Trojans yield late goal and settle for a tie

By Darryl Mellema

In its growth process, Downers Grove North's squad is going to learn a few rough lessons.

Saturday was one of those days, when the inability to close out a match ended up turning a potential victory into a 1-1 tie with Buffalo Grove.

But in a sign of how far the Trojans have progressed, Saturday's result in the final match of the Lake Park Cup left Downers Grove North's players disappointed and subject to a long discussion from Trojans Brian Gervase.

The key moment came with only 29 seconds to play. After an indirect free kick in the penalty area with under one minute left, Buffalo Grove kept the ball in dangerous positions.

Alex Maciopinto crossed from the left wing and Kyle Fiordaliso met the ball with a diving header to forge the final result.

Gervase pointed to an error in the run-up to the free kick when the Trojans had the ball deep in Buffalo Grove territory.

Rather than take the ball “for a walk” to the corner flag to eat the final precious seconds, North's forwards tried to forge a second goal. Buffalo Grove intercepted, moved quickly upfield, earned the free kick and ultimately tied the match.

"We made a mistake all the way up there when we were two-v-four," Bruckner said. "We shouldn't have done that. We should have taken the ball to the corner and worked out the time.

"That's the wrong play, but I told them there were wrong plays throughout the match. That was just the last play, so we remember it."

Downers Grove North moves into the rest of Labor Day weekend with a 2-1-3 record – and that win total equals the victory tally for the entire 2008 campaign. Clearly something positive is taking place on the north side of Downers Grove.

"We're happy," Gervase said. "We're six matches in and we've only lost once. We're coming off a two-win season. We're happy to be putting a lot of pressure on teams. Now we go to the Pepsi Showdown on Tuesday."

There were certainly opportunities for the Trojans to put a scoreboard stranglehold on the match and reinforce the dominance they were showing on the pitch. But time and again, chances went begging.

Buffalo Grove (3-2-2) made the most of what few chances it had throughout the first 79 minutes of the match. The Bison nearly took the lead from their first effort on goal, a Guiseppe Bucaro flick that forced Blayne Munar to make a sharp save.

But the chances continued to favor Downers Grove North, and the first goal came with 3:40 left when Luis Salas bent a free kick around the wall and into the left side netting from 25 yards.

"We had a lot of chances early in the match," Gervase said. "That's the good thing. We're generating a very good offense right now. We moved the ball from side to side and got good opportunities. Now we've got to find some finishers."

The chances continued to widely favor Downers Grove North through the second half, especially in the final 20 minutes. Justin Pickering rode a tackle and shot just wide with 18 minutes left.

Ten minutes later, one of the Trojans' best moves of the match ended with Eric Garcia sending a left wing cross to an unmarked A.J. Jeffries, who just missed the net.

But still clinging to the 1-0 lead, the question became whether or not Downers Grove North could hold onto its advantage.

"I challenged our defense and told them it was time to get a shutout," Gervase said. "We've played well enough to shut some teams out.

"They worked really hard and our defense played pretty well. (Munar's) our starting goalie now and we have to start gelling as a unit."

Then Fiordaliso dove and headed the game-tying goal and the teams had to settle for a share of the day's action.

"We came out with absolutely no energy," Fiordaliso said. "But we picked it up near the end. But still it's not good enough at all."

The recent schedule has been relentless for Buffalo Grove, which showed some fatigue at points in the match.

"I thought we struggled a little bit today," Buffalo Grove coach Rick Schofstall said. "We lacked energy at times. But we kept working and sometimes you tie and you feel like you won the game."

Man of the Match: Eric Garcia

By Darryl Mellema

Although he didn't score on Saturday, Downers Grove North junior forward Eric Garcia was on both ends of the creative process in his team's 1-1 tie with Buffalo Grove.

He had shots saved, including a solid effort with 18 minutes left in the first half.

Garcia was involved in the buildup to near-misses as well, including his quick move and cross up the left wing that found A.J. Jeffries free in the penalty area with eight minutes to play.

"We're a defensively-minded team, for sure," Garcia said. "And we're trying to get the ball in.

"We dominated the defense, middle and up top. It's just the capitalization on that dominance that we lacked."

But despite playing well, Garcia was like the rest of his teammates in feeling frustrated at the final whistle.

"Oh yeah, absolutely," Garcia said. "We outplayed a team like we did and then we had a turnover and they put it in.

"It's how we've won a couple of our games. It's frustrating to see it from the other side. It's just very disappointing."

2009 Schedule
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