Mustangs rally to force a tie with visiting Fremd

By Matt Le Cren

At halftime of Saturday's game between Downers Grove South and visiting Fremd, Mustangs coach Jon Stapleton had a pointed message, to be sure.

“They completely outplayed us,” Stapleton said. “We couldn’t take a touch with them defensively being right on us, every tackle by them was hard and we didn’t match that at all. I think we have players who have a lot of ability but if you don’t bring that type of intensity and the other team does, it’s going to be a [long day].”

The Mustangs (1-0-1) heard that message loud and clear in the locker room and their renewed focus, combined with a switch to a three-man forward line, gradually turned the table. South came back from a 2-0 deficit to earn a 2-2 tie.

Fremd had a few shots early in the second half, but Mike Paczkowski, who relieved Sam Hadley in net at halftime, made four saves including a diving stop on Brian Hindle’s 29-yard free kick with 29:00 left.

The Mustangs finally got on the board with 13:39 remaining when Kyle Wolf sent a pass from the right end line to Nick Suker, who converted from near the penalty spot. Just 14 seconds later a similar pass from Wolf just missed an open Zach Baleski on the far post, but Joe McLean got the equalizer at the 5:12 mark when he beat Fremd keeper Scott Sutarik with a 15-yard shot just inside the right post.

“We were obviously frustrated,” McLean said. “We went in at halftime and got our act together and were completely different.

“We put another striker up top so that gave us some more possession up front. Before we were playing with it in the back and that’s how we got exposed a couple times and got countered. Playing with it up here there’s less chance of getting countered and we’ve got a couple more bodies in front of the goal and good things happened.”

Was Suker surprised by the stunning comeback?

“With this group of guys, no,” Suker said. “Time and time again, going back to last season, we’ve just been able to come back and give each team a good fight. Now every guy knows that we’re not out of any game. We can fight back any time.”

That is valuable knowledge for any team to have.

“This is a positive result for us,” Stapleton said. “This team has shown that they won’t quit.

“I was very disappointed with our kids’ effort in the first half and they know that. But I’m just as proud of our effort in the second half. The 180-degree turn was incredible, so we’ve got to find that type of focus and intensity for 80 minutes. I have a lot of respect for how they came back today.”

The dominance Fremd showed for the first 65 minutes of Saturday’s match is exactly the type of soccer the Vikings think they are capable of playing on any given day.

The comeback Downers South staged in the final 15 minutes, however, proved to both sides that no lead is ever completely safe and no deficit too great to overcome until the final whistle. The host Mustangs nearly scored the game-winner before settling for a 2-2 tie.

“We just kind of collapsed,” Fremd sophomore Nick Tambellini said. “I think we just kind of thought we had an easy win, when we really had the rest of the game [left]. It helped that they had the wind, too, but they just came out looking for a win more than we were in the second half.”

Fremd (1-0-2) completely controlled the action in the first half. Both sides had only two shots, but the Vikings scored on both of theirs to take a 2-0 lead into intermission.

Lorenzo Savino tallied the first one 4:57 into the contest, taking a pass from Matt Burkhardt and firing a 12-yard shot past Downers South keeper Sam Hadley into the left corner of the net.

Tambellini made it 2-0 at the 17:48 mark, heading home Jake Nedza’s great cross from the right endline from five yards out.

“They started putting some pressure on and I don’t think we handled it very well, mentally more than anything,” Fremd coach Steve Keller said. “The wind played a small factor, but we’ve got to blame ourselves for some mental errors and give them a lot of credit for their hustle. They might have had a little more left in their legs at the end of the game than we did.

“I was very pleased with our first half. But even with a 2-0 lead, you’ve got to come out the second half and shoot for that third goal. We didn’t do that.”

In fact, the Mustangs had a couple chances to win the game in the closing minutes. Sutarik, who had five saves, had to dive to corral a shot by Wolf with 1:40 to play and the Vikings could only watch and hold their breath as McLean knocked the ball over a charging Sutarik with 35 seconds to play, only to have it bounce outside the left post.

Sutarik, a senior transfer from Westminster Christian, figures to play a key role this fall.

“He gives us a presence back there,” Keller said. “He’s pretty sure-handed and it’s nice to take some pressure off our back line, especially on balls into the box.”

The Vikings figure to be a top contender in a wide-open race for the Mid-Suburban League title. All-Conference players Savino and Spencer Filosa headline a group of 12 returning seniors and will lead the offense, while Nedza, Burkhardt and Ryan Molley patrol the midfield and Al Bochat and Alex Prelipceanu anchor the defense.

Tambellini, Brian Hindle, Garrett Peters, Yusuke Kanada and Eric Leonard will play prominent roles and Brandon Klen and Ryota Wada provide depth on the bench. Jeff Pearson backs up Sutarik between the pipes.

“We do have a lot of talent,” Tambellini noted. “It’s all about how we come out to play. If we come out thinking it’s going to be an easy win, we’re not going to do much, but if we go out hard getting our whole team pumped up and going 100 percent, we’ll be good. We just can’t take anything too lightly.”