrola and Nay Sirr staked the Blackhawks to a 2-0 lead before the Wolves started inching their way back into the match.

In the 24th minute, the Wolves were awarded the first of two penalty kicks, but Guillen made a diving stop on Mauricio Puga’s attempt to keep the Blackhawks’ lead at two goals.

The Wolves finally broke through when Ruiz was in the right spot at the right time as he found the ball right at his feet at point-blank range in the West Aurora penalty area and Ruiz played a shot past Guillen to make it a 2-1 match in the 32nd minute, where it remained at halftime.

“That goal really got us back in the game,” Ruiz said. “It put us down one goal as opposed to 2-0 -- that is a huge difference – psychologically speaking.”

Immediately in the early stages of the second half, West Aurora almost extended its lead back to two goals when Gurrola beat Oswego East goalie Sean Phetchanpheug, but Wolves defender Josh Walters was there to clear the ball off the goal line to prevent a goal from being scored.
“I was just trying to do whatever I could to keep our team in it – whatever it takes,” Walters said. “Phetchanpheug saves us a lot, so it was nice to return the favor.”

The Wolves pulled even in the 47th minute when Oliver Czopek and Alex Torres teamed up for a two-man attack and they combined for a goal to tie the match at 2-2.

A short time later, Oswego East was then awarded its second penalty kick when Czopek was taken down inside the penalty area. Torres took the penalty kick and he converted for a 3-2 lead in the 52nd minute.

In the 56th minute, the Blackhawks thought they had tied the match when Danny Rotolo sent a corner kick into the Wolves’ penalty area. The ball found Gurrola’s head and he banged it against the ground and it looked destined to reach the goal, but Phetchanpheug made a great diving save to keep the Wolves in the lead.

“It bounced on the ground and their goalie made a great save,” Gurrola said.

West Aurora continued to be relentless with its attack and the hard work finally paid off in the 69th minute when the Blackhawks were awarded a restart from near midfield.

Play restarted with the ball being played in toward the Oswego East goal where Ruiz attempted to clear the ball and it went backwards right toward the Wolves’ goal where Gurrola was standing and he headed it into the goal to tie the match.

“I just misplayed the ball,” Ruiz said.

From there, the Blackhawks continued to apply the pressure before the unfortunate giveaway led to Torres’ winning goal.

“It was a crazy match,” Torres said. “It definitely made us all want to work much harder when they scored that third goal to tie it up. We were able to work hard and manage to pull out the win.”

The Blackhawks have to regroup before returning to conference play on Tuesday against Glenbard North.

“We weren’t thinking there at the end,” Gurrola said. “We just didn’t play smart. We had the match in hand, but we let down are guard and it cost us. It is frustrating.”

Torres summed up the match.

“They made a mistake and we were there to finish it,” he said. “Both teams played well, but it was a game of mistakes -- most goals were a result of mistakes and we were fortunate to pull it out there in the end.”