Wheaton Warrenville South Falls 1-0 On Penalty Kick

Wheaton Warrenville South lost 1-0 to Glenbard North on a penalty kick in the final minute of Tuesday's senior night match at Red Grange Field.

The Tigers (6-9-2, 0-4 DuPage Valley Conference) were defending their goal when sophomore goalkeeper Tim Reinders said there was a mistake in the middle.

Junior defender Will Huesing tried to clear the ball in the box, but was given a yellow card on holding Glenbard North senior forward Eric Dailly.

Dailly then had a penalty kick where Reinders had to defend the net himself. Dailly then rocketed the ball left, just out of Reinders' reach, for the Panthers' (6-4-5, 2-2-1 DVC) 1-0 lead. 

"The G-rated version was, 'Oh crap! I'm going to be screwed,' because it is a difficult shot," Reinders said of the penalty kick. "I've done penalty kicks before. They are a challenge with shooters scoring 90 percent of the time."

Before the penalty kick, the match was scoreless with a combination of good defense and missed opportunities for the Tigers.

Wheaton South junior midfielder Dan Burns had numerous good looks at goal, but the Panthers' defense prevented a score.

In the 49th minute, Burns broke into the open field and almost beat sophomore goalkeeper Eric Tenut, but Burns collided with Tenut and Glenbard North senior midfielder Kevin Greiner when Greiner pushed Burns into Tenut.

Panthers' senior defender Kevin Homa, a former Chicago Fire Junior teammate, foiled Burns twice. Homa was physical and deflected Burns' shots in the 58th and 78th minutes.

"We need to take advantage of our chances," Burns said. "We had plenty of chances tonight to put the ball away and we didn't. They had only three shots on goal and we end up losing the game, which is disappointing." 

The Tigers also could not connect on four headers on goal and players missed two crosses passes on goal and had a couple shots hit the goal posts.

Wheaton South coach Guy Callipari was disappointed with the loss, telling his players they need to improve finishing on their goal attempts.

"They understand that they are now 0-4 (in DVC), so there isn't much more that needs to be said," Callipari said. "They played well in most aspects of the game, but they need to manage the little things that manage to haunt them in the end."

Besides a tough match, some players were performing with injuries sustained during the Sept. 28 West Chicago match.

"It was just a tough DuPage Valley Conference game, like they all are," assistant coach Kevin Donahue said. "Unfortunately, we didn't have enough to overcome it that game."

Senior forward George Doran sustained the worst injury. He was challenging Wildcat senior defender Christopher Quintana on a header and collided headfirst with Quintana.

Donahue said Doran was diagnosed with a concussion, including having a perforated eardrum that required nine stitches. The second leading goal scorer, Doran will miss three weeks. 

Senior midfielder Nate Fuster had a bruise on his shooting foot and sat out Saturday's Lake Park match.  For Tuesday, Fuster said he taped his ankle but it still hurt. The free kicks off his foot did not get off the ground, he added.

"It was a little rough today." Fuster said.

Huesing and junior forward Alec Brazeau were also injured Tuesday. Huesing sprained his knee when a West Chicago player slide tackled him, while Brazeau suffered a quad contusion.

The Tigers will look for their first conference win facing Naperville Central (9-4-1, 3-0-1 DVC) 6:30 p.m. Thursday on the road.