Blackhawks fall to Redhawks in Aurora

By Eddie Burns

West Aurora did quite well for itself in the pre-DuPage Valley Conference portion of its schedule. The Blackhawks posted six wins and a tie while shutting out the opposition five times.

However, West Aurora’s first true test came in Tuesday’s DuPage Valley Conference opener against Naperville Central. It took the Blackhawks all of six seconds to realize that conference play is at a different level.

Fans barely had a chance to get settled into their seats when Naperville Central’s Chris Prince began the match by sending a shot 55 yards in the air and into the West Aurora net, stunning goalie Abel Diaz.

Just like that, the Redhawks had the lead and they were well on their way to a 2-0 victory against the Blackhawks at Ken Zimmerman Field.

“When you have a goalie out of position and it results in that type of goal -- that was no way to start the match,” West Aurora coach Sustersic said. “That is just the shooter and the goalie. It was a great shot by Prince and it deflated us immediately.”

Defensive back Henrry Perez said his team was flat.

“That (first) goal was just stupidity,” Perez said. “We weren’t mentally ready for the game. We weren’t expecting that right off the bat. Prince had a good eye and went for the opportunity -- give him credit.”

Things didn’t get any easier when the Blackhawks (6-1-1, 0-1 DVC) allowed the Redhawks (5-1-1, 1-0) to extend their lead off a restart in the 11th minute.

Central’s Colin Rook put the scoring play into motion when he sent a free kick from midfield into West’s penalty area. The ball ricocheted off a Blackhawk defender right to Joe Yarshen, who sent a shot past Diaz and into the net for a 2-0 lead.

“On that second goal, my kids detonate the ball right on top of the six and all their kid had to do was punch the ball right in the net,” Sustersic said. “It is very easy to score a goal when we gift-wrapped and put a bow on it.”

It was about this point when the Blackhawks did finally pick up the pace.

West had several close calls in the second half. Henrry Perez, Mario Alvarez, Mike Vazquez, Irvin Bernal and Victor Alfaro each had opportunities sail high or wide of Central’s net.

“We were trying to show that we could play with the higher echelon teams in the conference, but unfortunately we were not able to,” Sustersic said. “Let’s give Central credit because they took it to us and they scored two goals in the first 15 minutes. I think we played a better second half, but I think we were shell shocked in that first half and credit Central.”

Perez said the Blackhawks must learn from this game.

“We’ll take this as a growing experience,” Perez said. “We learned how to pick up each other. As the game went on, we took more control, but we couldn’t finish. At first, we were playing on our heels and not on our toes. We were caught flatfooted and we can’t let that happen as we continue on in conference play.”

Besides the increased intensity of the second half, Sustersic liked what he saw out of senior Angel Perez. The only problem Sustersic might have is finding a position suitable for Perez’s skills.

“Angel’s play tonight warrants him receiving additional playing time moving forward,” Sustersic said. “He had not played in quite a few matches because of coach’s decision, but he took advantage of his time today and did some good things.

He is a defender, a midfielder, an outside midfielder – he is a jack of all trades, but not an expert of one. Today, he rose up to the occasion and did a good job of distributing the ball on the outside midfield. There is no reason for him to sit on the bench when some of his other teammates did not.”
 
Starters …
Goalie: Abel Diaz
5, 7, 10, 14, 15, 21, 22, 23, 26, 29

2009 Schedule
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West Aurora starters vs. Naperville Central