W. Aurora nips Plainfield N. in SWP final
Espino penalty kick in 79th minute gives Blackhawks 2-1 win
By Gary Larsen
AURORA — There was a 25-minute span of play between West Aurora and Plainfield North on Saturday when, if fans blinked, they likely missed an electrifying moment.
If they checked their cell phone for any reason, they might have missed a shot off the post. If they turned to talk to a friend in the stands, there was an acrobatic save that they lost the chance to see.
If they were foolish enough to go to the concession stand, they might have missed multiple goal-line clears, dangerous shots sent just wide, or even a game-tying goal.
No concession stand nachos on earth were worth missing any of it.
“It was really exciting to be a part of,” Plainfield North senior Shea Bechtel said. “You could hear that the fans were being entertained, and it was just a really fun game to play in."
In front of a large and raucous crowd, the title game of this year’s Southwest Prairie Conference Tournament ultimately ended in a 2-1 win for West Aurora, which completed a perfect 18-0-0 season.
“It was a fun game to coach, too, except for maybe a 10-minute span here and there,” West Aurora coach Joe Sustersic said.
Plainfield North finished with a 13-3-1 record in coach Lukasz Majewski’s first season at the helm. West Aurora, after starting the season ranked 22nd, ended the season ranked fifth in the Chicagoland Soccer's Final 50 poll. Plainfield North, which was unranked, finished in the 15th spot.
West Aurora won 2-1 over Plainfield North on April 8 and Saturday’s rematch did not disappoint. Legitimate shots on frame were scarce through 20 minutes but play picked up thereafter.
Plainfield North’s Jake Gruben, Dilan Anweiler, and Cooper Allen all came close in the first half but truly dangerous scoring chances were simply hard to come by.
West Aurora’s Isaac Romero managed the game’s first legitimate scoring chance at 29 minutes, from 20 yards, but North keeper Miguel Rodriguez made the save.
The game’s first goal came when West Aurora’s Jaziel Enriquez broke free inside the box on the right side at 35 minutes. Enriquez scored from 12 yards to give the host Blackhawks a 1-0 lead at halftime and set the stage for a wild second half.
A pair of yellow cards issued early in the second half added palpable intensity to the game. End-to-end play featuring free kicks, corner kicks, and deep throw-ins by both teams marked the first 10 minutes of the half.
North's Rodriguez saved an Enriquez shot at 56 minutes. Then Plainfield North provided a flurry of attacking fury, and West Aurora nearly struck time and again in the counterattack.
The game’s final 25 minutes had fans from both sides on constant edge.
“We had a free kick, then a couple throw-ins, then a couple corners, where we had scrums in the box and the ball kind of bounced around, but nothing fell our way in the box,” Bechtel said. “The keeper had a save; they had a couple goal-line clearances, and I think we hit the post twice and the crossbar once.”
West Aurora’s Frankie Garcia nearly made it 2-0 on a low blast that Rodriguez made a quality save on just before Bechtel tied the game at 63 minutes.
Allen cut inside from the right touchline and sent a ball across the field to Bechtel, who faked a shot to his left, then cut to his right and let it fly.
“I hoped there would be a gap for me to squeeze the ball through at the near post, and I just hit it low and hard," Bechtel said. "I aimed for the corner and that’s where it went. It was a huge relief to get one after all those chances that were better than the one we ended up (converting).”
West Aurora’s Zach Thompson nearly put his side on top again at 66 minutes. The senior raced up the right side with a defender on his hip and broke free, going in alone on Rodriguez. North’s senior keeper made a fine sliding kick-save to preserve the tie.
“(Rodriguez) played out of his mind,” Bechtel said. “He had two or three saves down the stretch where I thought ‘Oh, this is when we’re done. This is when it goes in’. He’s been huge for us down the stretch. In our close games he’s been there to make some huge saves.”
North had a goal from Allen waved off on a foul called at 67 minutes, and Allen forced a quality save from West keeper Carlos Garcia a minute later. West Aurora found a shot in a crowded box that Rodriguez tipped off the crossbar at 71 minutes, and a North defender cleared the ball off the goal line to avert disaster.
Thompson found a good look on net on the left side at 78 minutes but Rodriguez made another nice stop on his offering from 10 yards.
The game’s final tally provided joy for the home team and frustration for the visitors, when a foul called near the right edge of the West Aurora box set up a Blackhawks penalty kick at 79 minutes.
West Aurora senior Danny Espino buried the kick over a diving Rodriguez to give his side the 2-1 win.
“It was the best feeling,” Espino said. “I was a little nervous, but not too much. I just took a couple of deep breaths to calm myself down, then I just hit it up high where I knew (Rodriguez) wouldn’t be able to get it.”
Plainfield North’s entire bench of players and coaches were visibly frustrated that an exceptional half of soccer culminated with a late game-deciding penalty kick.
“It’s kind of hard to talk about the quality of the game with the elephant in the room,” Majewski said. “The fact that officials were more in charge of the outcome of the game than the players on the field, to not let the game play out — it’s just hard to see.
“It just was not our day to put the ball in the back of the net. It was a great season, but I feel bad for the seniors for not being able to see the game play out.
“It was an outstanding group of seniors. They were leaders, on and off the field and in the classroom. Now we’re looking forward to regrouping a little bit and getting right back at it in a couple months.”
West Aurora completed a historic unbeaten season for Sustersic, who also notched his 300th-coaching win this season.
“We played the schedule we had and won the games we had to win,” Sustersic said. “We played teams from the DuKane and the DuPage Valley. We had four seniors returning as starters and only seven that played any varsity last year. We had 17 new kids, and we were able to go through the season undefeated.”
Starting lineups
Plainfield North
GK: Miguel Rodriguez
D: Ryan Mauder
D: Brady Harwood
D: Lloyd Quezada
D: Matthew Hipolito
MF: Shea Bechtel
MF: Sean Elster
MF: Jake Gruben
MF: Justin Williams
F: Dilan Anweiler
F: Cooper Allen
West Aurora
GK: Carlos Garcia
D: Kyle Rucka
D: Raul Magana
D: Matt Lopez-Martinez
MF: Danny Espino
MF: Ijah Hardersen
MF: Juan Gonzalez
MF: Loretto Lopez
MF: Frankie Garcia
F: Jaziel Enriquez
F: Zach Thompson
Chicagoland Soccer Man of the Match: Miguel Rodriguez, sr., GK, Plainfield North
Scoring summary
First half
West Aurora — Enriquez (UA) 35 minutes
Second half
Plainfield North — Bechtel (Allen) 63rd minute
West Aurora — Espino (PK) 79 minutes
Espino penalty kick in 79th minute gives Blackhawks 2-1 win
By Gary Larsen
AURORA — There was a 25-minute span of play between West Aurora and Plainfield North on Saturday when, if fans blinked, they likely missed an electrifying moment.
If they checked their cell phone for any reason, they might have missed a shot off the post. If they turned to talk to a friend in the stands, there was an acrobatic save that they lost the chance to see.
If they were foolish enough to go to the concession stand, they might have missed multiple goal-line clears, dangerous shots sent just wide, or even a game-tying goal.
No concession stand nachos on earth were worth missing any of it.
“It was really exciting to be a part of,” Plainfield North senior Shea Bechtel said. “You could hear that the fans were being entertained, and it was just a really fun game to play in."
In front of a large and raucous crowd, the title game of this year’s Southwest Prairie Conference Tournament ultimately ended in a 2-1 win for West Aurora, which completed a perfect 18-0-0 season.
“It was a fun game to coach, too, except for maybe a 10-minute span here and there,” West Aurora coach Joe Sustersic said.
Plainfield North finished with a 13-3-1 record in coach Lukasz Majewski’s first season at the helm. West Aurora, after starting the season ranked 22nd, ended the season ranked fifth in the Chicagoland Soccer's Final 50 poll. Plainfield North, which was unranked, finished in the 15th spot.
West Aurora won 2-1 over Plainfield North on April 8 and Saturday’s rematch did not disappoint. Legitimate shots on frame were scarce through 20 minutes but play picked up thereafter.
Plainfield North’s Jake Gruben, Dilan Anweiler, and Cooper Allen all came close in the first half but truly dangerous scoring chances were simply hard to come by.
West Aurora’s Isaac Romero managed the game’s first legitimate scoring chance at 29 minutes, from 20 yards, but North keeper Miguel Rodriguez made the save.
The game’s first goal came when West Aurora’s Jaziel Enriquez broke free inside the box on the right side at 35 minutes. Enriquez scored from 12 yards to give the host Blackhawks a 1-0 lead at halftime and set the stage for a wild second half.
A pair of yellow cards issued early in the second half added palpable intensity to the game. End-to-end play featuring free kicks, corner kicks, and deep throw-ins by both teams marked the first 10 minutes of the half.
North's Rodriguez saved an Enriquez shot at 56 minutes. Then Plainfield North provided a flurry of attacking fury, and West Aurora nearly struck time and again in the counterattack.
The game’s final 25 minutes had fans from both sides on constant edge.
“We had a free kick, then a couple throw-ins, then a couple corners, where we had scrums in the box and the ball kind of bounced around, but nothing fell our way in the box,” Bechtel said. “The keeper had a save; they had a couple goal-line clearances, and I think we hit the post twice and the crossbar once.”
West Aurora’s Frankie Garcia nearly made it 2-0 on a low blast that Rodriguez made a quality save on just before Bechtel tied the game at 63 minutes.
Allen cut inside from the right touchline and sent a ball across the field to Bechtel, who faked a shot to his left, then cut to his right and let it fly.
“I hoped there would be a gap for me to squeeze the ball through at the near post, and I just hit it low and hard," Bechtel said. "I aimed for the corner and that’s where it went. It was a huge relief to get one after all those chances that were better than the one we ended up (converting).”
West Aurora’s Zach Thompson nearly put his side on top again at 66 minutes. The senior raced up the right side with a defender on his hip and broke free, going in alone on Rodriguez. North’s senior keeper made a fine sliding kick-save to preserve the tie.
“(Rodriguez) played out of his mind,” Bechtel said. “He had two or three saves down the stretch where I thought ‘Oh, this is when we’re done. This is when it goes in’. He’s been huge for us down the stretch. In our close games he’s been there to make some huge saves.”
North had a goal from Allen waved off on a foul called at 67 minutes, and Allen forced a quality save from West keeper Carlos Garcia a minute later. West Aurora found a shot in a crowded box that Rodriguez tipped off the crossbar at 71 minutes, and a North defender cleared the ball off the goal line to avert disaster.
Thompson found a good look on net on the left side at 78 minutes but Rodriguez made another nice stop on his offering from 10 yards.
The game’s final tally provided joy for the home team and frustration for the visitors, when a foul called near the right edge of the West Aurora box set up a Blackhawks penalty kick at 79 minutes.
West Aurora senior Danny Espino buried the kick over a diving Rodriguez to give his side the 2-1 win.
“It was the best feeling,” Espino said. “I was a little nervous, but not too much. I just took a couple of deep breaths to calm myself down, then I just hit it up high where I knew (Rodriguez) wouldn’t be able to get it.”
Plainfield North’s entire bench of players and coaches were visibly frustrated that an exceptional half of soccer culminated with a late game-deciding penalty kick.
“It’s kind of hard to talk about the quality of the game with the elephant in the room,” Majewski said. “The fact that officials were more in charge of the outcome of the game than the players on the field, to not let the game play out — it’s just hard to see.
“It just was not our day to put the ball in the back of the net. It was a great season, but I feel bad for the seniors for not being able to see the game play out.
“It was an outstanding group of seniors. They were leaders, on and off the field and in the classroom. Now we’re looking forward to regrouping a little bit and getting right back at it in a couple months.”
West Aurora completed a historic unbeaten season for Sustersic, who also notched his 300th-coaching win this season.
“We played the schedule we had and won the games we had to win,” Sustersic said. “We played teams from the DuKane and the DuPage Valley. We had four seniors returning as starters and only seven that played any varsity last year. We had 17 new kids, and we were able to go through the season undefeated.”
Starting lineups
Plainfield North
GK: Miguel Rodriguez
D: Ryan Mauder
D: Brady Harwood
D: Lloyd Quezada
D: Matthew Hipolito
MF: Shea Bechtel
MF: Sean Elster
MF: Jake Gruben
MF: Justin Williams
F: Dilan Anweiler
F: Cooper Allen
West Aurora
GK: Carlos Garcia
D: Kyle Rucka
D: Raul Magana
D: Matt Lopez-Martinez
MF: Danny Espino
MF: Ijah Hardersen
MF: Juan Gonzalez
MF: Loretto Lopez
MF: Frankie Garcia
F: Jaziel Enriquez
F: Zach Thompson
Chicagoland Soccer Man of the Match: Miguel Rodriguez, sr., GK, Plainfield North
Scoring summary
First half
West Aurora — Enriquez (UA) 35 minutes
Second half
Plainfield North — Bechtel (Allen) 63rd minute
West Aurora — Espino (PK) 79 minutes