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Sports
Kicking wide : Sports : Oswego Ledger-Sentinel : Hometown Newspaper for Oswego and Montgomery, IllinoisKicking wide
| Oswego East falls 2-1 to West Chicago in soccer postseason
| by Mike Slodki
| 10/18/2012
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Time is of a premium in the sport of soccer, especially in an intense regional setting where the next shot could be your last.
Oswego East made one count, but ran out of time on Tuesday to convert another.
As part of the Class 3A Metea Valley Regional in Aurora, the No. 14 Wolves competed against No. 3-seed West Chicago, and fought gamely in a 2-1 loss.
With the loss, Oswego East finishes the season with a mark of 6-13-2, and 1-6 in Southwest Prairie Conference play.
West Chicago had a scheduled date on Saturday, against either No. 8 Metea Valley or No. 11 Plainfield East as part of the West Chicago Sectional.
Doing their best with the windy conditions, Oswego East was put on their heels with a controlled passing attack on the part of the Wildcats.
The pace was faster due to the turf surface at Metea Valley, and finally WCHS struck on a booming kick over the head of goalkeeper Sean Phetchanpheng by senior midfielder Edgardo Alcantar with 22:13 remaining in the first half.
Another rocket by Jose Cortes past the guard with 12:31 to go made it 2-0, where it stood going into the halftime break.
A shot by Phetchanpheng was stopped cold with 14:33, and action tightened with yellow cards on both ends being doled out.
Finally, the Wolves struck gold thanks to a header attempt by senior Oliver Czopek with just 34 seconds remaining.
A furious handful of seconds involved the ball at the West Chicago end, with a corner kick attempt unsuccessful and a Danny Ruiz shot attempt just wide near the buzzer.
"I thought we executed our game plan really well," Oswego East coach Steve Szymanski said. "The two shots they had, one was really good and the other we were late on. We knew their strengths and we knew what we had to do."
The Wolves program now says goodbye to seniors Noel Zepeda, Ruiz, Juan Alday, Alex Torres, Ryan Jenkins, Adrian Escobar, Cooper Fell, Czopek, David Hernandez, Oscar Martinez and Mauricio Puga.
"I think this team had potential all year and the last two matches we've shown a lot of heart and character," Szymanski said. "Especially the seniors, guys like Danny and Cooper and Oliver and David just played their butts off."
Last Thursday, Oswego East closed out the regular season with a 2-0 loss to Naperville North.
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