Griffins magic run ends in OT vs. Morton

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By Matt Le Cren

Junior defender Joel Leon is Morton’s tallest player, so every time the Mustangs get a free kick in the offensive third or a corner kick, the 6-footer is required to run up into the penalty area.

It is a strategy that makes perfect sense, and on Tuesday night it led to a perfect finish.

A 31-yard free kick from the left wing by senior midfielder Jesus Morales found the head of Leon 10 yards from the left post, and Leon’s wicked flick sailed into the upper right corner of the net 1:06 into the fourth overtime to lift the Mustangs to a 1-0 victory over upset-minded Lincoln-Way East at the Class 3A Benedictine University Supersectional.

The marathon win advanced Morton (22-3-1) to the state semifinals for the third time and first since 2006. The Mustangs will take on Warren at 7 p.m. Friday at Lincoln-Way North. Fremd faces Naperville Central in the other semifinal at 5 p.m.

“I was just looking to flick it,” Leon said. “I saw it coming straight to me and I wanted to flick it, timing it to go over the goalie, which it did, and it went in the goal.”

It was the seventh goal of the year for Leon, who scored the game-tying goal in similar fashion with two minutes left in regulation in Morton’s 4-3 double-overtime sectional semifinal victory over Lyons.

“I go up there because I’m the tallest guy and I know I can challenge it,” Leon said. “I [knew] I could score it because I’ve done it a couple times already.”

Leon’s goal ended a 359-minute shutout streak by Lincoln-Way East goalie Rick Torres, who made six saves, including a great diving stop on a Leon header in the first half.

“Joel Leon actually had the first chance that the goalie made a nice save on,” Morton coach Mike Caruso said. “The first chance of the game and the last chance of the game was Joel Leon and he finished the second chance and didn’t leave any doubts on it.

“He’s great in the air. We look for him out of the back on any dead ball situation.”

Both teams looked dead offensively for most of the 111-minute match, but their respective defenses had much to do with that.

Morton’s back line of Leon, Jose Luis Alvarado and Abdon Delgado was solid throughout, giving up only three shots on frame and allowing senior goalie Miguel Chacon to post his 12th shutout, nine of which have come in the last 11 games.

“We’re playing as a team,” Leon said. “We actually hustle now. At first we were kind of lazy.”

There was nothing lazy about Lincoln-Way East’s defense. The Griffins (10-11-5) did a great job of shutting down Morton’s best players, rarely allowing any penetration into the box and staying with the speedy Morales and Joel Salmeron using a 4-3-2-1 formation, which looks like a 4-5-1.

“It’s flexible in how we attack and allow those flank guys to get forward and get back,” Lincoln-Way East coach Ryan Decker said. “We bring it to more of a 4-5-1 when we need to defend. It is a very flexible model within the system itself but we’re a defensive team. That is our strength.”

He’ll get no argument, but a lot of praise, from the Mustangs.

“It was difficult,” Leon said. “They weren’t giving us no space and they were double-teaming our players. They were hustling and doing great.”

“Hats off to Lincoln-Way,” Caruso said. “They defend as good as anyone we’ve played this year. They’re a tough nut to crack, Even though we had a couple good chances in overtime.”

The first of those chances came in the second overtime, when a back-heel pass from Morales sprung Delgado on a brief breakaway, but Torres made a diving save.

The favored Mustangs came close twice more in the third extra session, but Morales shot wide of the right post from a tough angle with Torres out of position with 4:10 left and Alonso Torres deflected Morales’ cross from the right end line over the crossbar with 45 seconds remaining.

“These types of games you’ve got to knock those chances in but we were fortunate to get the one at the end before a shootout because anything can happen in the shootout,” Caruso noted.

“The message today was scrap [for] everything, who cares. Any win to get us to the final four is a good win and that’s what happened.

“We didn’t come out and play our best soccer today but I’d say a lot of that had to do with their defense. They frustrated us a little bit and played good team defense. They played it well but we found a way at the end. It was a nice ball by Jesus Morales and Jose snuck in and flicked it over the keeper.”

Decker took solace in the fact that his squad was not beaten by a cheap goal.

“We wanted to negate their attack and..it just didn’t work out for us tonight,” Decker said. “You can only absorb so much pressure and that was an amazing set piece. You can’t do much about that. It was well-executed.

“I give nothing but congratulations and good luck to Morton because I think they’re going to do well and represent this supersectional well.”

Morton will take the No. 1 ranking into the state finals, where the Mustangs will be seeking their first state title, which would be just the eighth overall championship for the athletic program. The school’s other state titles came in boys basketball in 1932 and 1941, baseball in 1943, 1952, 1961 and 1970 and softball in 1986.

Leon knows better than to look too far ahead.

“It doesn’t matter if you’re ranked or not as long as you play good,” Leon said. “Anything can happen. Win or lose, soccer is crazy.”

How else to explain Lincoln-Way East’s improbable playoff run? The Griffins were seeded ninth at the Andrew Sectional, yet beat four teams, including No. 4 seed Eisenhower and second-seeded Stagg, to capture their first sectional championship before throwing a scare into Morton.

“We came out tonight and our goal was to give them everything that we had, and I think we did that,” Decker said. “We were so close but yet so far away when it came down to it. And to take a team like that, with that technical ability and that creative on the ball, to that length of time I thought was a statement about who we are and what we can do as a program.”

The good news is that three of the four starting defenders – Michael Roth, Jim Ralph and Austin Corydon – will be back, though Logan Murphy and fellow co-captain John Ulrich, are among those who will graduate.

“Most of the defense is coming back,” Decker said. “We lose some key players but so does every program. There are younger ones who are going to see what it takes and I think they will do fine.”