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East Aurora rallies to beat South Elgin
Updated: September 22, 2011 9:46PM
East Aurora weathered the first-half onslaught from South Elgin and rallied for a 2-1 home victory Thursday.
While South Elgin had the upper hand and a 1-0 lead after the opening 40 minutes, the Tomcats grabbed momentum right after the second-half whistle and overcame that deficit in order to remain atop the Upstate Eight Conference’s Valley Division at 3-0-0 in league play and 9-3-1 overall. The loss was South Elgin’s first in the UEC Valley, and its records dipped to 1-1-2 in loop play and 5-4-2 for the season.
“Coach was pretty mad at us being down 1-0 at halftime and after he told us everything we were doing wrong, we had to start to change things,” East’s Abraham Kanneh said. “In the first half we ran too straight up the middle, he told us to start checking to each, take it outside and cross it in and be more aggressive.”
That formula paid off just under 15 minutes into the second half when Danny Miranda fed Angel Diaz for a nine-yard strike from the right side.
“I tried to give Danny a good through ball and then decided to make a run and he gave me a good pass, so I decided just to shoot hard on frame,” said Diaz, who tallied his third goal of the year despite being primarily a defender. “We pride ourselves on being a team that never gives up.”
With the momentum clearly on their side, the Tomcats continued pressing the attack and a scramble led to a loose ball in front of the South Elgin net, and that’s where Kanneh went airborne, executing a half bicycle volley to put East ahead. It boosted the junior’s team lead in goals to eight.
“Not only did we come out real flat, but we have a target on our backs now and South Elgin was the aggressor from the start,” East coach Jason Rollins said. “They were all over the place and we were lucky to be behind 1-0. They missed some opportunities, so I basically told our guys they had to take the breath out of them. I’m proud of the way we responded.”
East Aurora had a numerical edge in chances even in the first half, but that was a case of quantity, not quality. South Elgin’s Tyler Piszczek had a 15-yarder from the left side that required a big-time save just four minutes into the contest. Ten minutes in, Piszczek didn’t miss on a 14-yarder set up by teammate Danny Fry.
“I saw Tyler in position and just crossed it to him, but we missed too many other chances to get ahead by more,” Fry said. “We have got to play better in the final third of the field. Unfortunately in the second half, we stopped pressing the attack.”
South Elgin coach John Uveges was hoping his squad could add to a four-match (2-0-2) unbeaten streak, but that disappeared in the second half.
“Momentum shifted their way and we could not get it back in any way,” Uveges said. “They’re clearly the best team we’ve played to date, but we lost our composure and abandoned our possession game. If anything good can come from this is the reality that we can play with a team this good, but we have stay focused.”
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