Wildcats create own lightning

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In past Best of the West Soccer Tournament runs, Neuqua Valley has made a habit of finishing off its few quality chances on offense.

The Wildcats have been so good at it, they've mystified early-season opponents.

Against host Naperville North on Wednesday, they couldn't make that happen in the first half but nearly scored at will in the second to win 4-2.

The Huskies led 2-0 at halftime, switched goalies and then surrendered three goals in 12 minutes to the defending tournament champions. The Wildcats scored two goals in the 43rd minute within seconds of one another.

"We scored that second goal and it was like you could see, all of a sudden, it was like they were all 10 percent faster, they played 10 percent harder," North coach Jim Konrad said of the Wildcats.

North (1-2) entered Wednesday's action leading 1-0 on senior Emerson Beck's goal from Tuesday. The teams played the first nine minutes of the game a day earlier before lightning postponed the contest at the 31:01 mark.

When Ediz Yorulmazoglu made Neuqua pay for a poor defensive clear, giving the Huskies a 2-0 lead, it looked as though the Wildcats would finally be uprooted.

What saved Neuqua (3-0), in coach Jim Johns' eyes, was the play by goalkeeper Jack Turanchik in the final minute of the first half.

On the tail end of a through ball from Andrew Menendez, teammate Chris Boswell broke for the box, only to be met by Turanchik. The goalie converted into a sliding wall and deflected the ball to safety, keeping the Wildcats within two goals at halftime.

"They countered against us, had a two-on-one and our goaltender Jack came up big on that," Johns said. "To make it 3-0, that's pretty hard to come back on. So that was a big, big save and I think that picked us up a little bit."

Three minutes into the second half, Neuqua scored two goals within about 10 seconds of each other. Scott Davis headed in the first off a Pat Doody corner kick, and Dan O'Leary converted a pass from Bryan Ciesiulka into a blast from about 18 yards.

Both goals came against North junior Mike Wiest, who replaced senior Devon Moon.

"(Wiest) played great for us in the preseason and played great for us on Saturday against Valparaiso," Konrad said. "He's very strong in the air, and those four goals, realistically, who's saving those?"

The third Neuqua goal, credited to senior Mike Kowal, deflected in off a North defender, and the fourth goal - Ciesiulka's second of the match - earned praise from Konrad as well.

Lost in Neuqua's comeback may be the play of its defense. The Wildcats got behind two goals for the second time in three games this year but also tightened up to give themselves a chance to win both, which they did.

"The team's got a lot of heart," Ciesiulka said. "We just like to pull through - never give up."