Wildcats show no signs of being tired against Lions

CLICK HERE FOR PHOTO GALLERY COURTESY OF LYNN MAGNESEN

By Curt Herron
Photos courtesy of Ken Fox

Steve Brugmann had a few good reasons to be concerned about how well his team would perform at Saturday's Pepsi Showdown.

That's because his West Chicago squad was coming off a pair of lengthy matches that they took part on the previous two days.

Wego tied Glenbard East 1-1 in Friday's DuPage Valley Conference match after beating Oswego 1-0 on penalty kicks on Thursday.

In addition, the Wildcats had to compete against one of the state's top teams, defending Class 3A champion Lyons Township.

Add to that the fact that the match was played at LT's cozy West Field on a warm afternoon and you have signs of real trouble.

But while the Lions dominated in scoring opportunities and possession during the match, Wego battled for the full 80 minutes.

And thanks to great efforts from keeper Adrian Porcayo and defender Daniel Hernandez, the Wildcats hung around with Lyons.

After allowing an LT score late in the first half, Wego kept the hosts from finding the net again in a 1-0 loss in LaGrange.

Click to hear coach Steve Brugmann interview

Lyons (6-0-2) put regular pressure on the Wildcat net, thanks to players such as Kyle Kurfirst, Elliot Borge and Horacio Sanchez.

With Kurfirst and Borge distributing the ball from the midfield, Sanchez was frequently on the receiving end making runs downfield.

The Lions got their lone goal with 2:03 left in the opening half when Kurfirst sent a corner to Pete Gabrek, who headed the ball in.

Trying to limit Sanchez and LT's other forwards was Hernandez, who got a real workout to go with similar efforts in recent matches.

And when the hosts managed to get good shot tries off, which was fairly often, it was up to the Wego keeper to halt those attempts.

Porcayo did a very fine job of that, stopping a series of corners from Kurfirst and threatening tries from Sanchez after the break.

But the Wego keeper's finest stop came with 21:45 remaining when he deflected a Kurfirst header that seemed destined for the net.

Click to hear Daniel Hernandez interview

But while Wego (2-3-2) gets credit for limiting a dangerous LT attack, the hosts prevented the Wildcats from doing much on offense.

Esteban Fernandez was denied on a long try early in the second half and Carlos Martinez couldn't put in a loose ball a bit later.

Later in the half, Fernandez was stopped before taking a short shot and Christopher Quintana sent in a bouncer that was handled.

Wego hosts Glenbard North in a DVC match on Tuesday before going to East Aurora Thursday and then back to LaGrange on Saturday.