Tigers frustrated following loss to rival Falcons

By Matt Le Cren

Neither Wheaton Warrenville South or Wheaton North have had the type of seasons this fall that they are accustomed to, but that didn't prevent the crosstown rivals from putting on a good show in their annual meeting Wednesday.

When it was over, visiting Wheaton North had a much-needed win as Jacques Ntahoturi's goal with 2:07 remaining in the second half gave the Falcons a 2-1 decision at Red Grange Field.

It was North's first victory in 25 days and snapped a seven-game winless streak. It also put WW South in a 0-2 hole to start DuPage Valley Conference play for the first time in recent memory.

"We've been looking for a win for a long time, so today we finally found out we can get it," Ntahoturi said. "We were able to work hard as a team, so we finally found ourselves getting a win."

A tie looked more likely as the minutes ticked away. WW South (5-6-1) had a big edge in shots (18-10) and solid scoring opportunities but in the final five minutes, the Falcons (2-7-2, 1-1-1) finally got the upper hand.

With 4:35 left, Ntahoturi sent a pass from the right wing into the box to Andrew Carlburg, who quickly back-heeled it forward to Sam Klatt.

Klatt found himself alone in front of South goalie Josh Dix, but his shot caromed off the inside of the left post and right back to Dix.

The Tigers weren't so lucky two minutes later. This time Ntahoturi won a ball on the right wing and attacked himself, firing from 15 yards out.

The shot was blocked by a defender but came right back to him, and the 5-7, 140-pound senior sent his rebound shot off the hand of a diving Dix and inside the lower left corner for his fourth goal of the season.

"It was a very good, patient, calm finish under the circumstances," North coach Bryce Cann said.

Ntahoturi didn't feel calm.

"I was very nervous," he said. "I saw the rebound come to myself. I really had to go for it. I took a shot and it went in and I was really happy."

Tigers coach Guy Callipari was mostly happy with the performance of what has been at times a leaky defense and said his team was unlucky.

"[The Falcons] didn't do too much up top that I thought gave us a whole lot of trouble," Callipari said. "They tried to counter with speed and then they stayed in the game long enough to find a way at the end.

"I thought we had enough numbers back behind the ball. It just ended up on [Ntahoturi's] foot again as opposed to one of us. We just overran it a little bit."

Any ideas that the favored hosts would have an easy time were dispelled early, as the visitors struck first just 4:23 into the contest when Klatt took a lead pass from Joe McKinley at the top of the box, beat a defender and scored from 15 yards out.

The Tigers equalized eight minutes later on a goal by George Doran, who beat North goalie Nick Barry to the far post on a 12-yard shot. Daniel Burns assisted on the play.

Doran was dominant throughout, unleashing 10 shots, but try as he might, he couldn't get another one past Barry, who made one brilliant stop after another and finished with seven saves.

"Barry came up huge," Cann said. "Barry saved probably at least three or four goals for us tonight. His last three games he's been phenomenal for us and that's the Nick Barry we were waiting to see.

"When he plays like that, he really gives us a chance to win games."

Doran can attest to that. He had a shot tipped around the left post by 6-4 Barry in the opening minute and was denied several times in the second half, including two strong headers.

The most frustrating moment for Doran came on the play of the match, when he got the ball on the left side of the penalty area and dribbled to the end line.

Then he beat one defender with a move to his left and another with a move to his right before ripping a five-yard shot that Barry parried away with his stomach.

"I've got nothing but good things to say about him," Doran said. "He definitely kept them in the game. He had a lot of great saves in the first minute, a lot of tip-aways.

"He's very commanding in the box, but that's something we should be able to overcome. Whenever you have a tall goalie you've got to learn to put it low but wide and we weren't able to do that this game."

Callipari agreed with that assessment.

"Their goalie stoned us a couple times," Callipari said. "I'm not so sure we weren't smart on our choices on where we were trying to place the ball.

"We had a stretch where we weren't able to do a good job of that. We played it right to him and he's a big, strong kid and did a wonderful job."

While Doran consistently created chances, the Tigers didn't give him enough support. Thomas Schubert had a 26-yard shot stopped by a diving Barry in the first half, but no one else managed a shot on frame.

"George is a handful," Callipari said. "He's going to play bigger than most kids he plays against. He's a great athlete. He's not the best soccer player on the planet, but you wouldn't know that by his effort.

"It's really hard to take him out. We need to get guys organized to play around him and understand that he's going to win most of those [50-50] balls and anticipate that that is going to happen and be ready."

In the end, the Falcons were the ones ready to answer when opportunity came knocking.

"We had our bright spots, but overall I think we know that that's not the best we can play," Doran said. "We need to play a whole game with those bright spots. We can't just have moments of greatness, moments of opportunities.

"We need to be creating opportunities the whole game, be defending the whole game and be possessing the whole game and that's not something we did this game and they made us pay for it."

Cann, whose club has suffered six one-goal losses, was thankful for that.

"We've been in every match," Cann said. "We've been competing like crazy, but when you're in one-goal games you need a bounce to go your way here, a bounce to go your way there.

"First half I thought we really struggled linking passes. Second half we did a little bit better job, but that's still something we're trying to get better at and when we do we'll be all right. In the meantime, it's going to be a struggle."

Struggles are something alien to the Tigers, who haven't had a losing season since 2000.

"It was a great Wheaton North-Wheaton South game and it was deserving of that kind of climactic finish," Callipari said. "Unfortunately for us we were on the losing end of it tonight.

"To go 0-2 in the DVC and under .500 puts us in a place where we haven't been in a long time and it puts us in a hole in the Wheaton Cup. Altogether a tough 80 minutes."