Boys soccer: York rallies from two goals down to beat Glenbard West in OT

WEST CHICAGO – York wasn’t fazed by a two-goal deficit Wednesday. Playing from behind isn’t exactly new for the Dukes.

The important piece to remember, for them, is to keep the body language positive.

The goals will come.

And they certainly did in York’s eventual 4-2 overtime win over Glenbard West in the Class 3A West Chicago Sectional semifinal on Wednesday.

The Hilltoppers (13-10-1) put the Dukes, who were fourth in Class 3A last season, on upset watch early.

Rewarding their hustle and grind, on a corner with 22:19 left in the first half, senior Eduardo Vargas smashed it on the send-in to Grayson Kalinich, who popped it in mid-dair for the 1-0 advantage. Kalinich later found a streaking Jack Barrientes, who poked it bottom lefthand corner with 6:14 remaining in the half for the 2-0 Glenbard West lead.

“We played a hell of a game,” Glenbard West coach Phil Wicyk said. “Simple mistakes here or there, but they were mentally tough. That’s all we ask: Go out there, play for 80 or 100 minutes. Credit to York. I think they’ve been down almost every game and credit to [coach] Jordan [Stopka] for finding a way to keep their head up and keep battling back. We can’t let a team have two goals in the last six minutes and get some type of momentum going in the second half.”

York (16-4) didn’t need long to kick into gear.

The Dukes’ rally started after Alan Rivas slyly dumped a backward pass with his right foot away from the goal to Damian Glodz for the skillful goal with 3:52 left in the first half. Then, with under a minute, a York corner kick was set-up following a rush by Jayden Waski. It quickly translated into a header goal by Mateusz Janowski to equalize at 2-2.

“The funny thing is, we’ve done this so many times. We were down 2-0 in the last playoff game. The key, I always tell them: Body language is key,” Stopka said. “They know that when other teams see that head slump and those shoulders goes down that they’ve got you. If you don’t show that, anything is possible. I’m glad we came back in the first half instead of waiting until the final [part].”

“I think it’s important to keep working and keep our trust in our teammates,” Glodz said. “The more we keep going, once we get in rhythm, we’re moving the ball very well and the chances come. We’ve just got to trust each other.”

Both teams had a number of quality chances to break the stalemate in the second half, but overtime was needed.

York broke the tie on Glodz’s second goal on a free kick send-in by Janowski. Then, in the second overtime period, junior forward Aaron Jobi danced through the last defending third and poked it through to clinch a date in the sectional final vs. St. Charles East/West Chicago.

“...We talked about we always look to our leaders, our captains, who have been doing a great job,” Stopka said. “We’ve been talking recently about: ‘Hey, [even if] you’re not a leader, you’re not a captain [but] why can’t you be the guy? Why can’t you score a goal’? Last game before this, Jobi scored a huge goal with two minutes left; Rivas, both players with under five goals, scored the two biggest goals of the season to send us a win in PKs...it’s just kids recognizing that it’s their time to step up.”