Wildcats use late goal from Duran to rally past Cougars

 

 

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By Curt Herron

With West Chicago facing a 2-0 halftime deficit to Plainfield South, coach Steve Brugmann told his players that they had plenty of time to rally.

Part of his belief came from the fact that the Wildcats would benefit from having a strong wind at their backs during the final 40 minutes of play.

But equally important, Brugmann has seen examples of what his talented squad is capable of accomplishing over the course of their successful season.

Less than six minutes into the second half Wego had already evened things up with the host Cougars but getting the go-ahead goal would be another story.

The Wildcats needed all but three seconds of the last half before they completed their comeback in stunning fashion in Saturday's nonconference match.

Following a late punt and pass into the box, Jesus Duran scored from close range just before the final whistle blew to give his team a 3-2 win in Joliet.

It was the second goal of the day for Duran, who began Wego's comeback in the 43rd minute. Martin Orozco got the other goal just over three minutes later.

"At halftime we weren't particularly panicked and I told the guys that we didn't need to do this in the first five minutes," Brugmann said. "We could score two goals and then put another one in and be ahead.

"We continued to put the ball around the net and it finally came together for us at the end. I feel bad for Plainfield South when it happens that way since I've been in that position myself.

"We're still working on not giving up those corner kicks and free kicks, especially when you have a 30-mile per hour wind in your face, which doesn't bode well when you're not putting goals in.

"Although this match didn't really matter, you still want to win every match. For us to be able to come out and play good, solid soccer and play like it did mean something is going to help us down the line."

South (9-4-5) looked like it might be able to hold off the onslaught by Wego (12-5-3) in which the visitors were entrenched on one side of the field.

Other than the opening few minutes of the final half, coach Dave Brown's Cougars did a good job of keeping the dangerous Wildcats out of the net.

Keeper Eric Hoar came up with several big stops and he and his backline were kept busy against their toughest nonleague opponent thus far this year.

Brown hopes that the experience benefits his team when they compete in key Southwest Prairie matches with Minooka and Plainfield North this week.

"It was nice to be able to get two goals with the wind in the first half," Brown said. "But we knew it would be rough in the second half since our goals had come against the run of play.

"At halftime we knew that we'd have to work hard since West Chicago wasn't going to go away. And they came out in the first five or six minutes of the second half and tied it up.

"We kind of settled down after weathering the storm and hit a post and had a chance at the end where we could have stolen a goal but then we didn't defend that final play very well.

"We sat some guys for awhile who have yellow card issues and didn't play some guys with bumps and bruises. With a big week coming up, we took today to get some time for a lot of people

"But this was still a playoff-type game for us against the caliber of team that we're going to see in Naperville Central's Regional. So today's game was a good test for us."

Wego closed to within 2-1 when Duran had an attempt deflected by Hoar, smacked the rebound off the crossbar and then fired in a liner on the third try.

In the 46th minute, the Wildcats evened things up after Orozco placed a shot into the opposite of the net and then continued to apply the pressure.

Shortly after their second score, the visitors got a dangerous free kick from Diego Munoz and a threatening corner kick from Duran which were denied.

Sandwiched around a Munoz try that was deflected by Hoar were shots from South's Rodrigo Garcia, one which went wide while the other hit the post.

Following the half's midway point, Wego's Esteban Fernandez effort had a try deflected and Jenaro Terrazas saw his short shot blocked by a defender.

Duran forced Hoar to dive for a save, Munoz's liner was tipped over the net, Fernandez had a free kick deflected and then Duran's rebound hit the post.

It was more of the same during the final eight minutes of regulation play, beginning with stops on shot attempts from Fernandez and Gilberto Villa.

In the last minute, Fernandez had a short try deflected and Danny Ortega's attempt was hauled in by Hoar as South looked like it would on for a draw.

After Garcia sent a shot over the net for the hosts, a long punt and subsequent flick from Fernandez found Duran, who connected for the match-winner.

"It's usually hard whenever you're down 2-0 at halftime but we had a good talk and it pumped us up and then we came right back and scored two quick goals," Munoz said.

"When we were playing into the wind in the first half we wanted to keep possession on the ground but in the second half we just played some through balls and that helped us score.

"I had confidence that the third goal could come at any time. It's a great game when there's a lot of drama like this but we all knew that the goal was coming and we'd get the win."

South claimed the early advantage when it scored during the opening minutes as Garcia sent a free kick to Jeff Bond, who put the ball into the net.

About midway through the half, Duran and Fernandez were both denied on close tries, with Grant Dziuda stopping one and keeper Tyler Olsen the other.

The Cougars scored again in the 22nd minute on Christian Abarca's rebound of a deflected shot by Adam Rodriguez, after a Miguel Rodriguez throw-in.

In the last 10 minutes of the initial half, Erick Baeza, Terrazas and Duran all had good shot attempts thwarted as South hung on to its 2-0 lead.

"This was a hard game defensively," Dziuda said. "We did really good in the first half but started off really slow in the second half and gave up two easy goals.

"But we picked our heads back up and it was a soccer game after that. We were missing some people and it wasn't our best game but we still put forth a good effort.

"They're a good team so this should help us prepare for playoffs. We're having a good season and defense has been one of our strengths, but we've struggled to score.

"We're going to have to probably win out against Minooka, Plainfield North and Oswego East in order to win conference and that's been one of our big goals this year."