Mustangs rally past Wildcats to capture first win

By Curt Herron

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After going winless in its initial five matches this year, frustration was beginning to set in for Metea Valley.

And following a pair of shutout losses and over an hour without a goal in Thursday's match with Plainfield Central, the tension grew for the Mustangs.

But just as the Wildcats' 1-0 lead looked like it might stand, Metea suddenly found a scoring outburst which has eluded it through much of the season.

The Mustangs struck twice within a 134-second span, equalling their goal production for the season, and things quickly went from not so good to great.

Chris Freeman, who didn't compete for Metea last year, connected for both scores and that was the difference as the winless streak came to an end.

As a result, the host Mustangs snapped a three-match losing streak following their 2-1 nonconference win over the Wildcats in Aurora.

"We've played six games in a 10-day span and I think the boys feel like it's been a long season altready," Metea coach Josh Robinson said. "But we're only two weeks in and there's still a long ways to go.

"So getting a win and resting for a week is very, very positive. We got two goals today and the first one was an effort goal and then we hit a beautiful free kick. Now the hope is that it can carry over.

"We've been working hard and maybe been unlucky at times, but we're just trying to stay positive. We're holding people off the scoreboard so if we start getting some goals, then we can have some success."

While the Mustangs (1-3-2) were able to walk away feeling positive about things, the Wildcats (1-2-1) were naturally disappointed.

Central now has a three-match winless streak following an opening win against Yorkville. The Wildcats went 0-1-1 on a weekend trip.

They allowed a late goal and settled for a draw with Sacred Heart-Griffin before falling to last year's Class 2A runnerup Glenwood.

"I can't fault the kids' effort, but we have to get it for 80 minutes," Wildcat coach Kevin Fitzgerald said. "We want to win the last 20 minutes of every match. We don't mind mistakes, but let's not have the same ones.

"You just feel bad for the kids since it was a really good effort and they weren't rewarded. Metea is a good team and they obviously get the credit for putting a couple of balls into the net when it really needed to.

"But if we're going to compete at this level in this area, you need to win these games. I think we'll learn from it since we have a good group of kids who play hard with a lot of seniors who know what we're asking for."

Following a first half which saw two shots on goal from each team, the final half started differently with each getting a shot right away.

The Wildcats moved ahead in the 45th minute when Nick Belom sent a throw-in that glanced off Billy Ballentine and fell in front of the net.

Steve Wenzel was there to put in the loose ball and the visitors owned a 1-0 advantage which they nearly added to a short time later.

Less than 90 seconds later, Miguel Sanchez sent a pass inside to Eddie Rios, but his short try was stopped by keeper Ian Jindrich.

Jindrich stepped into the net for fellow senior Gabe Gongora-Falla, the Mustangs captain, at the break and turned in a nice effort.

Metea threatened keeper Tyler Badertscher in the 49th minute but Dakota Rowsey was denied, following a Patrick Regal throw-in.

The sides exchanged tries a bit later when Miguel Duran's attempt was deflected and Wenzel's rebound was stopped by Jindrich.

Then on the other side of the field, Jack Staton saw his close-range effort halted by Badertscher to end the flurry of activity.

Central was back at it a few minutes later when a Belom throw-in led to a Rios corner kick, which was punched away by the keeper.

Shortly after the half's midway point, Wenzel took a Belom throw-in and headed it toward Jindrich, who once again made the save.

That set the stage for Freeman, a junior who played for the Mustangs as a freshman, who quickly turned the tide for the hosts.

His initial score, on a short attempt which came in the 66th minute, was set up by a pass from Jake Goehring to tie things up.

Then in the 68th minute, a foul was called just beyond the top of the box and Freeman placed a perfect free kick into the net.

That quick burst equalled Metea's previous goal production. It scored a goal apiece against St. Charles North and East Aurora.

"We've been working hard in practice and we're trying to come together as a team since we lost a lot of seniors from last year," Staton said. "We've been trying different formations and getting shots on target and finally we executed.

"It turned into a battle toward the end but we kept our heads and finished on our opportunities. Ian came in at keeper and made some great saves. We have so much chemistry on this team and know how we play and each others' strengths.

"The beginninbg of the season has been hard on us with ties and losses and we started to get down a bit. But we said before this game that this is our home field and we can't lose this one. I think this win will give us some momentum."

The Wildcats had several attempts at the equalizer during the final four minutes but Jindrich stopped each of the efforts.

Duran and Sanchez were denied on the initial tries and the keeper halted a long shot and a lengthy free kick from Mo Rashid.

In the opening half, Freeman was denied by Badertscher in the 16th minute and Rashid had a free kick punched away a bit later.

Both sides had chances during the last seven minutes as Enrigue Rodriguez was denied before Rios was stopped by Gongora-Falla.

"We had a real tough stretch at the beginning of the season with a lot of tough games where we didn't seem to get things go our way," Gongora-Falla said. "We tried to figure out the solutions to what was going on so we could get a win.

"Thank God things worked out our way. This was our first win so we know that the momentum shifts. We have big expectations and we needed this first win. It's a great group and they've been working hard and things finally went our way.

"Chris was with us as a freshman and he's back and he's an amazing player who does so much for our team. We had an amazing group of seniors who graduated but everyone has been stepping up and finding their roles so far this season."

The Wildcats host Bolingbrook on Saturday and Plainfield South on Monday while the Mustangs entertain South Elgin on Thursday.