Position change works wonders for West

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PLAINFIELD -- When one loss can end a season, sometimes coaches can be forced into drastic measures.

When Batavia's boys soccer team dramatically tied fifth-seeded West Aurora in Tuesday's Class 3A Plainfield North Regional semifinal, Blackhawks coach Joe Sustersic had one of those moments.

He put Mario Alvarez into a position he had never played at West -- outside midfield -- with the hopes that some extra firepower would lead to the winning goal. The move played out perfectly.

With 13:43 left, Victor Alfaro fed Alvarez, who put the goal in to give West a 2-1 lead they would not relinquish. The Blackhawks will face Naperville Central, whom they lost to 2-0 in the regular season, Saturday at 2 p.m. for the regional title. Central beat Oswego East 4-3 in double overtime to advance.

"Mario Alvarez hasn't played outside mid until about 15 minutes ago and we thought we'd try to expose him on the outside," Sustersic said. "It looks like I'm a genius, but it was all Mario, not me. I just wanted to keep my best 11 offensive players out there and put Mario out there and see what happens. It worked. Don't ask me how, but it worked."

In a first half with few offensive chances, West (18-3-2) was able to get the scoring started when Alfaro scored at the 16:03 mark. Then in the second half, 12th-seeded Batavia (9-8-4) was able to convert a breakaway into a Mitch Albrecht goal that suddenly tied the score.

"Granted, they scored and they deserved it," Sustersic said. "They caught us in a counter and at the same time our defense took a siesta and it cost us a breakaway, but that happens. It shows the character of my team that they were able to take that and still keep playing."

Now the Blackhawks have a chance to avenge one of the three losses this season against Naperville Central.

"It's our game this time," Alvarez said. "The last time, they scored early. They're going to find out how we play when we're at our best.

• For the first 75 minutes, 13th-seeded Oswego East (12-8-2) was poised to pull of a shocking upset over No. 4 seed Naperville Central (14-3-2). But the Redhawks pulled off a stirring comeback to post the 4-3 win and move on to the regional title game against West Aurora.

"It sounds kind of stupid, but I had a feeling that something good was going to happen today," Oswego East coach Steve Szymanski said. "Something did, but we were a little bit short. We were successful. I can't say that we weren't. A couple bounces here and there were the difference in the game."

The Wolves were up, 3-1 on the strength of two goals from Jake Paradise and a goal from Jorge Ontiveros. But with 5:26 left in regulation, Central got back into the game with an Art Garza goal. Then with 43 seconds left, Andy Miltonberger took advantage of a scramble in front of the net to tie the game and send it to overtime.

With 4:34 left in the second overtime, the Redhawks completed the comeback when Chris Bedell connected from 25 yards out to end Oswego East's season.

Boys Soccer: Class 3a plainfield North regional