Oswego East avenges past losses to Oswego with 2-1 win in Class 3A regional semifinal

AURORA – Last year, Oswego East got eliminated by Oswego.

Earlier this month, the Wolves lost to the Panthers on the road.

On Tuesday in a Class 3A East Aurora Regional semifinal, Oswego East avenged those two defeats. After surrendering the game-tying goal with 18:13 remaining, the Wolves answered just a few minutes later to beat their rival 2-1.

Oswego East (13-6-4) advances to Friday’s 5 p.m. regional final against the state’s top-ranked team, Naperville North. The Huskies blanked East Aurora 3-0 in the night’s first semifinal.

The Wolves lost to the Huskies 5-2 on Oct. 12.

Oswego (11-6-6) entered the game unbeaten in its previous 11 games (9-0-2) but saw its season come to an end.

“The guys were hungry,” Wolves coach Steve Szymanski said. “When we play hard and play together we are a pretty tough team to beat. The problem is we’ve taken some games off and not played to our capability all the time. We have 11 seniors and seven have been with me for three years, so it’s a veteran team. I know it’s our 13th win, but I expected higher and I think our guys did, too. Hopefully we’re reaching a peak at a good point.”

The Wolves had the slight wind at their backs in the first half and seized control from the start, dominating possession for most of the first 40 minutes.

Such control ultimately paid off in the 16th minute when midfielder Austin Ward toe-poked the ball to Julian Nino, who blasted in a shot from about 25 yards out for a 1-0 lead.

Oswego didn’t have many chances in the first half and narrowly tied the game a minute before half, but Alan Mindock’s backwards header narrowly missed.

The Panthers wouldn’t miss a prized opportunity with 18:13 left to play, tying the game after Noe Parra crossed a ball into a crowded box where Lucas Ensign was able to finish to tie the game at 1.

The game wouldn’t remain tied for long, though, as the Wolves turned to one of their veteran seniors to set up what proved to be the game winner from junior Vakaris Majus.

Senior Dylan Drendel blasted a long pass across the front of the penalty area to the other side where Majus redirected it into the net. A second later and Majus was performing a handstand in celebration of his fourth goal of the year in his first season with the Wolves.

“First half we were pressing and we controlled the whole half and looked like we were going win it,” Majus said. “Once they scored we kept our heads up because usually when we get scored on we stop, we give up, but this time we kept our heads up and kept fighting and got the goal.”

Drendel and fellow senior MJ Hoffman were able to get some reps in on Roy E. Davis Field earlier in the day. Such practice helped him execute such a precise pass to Majus.

“The second I took that touch down the line I looked at the defenders first and I knew I had some space to run,” Drendel said. “As I was running I looked up and saw some runners coming in. I looked up and saw [Majus] running back post and hit it as hard as I could, hopefully somebody got a body on it.”

Oswego East senior goalkeeper Jack Urbanowski got his nose bloodied on the game-tying goal. It took a few minutes for him to get cleaned up. That little break may have been a blessing in disguise for the Wolves.

In the 77th minute, Urbanowski had to dive to deny a combo from Noe Parra to Alan Mindock.

Ensign would have the Panthers last try, heading in a ball from Parra but it sailed too high in the final 30 seconds.

“They were pressing us,” Szymanski said. “Jack made three huge saves.”