Neuqua Valley and South Elgin play to draw

Updated: October 3, 2011 9:48PM

SOUTH ELGIN -- While the reasons were different, Monday’s 3-3 draw was an acceptable result for both Neuqua Valley and South Elgin.

Since the Wildcats had the very last goal, their viewpoint was that they avoided a loss and salvaged a road tie against an Upstate Eight Conference Valley Division foe which was fresh from capturing a tournament trophy.

Since the Storm remembered last year’s eight-goal margin of defeat, this season’s deadlock was a certain sign of how far they’ve come, especially against a program listed second among the “others” for the latest Sun-Times Top 10 ratings. Included within the current six-match unbeaten string (4-0-2) is a pair of Saturday victories that netted the championship trophy from the Hampshire tournament. While the Storm completed UEC Valley play with a 1-1-4 ledger, they take an 8-4-5 mark into their final three regular-season matches.

“Considering last year we lost 9-1, this outcome was huge for us,” goalie Jarod Schieler insisted. “More important than the tie, this shows us we can compete with really high caliber programs, and that’s the kind of momentum we want going into the playoffs.

“We’ve got a lot of seniors and a lot of talented players who don’t want to leave this school without getting further in the post-season. We’ll fine-tune some things over our next matches, so we’re happy with this tie.”

The Storm could also be happy they withstood an early barrage from Neuqua Valley since the opening 15 minutes featured several Wildcat near goals, but only one strike that impacted the scoreboard. Just 4:39 into the contest, Alex Vanags’ through ball enabled Kevin Skrip to attack from the right wing for a booming attempt that caromed off the crossbar so that Ryan Ross could follow with a header. Scheiler managed to get a hand on the ball to keep it out, but Ross beat him to the rebound for a four-yard follow-up.

The tide turned in favor of South Elgin as Mike Kozielek set up Phil Saccameno for consecutive goals. Saccameno came off the bench and was wide open in the middle to park a seven-yarder with 18:33 left in the opening half thanks to a stellar cross by Kozielek. Less than seven minutes later, Kozielek’s through ball set the junior forward on a breakaway on which he slotted a 12-yarder under Wildcat keeper Hunter Hollingshead’s left hand.

The hosts got caught off guard just 23 seconds prior to halftime when Drake Leary fed Skrip for a six-yard equalizer from the left.

Ten minutes into the second half, South Elgin reclaimed the lead with Tyler Piszczek assisting on a Kozielek goal. The Storm was playing minus scoring leader Danny Fry, who had his tonsils removed in the morning.

“I’ve coached with Tony (Kees) and there’s no one better when it comes to team soccer and knowing that we matched Neuqua means we can feel good about this tie,” South Elgin coach John Uveges said. “We’ll sharpen some things during the three games we’ve got left, but we believe we’re building, building, and building up some more for a regional run.”

The Wildcats had a few more runs of their own and with exactly 16 minutes remaining, pulled even on another Skrip goal thanks to an assist from Brian Benjamin.

“The way the game evolved, a tie is not so bad,” Kees said. “We had several opportunities early and when we let them off the mat so to speak, you have to credit South Elgin for playing a good match. At the same time, I credit our guys for coming back with equalizers twice. We had a great effort all over the field and a sharp set-up from Drake.”

“When I checked over my shoulder I saw Andrew (Kovacevic) on the win and Kevin (Skrip) breaking as well and decided to get it to Kevin and he got a great touch on it,” Leary explained. “Having the ability to come back is part of our getting everything in sync.”

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