Oswego East boys soccer edges Lockport in regional semifinal

LOCKPORT – Things went pretty much as both sides expected when the boys soccer teams from Lockport and Oswego East met in Wednesday’s Class 3A Lockport Regional semifinal.

The Porters and Wolves anticipated a hard-fought match where chances would be limited and one goal might prove to be the difference.

East made the most of an opportunity that came its way in the 46th minute, and that goal turned out to be the only one of the match, as it claimed a 1-0 victory over Lockport to advance to Friday’s 4 p.m. championship against Waubonsie Valley.

Ford Frazer sent a pass to Manuel Magana, who got past a defender and then fired in a liner that helped the Wolves (14-6-2) equal the school record for wins in a season, while handing the Porters (11-5-3) their first home setback this year.

“We couldn’t finish our chances,” Porters coach Chris Beal said. “We decided to defend low pressure and tried to hit them on the counterattack. They put us under some pressure in the first half and we weathered the storm a little bit and we kind of evened off in the second half. The game got a little more stretched as both teams got tired.

“But they had that one chance where their forward finished. We had chances but just couldn’t put the ball in the net. But that’s how games are won and lost, especially in the playoffs and it’s frustrating. Either team could have won it. Our goalkeeper (Dominik Wistocki) had three or four fantastic saves and kept us in it. The guys scrapped hard but we just didn’t have that little bit of quality at the end.”

The Porters had some good opportunities to get the equalizer but Wolves keeper Nathan Huerter made some big stops and his defense also disrupted scoring tries.

Shortly after the Wolves moved in front, Lockport’s Drake Silver had a free kick that was deflected away.

A bit later, Nick Kowalczyk fired a hard shot and Jose Mendoza tried to put in the rebound but he too was denied.

In the 62nd minute, Kowalczyk drove toward the net but his effort was thwarted by Huerter. That was one of the last good Porter chances until the very late going.

As time wound down in regulation, East had several good chances but Wistocki halted a free kick from Kyle Orive and deflected a try by Magana over the net following a corner kick.

In addition, the Porter keeper pulled in a liner from Frazer, disrupted Michael Waclaw’s drive to the net and stopped a grounder from Ryan Aten prior to a hectic 80th minute.

Tom Calderaro began the late drama for the Porters when he created a corner kick, which was taken by Silver. The effort went into the box and Ainis Lapinskas got a head on the ball. The Wolves could have been called for a hand ball in the box and a penalty awarded to the hosts, but the referee made no call and time expired.

“It’s the playoffs, so you know that both teams were going to go hard no matter what,” Calderaro said. “Every team knows that one mistake can cost you everything and the seniors always play hard since they know it could be their last time on the field. It usually comes down to one or two chances and our goalkeeper Dom came up huge on a few chances and made some great saves. We just weren’t able to capitalize on a couple of chances we had.

“This team always bonded. We would go do things off of the field. We went to a tournament up in Wisconsin and were so close for those two or three days. We always just had that camaraderie and that helped us on the field to be able to know what each other would do and to trust each other. And that really helped us to have the success that we had this year.”

In the opening half, The Porters received good chances from Mendoza, Tom Calderaro and Nick Calderaro while the Wolves countered with opportunities from Magana, Frazer and Dawson Johnson as both sides settled for a scoreless draw at the break.

East threatened early in the final half but Wistocki stopped tries from Waclaw and Angel Mejia but there was little that he could do to deny the Frazer to Magana combination.