Oswego E. rally not enough vs. Joliet W.
2-goal comeback overcome by late goals in 4-2 SPC home loss
By Dave Owen
OSWEGO – Year after year, Oswego East’s tough schedule offers little margin for error.
“There’s not one game on our schedule where there’s a guaranteed win,” Wolves coach Steve Szymanski said. “There’s not even a team in our conference that is a slouch. So we have to come out every day and battle.”
The emergence this fall of a Joliet West squad loaded with seniors and offensive talent added another tough hurdle, as Oswego East saw first hand Thursday.
After nicely rallying from a 2-0 halftime deficit to tie the game 2-2, the Wolves (1-3-0) were stung by two goals in the final 13:59 of the match. Joliet West (4-1-0) emerged with a 4-2 win in the conference opener for both sides.
“We only have six guys returning with varsity experience,” Szymanski said, “and we’re struggling right now to come together and play together.
“It’s a process. Some guys are taking it like every mistake is on them. They’re going to make mistakes, but it’s about recovering from those mistakes and getting better from them.
“I’ve told our guys we have to outwork every team we play,” Szymanski added. “We’re so young that we can’t let one mistake compound, and our mistakes have compounded so far this year.”
Despite a multitude of great saves by Wolves goalkeeper Owen Kilsgaard, Joliet West took advantage of any mistake to score or threaten.
But on the flip side of the coin, Oswego East’s resiliency after a rough stretch in the middle of the first half was a very positive sign.
After Joliet West grabbed a 2-0 lead on quick back-to-back goals by Giovanni Nicolas (with 23:33 left in the first half) and Antonio Bedolla (50 seconds later, at 22:43), the Wolves responded nicely.
Two Oswego East corner kicks in the final 1:45 of the first half included a last-second flurry.
A corner kick with 15 seconds left was initially punched out of the crowd in front by Joliet West goalkeeper Alan Guzman, and shots by Andre Casas (blocked in front) and Ethan Klosterman (one-timer over the net as the half expired) were part of a great final push.
“In the first half we moved the ball really well and kept our shape,” Joliet West coach Michael O’Shea said. “But late in the half into the second half we just got lazy. I don’t know if we got tired, but we weren’t moving the ball as well, we were giving it away. We gave them a lot of opportunities.”
Oswego East opened the second half with a great chance.
With 36:15 left in the match, Zach Seidel’s 40-yard free kick send connected with Kellen Klosterman in the box; his header clanged off the crossbar.
After another Wolves near miss one-minute later (an Ethan Klosterman header over the net off a Nathan Czepiel cross), the crossbar war evened out when Joliet West’s Fabian Ulloa also drew iron with his 20-yard shot with 33 minutes to play.
The next 10-plus minutes thrust Oswego East goalkeeper Kilsgaard into the spotlight – and for more than just his saves.
Kilsgaard’s diving deflections wide of frame denied quality Joliet West shots with 29:10 to go (on a Bedolla shot) and 26:40 left (a Diego Escamilla low liner).
“Credit to their keeper,” O’Shea said. “We could have had seven or eight goals, but he made some great saves.”
Kilsgaard also had help on a Joliet West corner kick with 28:40 to play. The high corner kick send initially went off Kilsgaard’s hands, but teammate Jack Conway nicely cleared the ball from the crease.
Then with 22:29 left in the match, Kilsgaard went from defensive stalwart to offensive catalyst.
After making a diving one-hop save on a Bedolla header, Kilsgaard got to his feet and boomed a long punt upfield towards Wolves standout forward Andre Casas.
Winning the long send from a Joliet West defender, Casas sped in to the box and chipped a shot off the lower right post and into the net to bring the Wolves within 2-1.
“That was a really good ball from Owen,” said Casas. “I realized that I was a little bit faster than them on the backline, so I let them get close to me and then I pushed the ball. I saw it bounce in front of me, and I took it.”
Said Kilsgaard: “There’s different kinds of punts you can use, including more direct to try to get your guys in. Andre and I talked about it before the half started, that their center backs were slower, and we had to penalize that.”
Finishes like that have been the norm this fall for Casas (three goals, two assists this season).
“The first goal it was just Andre being smart and anticipating the ball,” Szymanski said. ““Andre read it perfectly. He saw that the guy was overcommitted, just let it bounce and went. Owen does a good job of reading those quick plays, and Andre is even better at finding the ball in the air.
“Andre’s put in a lot of work in the offseason,” Szymanski added. “He’s taken a big step. We lost a lot of scoring and firepower, and as a senior he’s done a great job of stepping up.”
Casas’ counterattack finish added much more fuel to the Wolves’ comeback. And it took just 94 seconds for Oswego East to draw even at 2-2.
Ythan Houston was fouled to set up a free kick for the Wolves, a set piece that was nicely executed from start to finish.
Dmitri Huitron’s initial 22-yard free kick send hit the crossbar, and Houston was on the spot for a right side rebound header that angled inside the left post.
“It was honestly effort, and you could really tell,” Casas said of the Wolves comeback. “Once I scored our effort level was all the way up, and the pressure was all on them (Joliet West).”
The Huitron and Houston connection on the second goal marked a Wolves first of sorts.
“Dmitri hit that shot, and Ythan buried the second one. That’s our first goal all year Andre didn’t have a goal or an assist on,” Szymanski said. “He had one goal and two assists against Downers South (a 3-1 Wolves win on Saturday), and a goal against Waubonsie Valley too.”
Said Casas: “We executed (on the two goals to tie), but then we got a little too comfortable.”
Joliet West would regroup defensively. With 19:10 left, a Chris Godinez send again found Casas racing in the box, but this time he faced a triple team of defenders that left him unable to get a shot or pass off.
Then the continued push by the Tigers’ offense would again reverse the game’s momentum.
“We just had to focus, stay energized and make sure we try to put a couple more in,” senior Damon Almazan said.
A nice Kilsgaard fingertip catch of a Tony Kochev high end line cross with 14:20 left denied one threat.
But with 13:50 to play, Joliet West grabbed a 3-2 lead as Almazan raced in and lined a low 15-yarder past a diving Kilsgaard.
“Our midfielders found Alex (Escamilla), our other forward,” Almazan said, “and I saw he was making a diagonal run towards me. So I made a diagonal run opposite of him. He played me through, and I one-touched it underneath the keeper and in.”
Kilsgaaard responded to the next threat with another great save, diving to block Bedolla’s low laser at the left post with 12:40 left.
Oswego East’s Sahil Sethi would then excel at both ends of the field with under nine minutes left. First, his nice strip at the top of the box and strong clear denied a threat. Then one minute later, Huitron’s nice send and a Godinez cross set up Sethi for a shot in front that deflected just wide left.
On the ensuing corner kick, Huitron’s cross to the crease was grabbed by goalkeeper Guzman.
A Casas throw-in from 10 yards out with 4:05 left would produce the game’s next good chance, a Kellen Klosterman one-timer that angled just wide of frame.
Then with 2:25 to go, the Tigers sealed their win.
Off a Bedolla pass to the middle, Oscar Haro powered a 35-yard one-timer into the upper left corner of the net to make the score 4-2.
“The season’s starting well,” O’Shea said after the final horn. “There’s a lot of things we need to work on, which is nice because we’re doing so well but have so much to work on. And it’s the first conference win, we’ll take it.”
Before his powerful strike clinched the win, Haro’s 6-foot-2 presence had already been a major factor.
“We pinned ourselves in battling for the ball off goal kicks and clearances,” Kilsgaard said.
“That tall guy in the middle (Haro) was our biggest problem. We didn’t have anybody able to mark him, so he was able to play the ball. And we had some miscommunication on our backline, so they were making runs through our backline with misdirections.”
Joliet West’s talent aside, it was a frustrating day for the Wolves.
“They’re good,” Szymanski said. “Number 11 (Haro) is tough as heck, and 5 up-top (Almazan) is really good. And most of the guys they have out there are seniors.
“Joliet West is a much improved team from last year, but I really think we could have done a better job taking advantage of their defense. I thought we were faster than them up-top. But we couldn’t combine passes or get much in the attack. Counters were our best opportunities.
“Until the second half we really didn’t press them very much,” Szymasnki added. “We never really made them very vulnerable, and I feel like they made us very vulnerable.”
But any downside for the Wolves on Thursday was matched by one very positive sign.
“That comeback (from down 2-0) is a credit to them,” Szymanski said. “They could have quit they battled.
“We just have to come together as a group. And the sooner we do that, the better off we’re going to be towards the end of the season.”
Oswego East players expect those better days to arrive soon.
“We all have a lot of different skills, and we just haven’t clicked yet,” Kilsgaard said. “But once we click, I think we’ll be good.”
Said Casas: “I’m honestly very excited. This group is very young, and the sky’s the limit. It can only go up from here. I’m really excited to see how it goes.”
Starting lineups
Joliet West
GK: Alan Guzman
D: Jose Rodriguez
D: Tony Kochev
D: Marcos Quintana
D: Brian Sanchez
M: Diego Escamilla
M: Giovanni Nicolas
M: Oscar Haro
M: Fabian Ulloa
F: Damon Almazan
F: Tony Bedolla
Oswego East
GK: Owen Kilsgaard
D: Chris Godinez
D: Ryan D’Adamo
D: Kellen Klosterman
D: Zach Seidel
M: Dmitri Huitron
M: Sahil Sethi
M: John Danison
M: Grant Glorioso
F: Andre Casas
F: Dacarlos Parodis-Yu
Chicagoland Soccer Man of the Match: Damon Almazan, sr. F, Joliet West
Scoring summary
First half
JW – Giovanni Nicolas (Damon Almazan), 17th min
JW – Antonio Bedolla, 18th min
Second half
OE – Andre Casas, 57th min
OE – Ythan Houston, 59th min
JW – Almazan (Alex Escamilla), 67th min
JW – Oscar Haro, 78th min
2-goal comeback overcome by late goals in 4-2 SPC home loss
By Dave Owen
OSWEGO – Year after year, Oswego East’s tough schedule offers little margin for error.
“There’s not one game on our schedule where there’s a guaranteed win,” Wolves coach Steve Szymanski said. “There’s not even a team in our conference that is a slouch. So we have to come out every day and battle.”
The emergence this fall of a Joliet West squad loaded with seniors and offensive talent added another tough hurdle, as Oswego East saw first hand Thursday.
After nicely rallying from a 2-0 halftime deficit to tie the game 2-2, the Wolves (1-3-0) were stung by two goals in the final 13:59 of the match. Joliet West (4-1-0) emerged with a 4-2 win in the conference opener for both sides.
“We only have six guys returning with varsity experience,” Szymanski said, “and we’re struggling right now to come together and play together.
“It’s a process. Some guys are taking it like every mistake is on them. They’re going to make mistakes, but it’s about recovering from those mistakes and getting better from them.
“I’ve told our guys we have to outwork every team we play,” Szymanski added. “We’re so young that we can’t let one mistake compound, and our mistakes have compounded so far this year.”
Despite a multitude of great saves by Wolves goalkeeper Owen Kilsgaard, Joliet West took advantage of any mistake to score or threaten.
But on the flip side of the coin, Oswego East’s resiliency after a rough stretch in the middle of the first half was a very positive sign.
After Joliet West grabbed a 2-0 lead on quick back-to-back goals by Giovanni Nicolas (with 23:33 left in the first half) and Antonio Bedolla (50 seconds later, at 22:43), the Wolves responded nicely.
Two Oswego East corner kicks in the final 1:45 of the first half included a last-second flurry.
A corner kick with 15 seconds left was initially punched out of the crowd in front by Joliet West goalkeeper Alan Guzman, and shots by Andre Casas (blocked in front) and Ethan Klosterman (one-timer over the net as the half expired) were part of a great final push.
“In the first half we moved the ball really well and kept our shape,” Joliet West coach Michael O’Shea said. “But late in the half into the second half we just got lazy. I don’t know if we got tired, but we weren’t moving the ball as well, we were giving it away. We gave them a lot of opportunities.”
Oswego East opened the second half with a great chance.
With 36:15 left in the match, Zach Seidel’s 40-yard free kick send connected with Kellen Klosterman in the box; his header clanged off the crossbar.
After another Wolves near miss one-minute later (an Ethan Klosterman header over the net off a Nathan Czepiel cross), the crossbar war evened out when Joliet West’s Fabian Ulloa also drew iron with his 20-yard shot with 33 minutes to play.
The next 10-plus minutes thrust Oswego East goalkeeper Kilsgaard into the spotlight – and for more than just his saves.
Kilsgaard’s diving deflections wide of frame denied quality Joliet West shots with 29:10 to go (on a Bedolla shot) and 26:40 left (a Diego Escamilla low liner).
“Credit to their keeper,” O’Shea said. “We could have had seven or eight goals, but he made some great saves.”
Kilsgaard also had help on a Joliet West corner kick with 28:40 to play. The high corner kick send initially went off Kilsgaard’s hands, but teammate Jack Conway nicely cleared the ball from the crease.
Then with 22:29 left in the match, Kilsgaard went from defensive stalwart to offensive catalyst.
After making a diving one-hop save on a Bedolla header, Kilsgaard got to his feet and boomed a long punt upfield towards Wolves standout forward Andre Casas.
Winning the long send from a Joliet West defender, Casas sped in to the box and chipped a shot off the lower right post and into the net to bring the Wolves within 2-1.
“That was a really good ball from Owen,” said Casas. “I realized that I was a little bit faster than them on the backline, so I let them get close to me and then I pushed the ball. I saw it bounce in front of me, and I took it.”
Said Kilsgaard: “There’s different kinds of punts you can use, including more direct to try to get your guys in. Andre and I talked about it before the half started, that their center backs were slower, and we had to penalize that.”
Finishes like that have been the norm this fall for Casas (three goals, two assists this season).
“The first goal it was just Andre being smart and anticipating the ball,” Szymanski said. ““Andre read it perfectly. He saw that the guy was overcommitted, just let it bounce and went. Owen does a good job of reading those quick plays, and Andre is even better at finding the ball in the air.
“Andre’s put in a lot of work in the offseason,” Szymanski added. “He’s taken a big step. We lost a lot of scoring and firepower, and as a senior he’s done a great job of stepping up.”
Casas’ counterattack finish added much more fuel to the Wolves’ comeback. And it took just 94 seconds for Oswego East to draw even at 2-2.
Ythan Houston was fouled to set up a free kick for the Wolves, a set piece that was nicely executed from start to finish.
Dmitri Huitron’s initial 22-yard free kick send hit the crossbar, and Houston was on the spot for a right side rebound header that angled inside the left post.
“It was honestly effort, and you could really tell,” Casas said of the Wolves comeback. “Once I scored our effort level was all the way up, and the pressure was all on them (Joliet West).”
The Huitron and Houston connection on the second goal marked a Wolves first of sorts.
“Dmitri hit that shot, and Ythan buried the second one. That’s our first goal all year Andre didn’t have a goal or an assist on,” Szymanski said. “He had one goal and two assists against Downers South (a 3-1 Wolves win on Saturday), and a goal against Waubonsie Valley too.”
Said Casas: “We executed (on the two goals to tie), but then we got a little too comfortable.”
Joliet West would regroup defensively. With 19:10 left, a Chris Godinez send again found Casas racing in the box, but this time he faced a triple team of defenders that left him unable to get a shot or pass off.
Then the continued push by the Tigers’ offense would again reverse the game’s momentum.
“We just had to focus, stay energized and make sure we try to put a couple more in,” senior Damon Almazan said.
A nice Kilsgaard fingertip catch of a Tony Kochev high end line cross with 14:20 left denied one threat.
But with 13:50 to play, Joliet West grabbed a 3-2 lead as Almazan raced in and lined a low 15-yarder past a diving Kilsgaard.
“Our midfielders found Alex (Escamilla), our other forward,” Almazan said, “and I saw he was making a diagonal run towards me. So I made a diagonal run opposite of him. He played me through, and I one-touched it underneath the keeper and in.”
Kilsgaaard responded to the next threat with another great save, diving to block Bedolla’s low laser at the left post with 12:40 left.
Oswego East’s Sahil Sethi would then excel at both ends of the field with under nine minutes left. First, his nice strip at the top of the box and strong clear denied a threat. Then one minute later, Huitron’s nice send and a Godinez cross set up Sethi for a shot in front that deflected just wide left.
On the ensuing corner kick, Huitron’s cross to the crease was grabbed by goalkeeper Guzman.
A Casas throw-in from 10 yards out with 4:05 left would produce the game’s next good chance, a Kellen Klosterman one-timer that angled just wide of frame.
Then with 2:25 to go, the Tigers sealed their win.
Off a Bedolla pass to the middle, Oscar Haro powered a 35-yard one-timer into the upper left corner of the net to make the score 4-2.
“The season’s starting well,” O’Shea said after the final horn. “There’s a lot of things we need to work on, which is nice because we’re doing so well but have so much to work on. And it’s the first conference win, we’ll take it.”
Before his powerful strike clinched the win, Haro’s 6-foot-2 presence had already been a major factor.
“We pinned ourselves in battling for the ball off goal kicks and clearances,” Kilsgaard said.
“That tall guy in the middle (Haro) was our biggest problem. We didn’t have anybody able to mark him, so he was able to play the ball. And we had some miscommunication on our backline, so they were making runs through our backline with misdirections.”
Joliet West’s talent aside, it was a frustrating day for the Wolves.
“They’re good,” Szymanski said. “Number 11 (Haro) is tough as heck, and 5 up-top (Almazan) is really good. And most of the guys they have out there are seniors.
“Joliet West is a much improved team from last year, but I really think we could have done a better job taking advantage of their defense. I thought we were faster than them up-top. But we couldn’t combine passes or get much in the attack. Counters were our best opportunities.
“Until the second half we really didn’t press them very much,” Szymasnki added. “We never really made them very vulnerable, and I feel like they made us very vulnerable.”
But any downside for the Wolves on Thursday was matched by one very positive sign.
“That comeback (from down 2-0) is a credit to them,” Szymanski said. “They could have quit they battled.
“We just have to come together as a group. And the sooner we do that, the better off we’re going to be towards the end of the season.”
Oswego East players expect those better days to arrive soon.
“We all have a lot of different skills, and we just haven’t clicked yet,” Kilsgaard said. “But once we click, I think we’ll be good.”
Said Casas: “I’m honestly very excited. This group is very young, and the sky’s the limit. It can only go up from here. I’m really excited to see how it goes.”
Starting lineups
Joliet West
GK: Alan Guzman
D: Jose Rodriguez
D: Tony Kochev
D: Marcos Quintana
D: Brian Sanchez
M: Diego Escamilla
M: Giovanni Nicolas
M: Oscar Haro
M: Fabian Ulloa
F: Damon Almazan
F: Tony Bedolla
Oswego East
GK: Owen Kilsgaard
D: Chris Godinez
D: Ryan D’Adamo
D: Kellen Klosterman
D: Zach Seidel
M: Dmitri Huitron
M: Sahil Sethi
M: John Danison
M: Grant Glorioso
F: Andre Casas
F: Dacarlos Parodis-Yu
Chicagoland Soccer Man of the Match: Damon Almazan, sr. F, Joliet West
Scoring summary
First half
JW – Giovanni Nicolas (Damon Almazan), 17th min
JW – Antonio Bedolla, 18th min
Second half
OE – Andre Casas, 57th min
OE – Ythan Houston, 59th min
JW – Almazan (Alex Escamilla), 67th min
JW – Oscar Haro, 78th min