Lancers win 9th regional title with 3-2 win over WEGO

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By Darryl Mellema

Of the things they're going to have to clean up in the aftermath of Friday's breathless West Chicago-Lake Park regional title match are some tear stains on West Chicago's artificial turf.

Those tears fell on both sides of the field as well. Lake Park's came with the relief of surviving a 3-2 match and in knowing they had more practices and at least one more match under the direction of retiring coach Norm Hillner, who walked an impromptu reception line of Lancers players–as did retiring assistant coach John Erfort—and gave each a hug.

West Chicago (16-6-4) saw its fine season end and saw two shots saved and a third cleared off the goal line in the final minute of the match. The Wildcats recovered after falling behind 2-0 and dealt with playing 10 vs. 11 after a player was red-carded and never gave up, though they ran out of time to complete their comeback.

“Both teams played hard,” Lake Park coach Norm Hillner said. “This is what state tournament soccer is all about. Whether you're a 20th seed or a top seed, people play their hearts out. We were the 4 and 5 seeds, and two good teams and it was a great game.”

Lake Park (17-6-2) moves to the Schaumburg Sectional and faces the winner of Saturday's Schaumburg-Addison Trail match on Tuesday at 6:30 p.m.

“We have 17 seniors on the team and it's Coach Hillner and Coach Erfort's last season and it means everything to us,” Lake Park goalie Pasquale Giovine said. “I'm going to start crying again talking about it. We're a family and this means everything to us.”

Giovine was front-and-center for some of the match's key talking points. He made those two saves in the final minute of play to help preserve the win. Even he wasn't completely sure which of his teammates hooked the ball off the goal line to safety and leave West Chicago without time to mount another attack.

“I saw the shot and I made the first save,” Giovine said. “There was another player and I tried to stop it. It hit another player. I guess Nick (Zanghi) had a deflection on it and (Brian) Fischer cleared it off the line. With 20 seconds in the match, we were trying to do anything to get it out of there.”

West Chicago's players felt the ball had crossed the line, but the officials saw the play differently. Everyone else may have had an opinion, but no one else was close enough or had a proper angle.

“I couldn't see from where I was, but I had a thought that might have been in,” Hillner said. “I don't know what (Giovine) did, but I know those were two great saves and I'm glad it didn't go into the back of the net.”

No matter which team won, the final 25 minutes were going to be a huge talking point, marked by four goals, the penalty kick, the red card and more chances that can easily described.

“I'm frustrated as all get-out,” West Chicago coach Steve Brugmann said. “We had chances the last three-quarters of the game, which I felt we controlled. We had shots on goal up until the end, even into the last minute. But things don't always go your way, and they didn't. Every game we've been in, we've fought to the end and that's the mark of this team.”

Giovine had a penalty kick attempt to save, but saw himself beaten by Esteban Hernandez with 7:09 to play. That made the score 3-2 and set the grandstand finish.

At that time, West Chicago was playing with 10 men. With 14:23 left, Giovine went to the turf after contact with Gilberto Villa. The referees ruled the contact to be worthy of a red card, and the Wildcats finished the match without the senior defender.

But despite being behind 3-1 at that time, the Wildcats pressed on, converted a penalty kick and came close to tying the match.

“I'm very proud of my guys,” Brugmann said. “This is the third time we've gone down to 10 men. And every time we do, we seem to step up our play and play better than we had beforehand.”

Lake Park heads to the sectional knowing Oliver Huerta will not be on the field for Tuesday's semifinal. Huerta received two yellow cards on Friday and “soft red card” comes with a one-match suspension, though the Lancers were able to remain with 11 players on the field.

“We lost one of our best players tonight,” Giovine said. “But we're going to fight so we can keep going in the playoffs and get him back. Coach said we have to earn our practices in the postseason, and we want to keep earning them.”

The early portions of the match favored neither team until Pasquale Maranto tore a 30-yard shot from the right side of midfield into the upper left portion of the West Chicago net. It stretches reality beyond all proportions to say that this was the match-winning goal, but Lake Park played with the lead the rest of the match.

West Chicago emerged from its halftime talk and immediately started to find width on the field, mainly through work by Jenaro Terrazas on the left side of midfield.

“On his side, I thought (Terrazas) was extremely effective in the second half,” Brugmann said. “I thought he was a big factor in creating dangerous opportunities—quite a few.”

As the half progressed, Diego Munoz, the Wildcats influential midfielder, began to get more touches on the ball and contribute to a building momentum.

“Once he finds a rhythm and once the guys around him fiend their rhythm, then it's really tough to stop him,” Brugmann said.

Through the match, Lake Park's Mitch Carsten had the responsibility of keeping track of Munoz while still moving forward into central midfield. At other times, he played more as a third center back, providing depth as the Lancers fended off West Chicago's increasingly successful forward moves.

“It's a lot of running,” Carsten said. “I was just told to keep my eye on No. 10 (Munoz), the No. 1 player on their team. I did the best job I could.”

Playing with the lead allowed Lake Park to drop its midfield deeper and to make West Chicago run at them. The Lancers stepped into the passing lanes with consistency in the first half and throughout the match kept organized, even though the Wildcats started to find caps as the second half progressed.

“I saw (West Chicago) play twice,” Hillner said. “Those two front runners and (Jesus) Duran, they run forward and then they run diagonals and we worked a couple of days emphasizing what they would do. My God they're talented and they would have been hard to beat if we had been ball-watching, which we used to have a problem with, but not tonight.”

But as West Chicago's play was improving, Lake Park doubled its lead. First a Lancers shot hit the crossbar with 25 minutes left. One minute later, a throw-in by Zanghi came to Tim Adelman in the penalty area. He moved the ball on to Giovanni Ciaccio, who settled the pass and scored from inside the 6-yard box.

Then the match really did pick up pace. Ciaccio's goal came with 24:45 to play. Five minutes later, Jesus Dunn scored on a rebound as West Chicago sent players pouring into Lake Park's penalty area. Villa's red card came five minutes after that goal and after a further 5 minutes of play, Lake Park restored its two-goal cushion when Osvaldo Rivera hit a shot with the outside of his left foot and scored.

When Rivera scored, only 8:57 remained, which left time for Hernandez's penalty kick, the final minute drama and hugs of celebration and disappointment.

“They're a dynamic, attacking team,” Hillner said of West Chicago. “We knew that. They have two guys with more goals than our whole team. But we got the early lead, which can frustrate people. It gives us chances to counter.”

West Chicago's season was strong and 10 players graduate.

“We feel this is one of the best West Chicago soccer teams in the time that I have been coaching here,” Brugmann said. “It's going to be huge with the 10 seniors that are going to be going out. The leadership that our captains have shown has been unmatched. All the other guys around them, that's three-quarters of our defense and we're going to miss them. We have a nice core returning. But we lose 10 seniors and every one of them has got a great work ethic and attitude. It hasn't been a problem all season. I have told them that this is the best part of my day. They make me enjoy coaching.”