Second half blitz lifts Jacobs past Chargers

Jacobs striker Jonathan Kowalski (second from left) celebrates after his second goal against Dundee-Crown on Thursday.
(Shauna Bittle/Staff Photographer)

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ALGONQUIN -- Fans attending Thursday's Fox Valley Conference Valley Division soccer match between rivals Dundee-Crown and Jacobs probably could have saved themselves 40 minutes of their lives by not showing up for the first half. Both teams combined to muster only one shot on goal apiece. And quite frankly, neither of those opportunities was any kind of a serious scoring threat.

But that all changed when the whistle blew signaling the start of the second half. Dundee-Crown broke a scoreless tie with a goal in the first minute, before inexplicably surrendering three unanswered goals to the host Golden Eagles in a 3-1 defeat. In the second 40 minutes, the two teams together recorded nine shots on goal, including several additional near-misses.

"We just fell apart," said Dundee-Crown coach Rey Vargas, whose team entered with plenty of momentum after knocking off previously undefeated Cary-Grove in a conference match on Tuesday. "I can't figure these guys out. We played well the other night and I thought we had a good first half tonight. Then we came out on fire to start the second half, but then we just disappeared."

Jacobs sophomore Jonathan Kowalski scored twice for the Golden Eagles (5-4-3, 2-2), including the tying goal in the 51st minute after dribbling around a defender and then beating D-C goalie Josh Cook with some more fancy footwork with the ball to score an open-netter.

"That goal really surprised me," Kowalski said. "After (Dundee-Crown) scored all I was thinking was that we had to score as fast as we could and we were able to do that."

Two minutes later, the Golden Eagles suddenly found themselves holding a 2-1 lead after captain Luis Cabral buried a shot on a breakaway.

"Things just kind of opened up immediately for us," Jacobs coach Jim Dzialo said. "Our boys were able to work through mentally after that quick goal they scored. They could have put their heads down, but they responded. We started to play our game, we worked the ball around and made some plays."

Kowalski then put the finishing touches on his memorable night -- and the Chargers -- in the 59th minute after heading the ball past Cook following a crossing pass from the left side by Cabral.

"We got a good talk from coach at halftime and got pumped up," Cabral said. "We came out and got the win and we deserved it. I don't think their goal upset us. We got our heads up right away. We knew we could still win if we started playing our game."

For Dundee-Crown (5-7, 3-2), Vargas was only left searching for answers following the defeat.

"This is very disappointing. Terribly disappointing," Vargas said. "I thought we had a chance to win this, but Jacobs came out and had the better of us today. They are a pretty good team."

Dundee-Crown's goal was credited to senior Roger Bravo, who was assisted by Ricardo Carillo. For the match, the Golden Eagles held a 9-2 advantage in shots on goal.