Celtics, Hilltoppers battle to 1-1 tie

Providence's Brandon Ro (left) and Joliet Catholic's Antonio Alvarez battle for a header during the second half.
(Michael R. Schmidt/Herald News)

Font Size

Email

Bookmark

Black Text

White Text

JOLIET -- One team won the first half and the other squad won the second half.

But when Tuesday's nonconference boys soccer game between Providence Catholic and host Joliet Catholic Academy concluded, neither team walked away with a win.

The Hilltoppers controlled the play in the first half and took a 1-0 halftime lead but the Celtics had the upper hand after the break and got the equalizer to produce a 1-1 draw.

"Any time you can come back from a goal down and you can at least get a tie out of it, it's definitely a step in the right direction," Celtics coach Dan Potempa said. "We were down 1-0 and the boys wanted to take it from them so they knew that they had to work hard, and they did that.

"We've been telling the boys that we have to come out and play more inspired and we definitely came out in the second half and were inspired. They came back and got their goal and kept getting opportunities. The boys worked hard and had opportunities so now the next step is to finish them."

Things were looking up for JCA (4-2-3) in the opening half after it took all of the shots on goal between the two squads, converting the first of them for the contest's first score.

But it was a different story in the final 40 minutes as Providence (3-6-1) had all but one of the attempts on goal, and after scoring quickly in that half, the visitors kept the pressure on in its effort to collect the go-ahead score.

"They picked up the pressure on us in the second half and we didn't respond," JCA coach Chuck Bernard said. "We didn't play the way that we're supposed to play and we didn't stay calm. Because we were making mistakes, we gave them opportunities.

"Maybe I shouldn't have told the kids at halftime that it was their best half of soccer they'd played all year. A lot of it had to do with them playing the way that they were supposed to. But we're a young team with mostly juniors so there's just things that they'll have to learn."

With the Celtics playing a man down due to an equipment problem, the Hilltoppers grabbed the early advantage when they scored their lone goal about 13 minutes into the match.

Patrick Gudac sent a pass toward the top of the box from the left side and Zak Roderick took the ball and fired in a shot that found the right side of the net to give the hosts a 1-0 lead.

About midway through the first half, JCA missed building up a two-goal advantage after Benedikt Dannbeck sent a liner from the right side that Celtic keeper Alec Pickett had to make a diving leap on to knock away.

It was a completely different story in the second half, however, as Providence quickly recorded its first corner kick opportunity of the night and finally found the net a short time later.

About 7:00 into the second half, the Celtics tied things up on their first shot on goal as Brian Cichon sent a corner in front and Ian Land was able to knock in the loose ball from close range.

Cichon nearly put the Celtics ahead midway through the second half after he fired off a shot from the left side but JCA keeper Mike Williams managed to deflect it away.

There was a flurry of activity for a few minutes with about 10:00 remaining as both squads came up empty on good scoring chances.

Providence's Ryan Senese got off a shot from the right side that hit the post and shortly after that, Gudac got past defenders but Pickett came well out of the net to stuff the play.

Land had two more chances to put Providence up with about 5:00 left but his liner from the left side was deflected by Williams and his header on a corner went right to the JCA keeper.

The Celtics have shaken things up in their lineup recently and their coach was pleased to have received nice efforts defensively from Kyle Starr, Jeff Hayes and Kevin DeFilippis.

"We talked to the boys at halftime about collapsing on the ball and trapping them and not letting JCA dribble or pass around them by cutting off the angles," Potempa said. "As soon as they gave the ball away, our boys wanted to get it back. You have to give them credit since they went right after it.

"We're trying to emphasize that we can play well since we have the talent. It's just stretching it from playing well for 30 seconds or two minutes to stretching it out to 20 minutes, a half and a whole game. We've definitely taken some strides during the last few games in moving in the right direction."

The JCA coach was pleased with how forward Gudac pushed the game forward in the first half, how back Mitch Cunnea kept things under control and also with how Williams performed in goal.

"It's an 80 minute game, so what our kids can't change the way they're playing when they start seeing the pressure," Bernard said. "I don't know if panic is the right word, but we certainly didn't have the composure that we needed. We knew that Providence would be intense, but we didn't match that.

"Even though I think we're two very evenly-matched teams, when you play the first half like we did, you think that if you can play the second half like that, then you can get a couple of goals and get a victory. But to Providence's credit, they came out and took the game to us during the second half."