By Randy Whalen

As the Joliet West boys' soccer team continues its climb back to the .500 mark, one thing has become apparent this season.

The Tigers have had a flair for the dramatic.

After a busy stretch of seven games in 10 days, Joliet West was 5-7-2 overall and 1-3-2 in the Southwest Prairie Conference. With the rest of this week off, the Tigers plan to regroup to have more moments like that as the regular season enters its homestretch.

The latest game was a 3-3 tie in an SPC game on Tuesday, September 24 at Yorkville. The Tigers knotted the game with three straight goals to earn the tie.

"We came back from 3-0 to tie.," Joliet West coach Alan Stewart said. "We scored on a free kick with two seconds left in the first half to make it 3-1. (Sophomore forward) Brian Preciado assisted (junior midfielder) Jack Salerno. Then we scored the tie with 30 seconds left in the game on a corner kick from (junior midfielder) Alex Mendoza to (senior midfielder) Jake Polacek. It was a great game."

Junior midfielder Ivan Moreno had the second tally for the Tigers.

The day before, Monday, September 23, Joliet West hosted Plainfield Soth in another SPC game and got its most impressive win of the season with a 4-0 victory. Moreno scored twice while Polacek pounded a goal and junior midfielder Xavier Garcia scored too. Mendoza and Polacek had assists. 

Those two games were welcome after the tough seven-game stretch, that saw the Tigers go 0-6-1. But the tie in that stretch was another nail-biter. That was 2-2 against Romeoville on Wednesday, September 18. That came by on a goal by Salerno off a right-side corner kick from Mendoza with just six seconds to play.

"The ball just floated in and I put a head on it and got it in the middle of the goal," Salerno said. "We were on a five-game losing streak and it was nice to end it. 

"We'll get it right. We started the season 4-1 but have had a hard time putting it all together since. We just have to keep our intensity all game."

Moreno had the first goal for Joliet West. The tie was made better since it came against Romeoville (9-4-1, 2-0-1 through September 25), a very good program that placed second in the state in Class 4A two years ago.

As Salerno mentioned, the Tigers opened the season 4-1 and placed ninth in the Windy City Ram Classic, which was hosted by Reavis, in the first two weeks of the season. After a scoreless tie in regulation, they defeated Mt. Carmel 3-2 in a shootout to win on Wednesday, August 28. But the next day they lost 2-0 to a very talented De La Salle team, which was 13-1 through September 25.

Two days later, Joliet West followed that up with a 1-0 win over Bremen (3-6-1 through September 25). The next week brought an impressive 7-3 victory over Marian Catholic (7-5 through September 25) and capped off the tourney with a 2-1 win on Thursday, September 5 against Oak Forest (5-5-2 through September 25). 

The Oak Forest win was another flair for the dramatic as Mendoza scored with 10 seconds left in regulation to win it.

"Even when we were down 1-0 we knew that we'd come back," Mendoza said of the big win over the Bengals. "There was no doubt in our minds.

"Jake Polacek had tied it (in the first half) on a penalty kick. Then I scored with 10 seconds left and it felt amazing. I just had to score the winning goal for my team. We're a strong team. We just have to work on our mistakes and become a better team."

Joliet West didn't play badly in the seven-game winless stretch. Only the first loss (3-0 at Plainfield North on September 10) and last loss (4-0 at home to Plainfield Central on September 19) in SPC games were by more than a goal. But both teams are very good as Plainfield North was 7-2-5 and Plainfield Central was 10-0-1 through September 25. 

Sebastian Chavez came through with a hat trick for Plainfield Central in the win. The senior forward scored on a pair of first half free kicks, including one with 1:03 left to make it 2-0 at halftime. Sophomore forward Leo Perez took an assist from Chavez and ripped in a goal from the right side to make it 3-0 just over two minutes into the second half. Chavez completed his hat trick by shooting a penalty kick into the lower right corner with 32:44 to play. 

"We're been through a tough stretch," Stewart said following the Plainfield Central match. "But we got off to a nice start in the Windy City Tournament and that was good."

Stewart has been the head girls' soccer coach at Joliet West for the past five seasons. He was the Tigers JV boys coach but took over as head coach late in the summer when former coach Neil Lucchetti took a job at Lyons Township.

"I know the guys and the program," Stewart said of taking over as head coach. "We've had some injuries and we're pretty young with only two senior starters. We had to reschedule the Romeoville game from earlier in the season and that was a hard stretch where the guys were through thick and thin. But the guys are playing hard and I appreciate what they've given."

Maxemiliano Arroyo-Bibian, Ozzy Ortiz, Jake Polacek, Tommy Polacek, and Rodrigo Solis are the five Tiger seniors.

In the postseason, Joliet West will host a Class 3A sectional. The Tigers will likely play in a regional semifinal on Tuesday or Wednesday, October 22 or 23.