Schaumburg scores four goals in second half to halt Falcons run

By Curt Herron

Although few people expected Wheaton North to capture a sectional championship as the regular season was winding down, one important group felt that it had a chance.

And those were the members of the Falcons team, who believed that they were good enough to string together some wins, even though they had lost five straight late in the season.

North managed to win its last regularly-scheduled match and then added three more victories in the playoffs to reach Friday's Class 3A Hoffman Estates Sectional championship.

But that's where the dream ended for the Falcons, who saw their exciting postseason run halted in a 4-0 defeat to Schaumburg.

The Saxons (13-5-1) scored all four of their goals when they possessed a decided win advantage during the second half of play.

North (8-10-5) wasn't able to capitalize with the wind during the opening half and wound up yielding a season-high goal total.

As a result, Schaumburg won its second sectional title in three years and earned a spot in Tuesday's Barrington Super-Sectional against Lake Zurich, which beat Larkin 5-0 on Friday.

Meanwhile, coach Bryce Cann's squad came up short in their quest to join the 2005 Falcons as the only squads from the program to win a sectional championship.

North had only allowed two or more goals in two of its previous matches and it had played in 18 games which were decided by one goal or less.

So giving up four goals in 40 minutes and losing by four goals was an unexpected way to see things end and it left the Falcons pretty disappointed.

But while their coach hoped for a closer outcome in the finale, he still was delighted with what his squad was able to accomplish in the postseason.

Hear Wheaton North coach Bryce Cann interview

As winds gusted from the southwest, the team with the wind at its back figured to have the upper hand for a half.

That was somewhat the case in the initial half as North had some early opportunities before the Saxons had more good chances as time went on.

But the wind advantage was most obvious during the second half, when Schaumburg's strategy of holding its own against the wind for a half definitely paid off.

The Saxons immediately began to put pressure on Falcons keeper Nick Barry and had the only goal that they would need just 4:06 after the halftime break.

They added a score just over even minutes later and collected two more scores during the final 20 minutes to complete their good performance.

Hear Schaumburg coach Hamid Mehreioskouei interview

Schaumburg moved in front with 35:54 left when Erhan Caglayan scored following a touch from Declan Geraghty off of a throw in by Mark Bielanski.

Less than three minutes later, North had a chance to tie things up when a ball was sent back toward the Saxon net but defender Jyoji Morimoto cleared it away.

The Saxons added a decisive second score with 28:40 remaining when All-Stater Geraghty fired in a line drive from about 20 yards out following a shot try by Caglayan.

They looked like they might have added to their total just over three minutes but an apparent goal by Tim Olson was disallowed due to an offsides call.

North had one of its best second-half scoring chances shortly before the midway point of that half when Mike Lenzi sent a liner to keeper Jason Wojick.

Schaumburg found the net again with 18:19 to go when Jake Savino connected to give his squad a 3-0 advantage.

During the next 10 minutes, the Saxons continued to apply heavy pressure on Barry and the Falcon keeper stopped almost everything that came his way.

Caglayan fired in a liner that was deflected by Barry, who also punched away a corner kick and stopped two other short shot attempts.

The Saxons connected for the final time with 8:25 remaining when Rene Vilchis scored following an assist from Mike Grassa.

Hear Schaumburg's Declan Geraghty interview

The Falcons put together one of their best scoring opportunities all night just 90 seconds into Friday's match.

That's when Lenzi directed a liner that was hauled in by Wojick following a corner kick from Josh Bennett.

Schaumburg responded with line drives from Morimoto and Kacper Wasilewski a short time later that Barry was able to stop.

After Bennett sent a corner kick to the Saxon keeper, Schaumburg answered with shot tries from Geraghty, Savino and Blake Nelson.

Geraghty nearly connected on a header with just over 15 minutes left in the opening half following a corner kick from Wasilewski.

The loss marked the conclusion of the playing careers of a dozen Falcons seniors, including five who started the match.

That group of senior starters were captains Pat Langan, Bennett and Lenzi as well as Elvin Ahmeti and Vito Muilli.

But the future looks bright considering that starters Jordan Richert, Zak Gudanik, Isaac Oberlin, Andrew Carlburg, Dan O'Malley and Barry all return.

Falcons starters vs. Schaumburg

Schaumburg starters vs. Falcons

Schaumburg 4, Falcons 0

Falcons Schedule

Postseason play