Wildcats drop another close decision in regional final

CLICK HERE FOR PHOTO GALLERY COURTESY OF SCOTT BUTLER

By Curt Herron

After playing in so many close matches this season it seemed fitting that West Chicago's finale should also go down to the wire.

But as has been the case more often than not for the Wildcats, they finished on the wrong side of the scoreboard in such a match.

Wego concluded its season Saturday night when it dropped a 2-1 decision to Naperville North in the Class 3A West Chicago Regional.

It was the second time in 11 days that the Wildcats fell to the Huskies, who won the DuPage Valley Conference match on October 12.

North (18-2-2) has gone 13-0-2 in its last 15 matches and advances to its own sectional where it meets Benet Academy on Tuesday.

Meanwhile, coach Steve Brugmann's Wildcats (7-9-6) fell a bit short while making their first regional final appearance since 2005.

All but five of Wego's 22 matches this season were decided by one goal or less. The squad posted a 4-7-6 mark in those 17 matches.

One thing that made this loss so frustrating was that the Huskies took the lead for good with a goal during the opening minutes.

Max Auden connected just two minutes into the match and Wego had to fight an uphill battle the rest of the night against North.

Making matters even worse for Wego was the fact that the Huskies have been incredibly difficult to score goals against all year.

Coach Jim Konrad's squad had allowed only 10 goals all season and had only yielded one score during its previous nine matches.

Click to hear coach Steve Brugmann interview

Wildcat keeper Adrian Porcayo once again came up with big stops during both halves to keep his team's hopes of advancing alive.

In the opening 40 minutes, the senior made saves on three good shots by Evan Trychta, including a pair of liners on free kicks.

Wego's best chances in the opening half came shortly before the break, starting when Esteban Fernandez was wide on a close try.

Jared Perez had a header deflected away by keeper Kevin Anderson and Jenaro Terrazas followed with a liner that was also halted.

The Wildcats avoided more trouble in the final minute of the initial half when Kyle Lindberg's header deflected off of the post.

Trychta scored on a liner from long range with 9:50 remaining in the match to give the Huskies a seemingly-safe 2-0 advantage.

But Wego responded with 6:03 left when Hernandez lined in a free kick to make it a 2-1 match which kept his team's hopes alive.

Shortly after that, Terrazas lined a free kick over the net for what proved to be one of the last good chances for the hosts.

Porcayo stopped a late liner on a Trychta free kick and then North ran out the remaining time to wrap up the regional title.

While Wego loses nine seniors to graduation, the future looks bright for the Wildcats since several key players will return.

Click to hear Jared Perez interview