Boys soccer: Adrian Ontiveros’ stunning late goal lifts Lincoln-Way West past Joliet West

JOLIET – Adrian Ontiveros’ first high school goal was certainly a memorable one.

The Lincoln-Way West sophomore defender produced the soccer equivalent of a Hail Mary touchdown pass in Thursday’s night game at Joliet West.

Ontiveros scored on a 45-yard shot with 4.5 seconds left to lift the visiting Warriors to a 1-0 win over the Tigers in a nonconference thriller.

“I don’t get many chances to score at center back, especially this year because I’m passing the balls in,” Ontiveros said. “I’ve never scored a goal like that in my life, though. Every time I’ve scored a goal in the past, it’s either with my head or on a free kick.”

The wild finish came at the end of a final-minute flurry of offensive pressure from the Warriors (4-2).

It was pretty crazy. My adrenaline just started pumping like crazy.”

—  Adrian Ontiveros, Lincoln-Way West

Joliet West (3-4) seemed to have cleared the ball out far enough to run out the clock, but Ontiveros collected it and quickly sent a high, looping shot from 45 yards on goal. It sailed over the head of Tigers goalkeeper Gavin Ringhofer and dipped into the top of the net.

“I wasn’t even thinking about taking a shot,” Ontiveros said. “I saw there were 20 seconds left, and I just wanted to waste time, but then the ball came out to me and I hit it, and when I saw the goalie moving back and forth I was like, ‘Oh man, that’s going in.’

“It was pretty crazy. My adrenaline just started pumping like crazy. I just wanted to celebrate so hard. It was one of the happiest moments ever probably.”

It was the capper on a big night for Ontiveros, who also excelled at his main job – keeping the other team off the scoreboard. He teamed up with John Hernandez, Cohen Cox and Noah Nawracaj on the back line to keep the shutout intact.

Junior Brenden Vlasak made six saves for the Warriors.

“Adrian played absolutely phenomenally,” Lincoln-Way West coach Matt Laude said. “He had himself quite a night.

“Joliet West is such a tough team. Neil gets them so well-organized and does a great job. They’re absolutely offensively dynamic and, holy cow, they have a lot of threats. With us having a young squad, we’re learning a lot. I knew we could compete but I thought my boys did very well defensively and the goal at the end is just the icing on the cake.”

Ringhofer made three saves for the Tigers, who controlled the run of play and generated several scoring chances, especially in the second half, but came up empty.

“It’s been kind of our unfortunate Achilles’ heel so far this year,” Joliet West coach Neil Lucchetti said. “We get our stats back and we see we’re controlling a lot of games with 60 to 70 percent possession and we’re just lacking that final execution and ability to put one away.

“Credit to Lincoln-Way West. They hung with it and kept pushing and pushing and they get one late there at the end.”

Vlasak made all six of his saves in the second half as Joliet West peppered him with shots, but he stood up to the challenge.

“I just talk to the back line a lot and hope they don’t shoot,” Vlasak said. “Be ready to save it when they do.”

Laude has been happy with the progress made by Vlasak, who is still a relative newcomer to the goalkeeper position.

“This is Brenden’s second year playing goalie ever,” Vlasak said. “Growing up as a field player and all of a sudden getting field minutes, there’s going to be a different view. Brenden is pretty much learning on the fly and he’s doing a nice job.”

Speaking of views, Vlasak had a fun one of Ontiveros’ winning goal.

“It was crazy,” Vlasak said. “It looked like it was going way over the goal from where I was, but I guess it dipped very well. It was a very good shot.”