Boys Soccer: Tigers Prevail in Crosstown Showdown

During its final home game of the 2011 season Wednesday night, ’s boys soccer team recognized senior defender Will Huesing, who suffered a season-ending knee injury last week.

Then, senior Mike Kania paid an unexpected tribute to his fellow defender by directing a corner kick from Joe Jakubowski to score the Tigers' first goal in their crosstown match against .

The Tigers defeated the Falcons, 6-2.

Huesing, one of the Tigers’ team leaders, tore the ACL in his left knee early in the second half of WWS’ non-conference matchup against St. Charles East last Thursday.

“As I told Will and the team, you can try to answer the question ‘why?’ all day long,” WWS coach Guy Callipari said. “But I do know this. It (his injury) didn’t happen at the beginning of the year; it happened at the end. In that time that we had him, he’s prepared all of us to play at this level.

“He’s allowed other players to get seasoned and experienced in roles through the course of the season that we’re now prepared to play in. So he’s certainly done his job, and he can feel assured that he’s done his part in preparing us for this late-season run.”

Kania said he's going to miss having Huesing on the field. "He’s been a great mentor and an inspiration to me. I’m just going to try to continue the leadership and legacy that he brought to the team.”

At 31:10 of the half, sophomore Javier Rojas stole the ball at midfield and led senior Dan Burns, who got a step on Falcons’ defenders and made it 2-0 as he skidded in a low shot.

Burns’ second goal of the game, off a throw-in by senior Alec Brazeau, came with under 23 minutes remaining in the first half. A minute later, Burns found Nick Smith with a crossing pass, and Smith put it in to give the Tigers (13-6-3, 4-2) a 4-0 advantage.

“We had a little bit of a setback with Will,” Callipari said. “It was kind of an emotional night and I thought we got off the ball real well really early. Our rhythm of play was very good early on.

“Playing against Wheaton North is a big game in and of itself for these kids. I’m glad they were able to show well in front of a really nice crowd this evening.”

The Falcons played WWS tough, but it was a case of missed scoring chances.

“We probably had three really good opportunities the first 15 minutes (of the game),” said Wheaton North coach Bryce Cann. “We take advantage of one of those, and the game changes.”

The Falcons did convert a penalty kick as senior Robert Jaimes scored just before halftime, which cut WWS’ lead to 4-1.

Wheaton North had two good scoring opportunities early in the second half, but Isaac Oberlin’s header and a shot by Sam Klatt went just wide of the net.

“We played a lot better in the second half, no doubt,” Cann said. “But obviously the bigger issue is that you dig yourself a hole like that (in the first half) because we’re not taking care of business on restarts; we’re not taking care of business by making small, little one-on-one plays when we need to.

“That’s been one of the challenges this year, but what I do like is that we continue to be resilient. We dug ourselves a big hole (record-wise this season), and it would be very easy, especially with the experience we’ve had this year, to cash it in and say, ‘We’re done.’ But they continue to find a way to come back. I’m very proud of them for that.”

Things got interesting after Jaimes blasted in another penalty kick at 23:59 to pull Wheaton North within 4-2. Brazeau, though, launched a 45-yard shot that found the upper left corner of the net for a 5-2 lead, and Sam Gesessew’s header with 4:38 to go capped the scoring for WWS.

The Tigers visit Wheaton Academy tonight for the Wheaton Cup in the regular season finale, and then turn their attention to the postseason. WWS, the sixth seed at the Naperville North sectional, faces West Aurora in its regional opener next Wednesday at Naperville Central.

WWS blanked West Aurora in late September 3-0, but Callipari isn’t taking anything for granted.

“West Aurora, they’re certainly capable,” he said. “We just have to be aware that our last outing is something that we should learn from, not live by, and certainly not think in and of itself that that carries us through. We’re going to need to play well again, and they know that. We’ve got to step up.”

The Falcons, meanwhile, are seeded No. 17 at the Bartlett sectional. The will be at home Saturday and face off against Glenbard East in a regional play-in game. The two squads played to a scoreless tie last month.

“I think we might be one of the happier teams around to say that our record gets wiped clean and we can start fresh now,” Cann said. “We like our chances against Glenbard East. We think we’ve got an opportunity and that’s all you can ask for when you’re in a competitive environment. You want a shot, and we think we’ve got a shot. And if we’re fortunate enough to make it past the quarterfinal round, we will look forward to that opportunity as well. Playoffs are one game at a time.”

Christine Kania contributed to this report.