Stephen Golz rises to the occasion, lifts Huskies

Updated: October 22, 2011 12:57AM

After almost 120 minutes of soccer on Friday night, the Big Man scored his team’s biggest goal of the season thus far.

With two minutes remaining in a fourth overtime, 6-foot-5 Oak Park-River Forest senior Stephen Golz elevated near the far post with Downers South’s 6-4 David Drews going up with him.

Golz barely got his head on teammate Mike Bower’s corner kick, sending a shot floating towards the far post. The ball nipped the underside of the crossbar and nestled into the inside netting at the far post to give No. 5 Oak Park a 2-1 win over the host Mustangs in Friday’s Class 3A regional final.

“Just a 50-50 challenge with (Drews), who’s very good at winning headers,” Golz said. “I was able to get literally an inch on him and that’s all it took. Just a perfect ball put back post by Mike Bower and a fun way to end the game.”

Golz’s goal ended a high-energy, high-emotion game that illustrated what postseason high school soccer is all about.

“Games like this are why we coach,” Huskies coach Paul Wright said. “I thought we had the upper hand, they had it in the second half, and then we got our guys to calm down and play our game. We were waiting for [Golz] to carry us again and we just can’t do that.”

Golz’s goal was his 28th of the season for the Huskies (19-3-2).

Oak Park’s Marcus Machado scored the game’s first goal on a Ryan Huettel feed, but the Mustangs’ Jordan Pawlicki tied the game with a goal before halftime.

As the top seed of the Hinsdale Central sectional, Oak Park applied steady attacking pressure in the first half. But the seventh-seeded Mustangs (7-13-3) returned the favor in the second half.

“The early goal on our side picked up our tempo but after they scored they got excited and picked it up,” Golz said. “In overtime, I just think we got some momentum going, pushed forward, and started playing our game.”

The Mustangs gave the Huskies all they could handle after halftime, leaving South coach Jon Stapleton shaking his head.

“Proud is the first word that comes to mind,” Mustangs coach Jon Stapleton said. “We faced so much adversity this year with injuries. It was a great match and it’s a shame somebody had to lose. We talked about being the best team we could be and I think we did that tonight.”

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