Kits Kick No. 1 Seed To Sidelines

Game plans rarely work to perfection in Illinois High School Association postseason play.

But practice makes perfect --- and Tommy Gilroy's perfect throw-in to James Nicolaou worked like magic for Evanston's soccer team Tuesday night at the Class 3A DePaul Prep Sectional tournament.

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The two ETHS co-captains combined for the winning goal in the 69th minute as Evanston upended No. 1 seed Chicago Taft for a 3-2 victory in the sectional semifinals.

Coach Frank Calixte's team advanced to the sectional title game for the first time since 2021. Now 13-6-1 on the season, the Kits will take on Saint Patrick, a 2-1 upset winner over Lane Tech, in Friday's championship contest at 5:30 p.m. for the right to move on to next Monday's Conant Super-Sectional.

After surrendering a goal just two and a half minutes into the game to a powerhouse Taft team that entered the game with a 16-1-1 record, the Wildkits roared back behind a guy who's earning the nickname "Mr. October" --- Matt Gilroy, Tommy's twin brother, who netted a pair of goals --- and set the stage for Nicolaou's game winner in the latter stages of the second half.

Tommy Gilroy got in plenty of rehearsals before his connection with Nicolaou. He set what was probably an unofficial single game school record for throw-in attempts, at least two dozen of them, on DePaul's short and narrow field while also playing a complete game anchoring the Evanston defense.

Exhaustion didn't set in until after he launched a ball to his fellow captain and Nicolaou booted a rocket past Taft goalie Alexander Espinosa with 11 minutes, 16 seconds left in regulation play.

"That's the point of the play, to get the ball to the top of the box (about the 6-yard line) to just cause chaos," Tommy Gilroy said. "When you put the ball on top of the box, stuff will happen. It just popped perfectly to James and that was the plan. Maybe you'd call it controlled chaos.

"I'm very proud watching my twin score all these goals, too. He's amazing! We've had this in us the whole year, and as long as we play our best soccer in October, that's what matters.

"We knew going in that Taft was very quick, and our goal tonight was not to let them get enough space to be dangerous. We just had to trust each other and beat them to the spot (on defense)."

The goal was the first game-winner of Nicolaou's high school career.

"It feels so great to make it to the sectional finals," said the senior midfielder. "I'm super happy to bring it back after what happened to us last year, one of the worst seasons in school history. We proved ourselves against a strong team tonight and this is great for our confidence.

"I like scoring, and the stakes are a lot higher now than when I scored a game-winner in club. On this super narrow field we just tried to win as many throw-ins as possible. Tommy kept exhausting them with that weapon and eventually, we capitalized."

"That was our best game of the year," said Calixte. "Going down on that soft goal in the first couple of minutes took the wind out of us at first, but you couldn't tell that by looking at them (ETHS players). They just kept playing.

"Both of Matt Gilroy's goals were huge --- it's like he can't miss now --- and it doesn't hurt to have Mr. October on our side."

Gilroy, who also tallied a pair of goals in the regional championship win over New Trier, got the equalizer for the Kits five minutes after Taft's Jesse Barahona tapped in a head shot following a corner kick.

The top-seeded Eagles made the mistake of giving the electric senior some open space in the 53rd minute, and he nailed a laser shot into the back of the net from about the 25-yard line.

"Obviously, it was tough when we conceded that early goal," Matt Gilroy said. "But we saw early on that we'd be able to capitalize on some throw-ins and corner kicks against them, and our two wings, Noah Thomas and Prince Maningri, really played great.

"It feels great to win this one. I can't wait to play at least one more game. I'm having the time of my life."

The winners had to deal with more adversity before keeping their season alive, however. When an ETHS defender fell down at midfield, Taft star Max Gonzalez beat two others to the ball and wound up being knocked down near the goal by Nicolaou.

The resulting penalty kick by Smajo Fazlagic knotted the score at 2-all with 18:26 left on the scoreboard clock.

"I was just trying to make something happen on that play, to keep them from scoring," Nicolaou said. "To be able to come back and make up for that really meant a lot to me."

Calixte credited his defense's ability to adjust to the unusual playing conditions on a field that was measurably less wide than the fields the Kits are used to.

"Our team defense made the difference," said the veteran coach. "We kept them in front of us, and we clogged up the middle and didn't let them turn and go downhill against us. Taft might be the best team we've played this year, but our guys were able to adjust and do what it takes to beat them."