Romeoville explodes in the second half to complete comeback over Plainfield North on Diego Garcia’s brace

ROMEOVILLE – It’s been a while since the Romeoville boys soccer team lost at home.

Coach Nick Cirrincione reminded his team of that at halftime Tuesday, and the Spartans came back for a 3-2 win against Plainfield North.

“We’ve had a good run at home,” Cirrincione said. “I don’t think we’ve lost at home in three years. I told them that weird stuff happens here all the time.”

What happened in the second half may not have necessarily been weird, but it was far different from what happened in the first half.

After trailing 1-0 in the first half and failing to get on the board despite a litany of chances, Romeoville scored three straight goals in the second with Diego Garcia putting up two. Rodrigo Gonzalez added a third goal, and although the Tigers scored another, it wasn’t enough to salvage a tie. Romeoville now sits at 12-4-2 overall and 4-0-2 in the Southwest Prairie Conference.

It was an impressive second-half effort after the Spartans surely felt frustration at the midway point. While they held a clear advantage in time of possession, it was Plainfield North that had the only goal of the opening 40 minutes as Joel Martinez put one in the back of the net in the 24th minute. Cirrincione kept the vibes good during the 10-minute intermission.

“I told them to just be positive with each other,” Cirrincione said. “We’re trying to find our groove. We’ve had some good, successful teams the past couple of years, and this team doesn’t have one superstar, but we’ve got 11 solid players. If it’s not a team effort, we’re going to be in trouble.”

It was a team effort, but it helps when Garcia had the kind of day he did. The junior broke free to sneak one past keeper Benjamin Feldman 10 minutes into the second half to draw Romeoville even before running to celebrate with his teammates.

Garcia wasn’t done. Twelve minutes later he scored his second goal and gave the Spartans the advantage with 18 minutes remaining.

“In the first half I thought we started out very slow,” Garcia said. “Our coaches told us [at halftime] to just get back into the game. They told us to throw all of the pressure out there in the second half. It was a conference game, so it’s really important. They told us to just give it our all and pushed us to do better in the second half.”

Better they did, all right. Two minutes after Garcia’s second goal, Gonzalez punched one in. The left back isn’t usually scoring goals for the Spartans. It wound up being the goal that ensured the game was a win instead of a draw, however.

“It feels great,” Gonzalez said. “I hadn’t scored [many] goals this season, but it’s nice to know that during a big game I can put them in.”

It wound up being a critical goal as Samuel Zito nailed one into the right corner of the Spartans’ net in the 68th minute to make it a one-goal game once again. The Tigers couldn’t score again, however, and instead fell to 7-5-5 overall and 1-2-2 in the SPC.

It’s a busy week for the Spartans as Wednesday marks senior night against Horizon Science Academy Southwest before they play Joliet Central on Thursday. Gonzalez said Romeoville will continue to focus on protecting their home pitch the rest of the week.

“RHS is our house,” Gonzalez said. “We’ve got to win every game here because we don’t lose at home. Senior night we don’t want to disappoint the fans, so we’re definitely going to win.”