Neuqua dominant again but settles for a tie

By Eddie Burns

The season might be 10 days old, but Neuqua Valley was on top of its game Tuesday night against Naperville North.

 “Offensively and defensively it was probably our best game of the year in terms of knocking the ball around and when we lost it we got behind the ball,” Neuqua coach Tony Kees said. “We limited their chances from the run of play.”

Well, it was their best for the first 68 minutes.

Then the Wildcats inexplicably blew a two-goal lead against the Huskies and had to settle for a 2-2 draw in regulation before securing a 3-0 victory in a shootout of the Best of the West Tournament match between the two Naperville schools.

Because of a tournament format used in the Best of the West, penalty kicks came into play to determine the winner. Regarding overall records, the match goes down as a draw.

The Naperville North goals, which were the Huskies’ only shots on net in the second half, came on restarts – including the tying goal, which was scored with 25 seconds remaining in regulation.

“Set pieces can make or break the game,” Neuqua goalie Jack Turanchik said. “To be honest, that is just poor play on our part. It is just garbage. It’s all about staying on your mark and focusing. (Coach Kees) has been harping on us to not give up any stupid restart goals and to give up two in the last 12 minutes stinks. It is just horrible. We have to start concentrating more on those free kicks. We can’t give up stupid goals like that.”

Kees said restarts are point of emphasis in practice for a reason.

“All of their chances came from the restart -- that is soccer,” Kees said. “That is the beauty and charm of the game and what is maddening about it at the same time. You can have complete control of the game and you get a tie out of it. It is early. We’ll learn from it.”    

Neuqua junior midfielder Patrick Doody, who assisted both Wildcat goals scored by Bryan Ciesiulka and Scott Davis, agreed with Turanchik that the Wildcats gave away the match.

“Throughout the entire game the only way they got chances was because of our mistakes and we committed two fouls and they capitalized,” he said. “We have to play the full 80 minutes. We need to stay more disciplined.”

It was easy for the Wildcats to put it on cruise control, because they appeared to be in complete control of the match with 15 minutes remaining. Even the Huskies were admiring the ease at which the Wildcats were moving the ball. It was quite a scene. The ball moved from player to player in a smooth manner. Neuqua spread out North and played keep-a-way for most of the match thanks to precise and crisp passing.

“I’ve never said this about an opponent before, but it was fun to watch them while we were out there playing against them,” said North’s Kyle Lindberg, who scored the tying match late in regulation. “Their ball movement and the way they moved without the ball was special.”

North coach Jim Konrad was impressed as well.

“It might have looked like we were trying to play back, but we weren’t,” said Konrad about North’s philosophy.

“Neuqua does such a great job of forcing you to back up. We knew it was going to happen. They did it against Lyons Township (last Saturday). They knocked Lyons into a shell and the problem is they hold the ball so well that there is nothing you can do when that occurs.”

Despite the shock of giving up a lead with 25 seconds remaining, the Wildcats did a nice job of collecting themselves and regrouping before competing in the shootout.

Bryan Ciesiulka, Zach Kovacevic and Nate Freed each netted their penalty kicks while Turanchik made a save on North’s initial shot and the Huskies’ other two attempts missed the net.

The Wildcats will play Benet at 7 p.m. Thursday at Naperville North. Both the Redwings and Wildcats are 1-0 in pool play and the winner could have the inside track to Saturday’s championship match.

Photos courtesy of Dennis Wiest

2009 Schedule

Starters vs. Naperville North