Oakton Needs Late Score to Beat Morton

In soccer, it really doesn’t matter how a goal is scored. As long as it goes in, it counts whether it is pretty or not.

At least, that is what the Oakton Community College men's soccer team will be telling itself after scraping out a 2-1 overtime win against Morton College on Tuesday.

The Raiders (2-0 league, 1-0 conference), who are coming off of three consecutive Illinois Skyway Collegiate Conference championships, looked like they could be headed for their first loss in years against Morton with only seven minutes to go.

Erik Saucedo had put Morton ahead after he slammed home the ball from close range when the Raider backline failed to deal with a free kick from Guillermo Bueno.

But, the spirit and will of the Raiders was put on display in the 84th minute when Milan Gacanovic, who played for Maine South High School, floated a free kick that was whiffed by Morton goalkeeper Jose Vasquez and resulted in a freak goal.

“We never let ourselves down and we knew we had plenty of time to tie it up,” said Oakton midfielder Emanuel Guzman. "It was a very hard-fought game. They played very well. We both started getting tired and thankfully we got the victory at the end.”

As much as Oakton looked to have battled back to force the extra playing time, it almost didn’t happen.

With only 2 minutes remaining on the 90-minute clock, it looked as if Morton had scored a late winner. But looks can be deceiving in soccer.

Morton’s Ricardo Zambonino floated a perfect pass to Bueno. The team's all-time leading scorer found himself one-on-one with Oakton goalkeeper Daniel Niedzielsk, who got a glove on Bueno’s shot. The drive bounced right into the path of Saucedo, who shot softly and began to celebrate as the ball looked to be rolling into the open net.

However, Oakton’s Franco Alcocer came out of nowhere to slide and kick the ball away from the net. It was the essence of hustle and it saved Oakton at the very end.

The game went into two 10-minute sessions until a goal was scored.

Oakton looked to have sealed the game when Prince Lapnet scored from a yard out. But, he was ruled offside by the assistant referee and play continued.

Saucedo looked to had a real chance for Morton to win when he found himself unmarked from two yards out on a corner kick. But he ballooned his header well over the goal.

The game moved into the second overtime and neither Morton nor Oakton looked threatening--until 5 minutes into the session.

Lapnet played down Morton's left, cut inside and was hacked down in the box, which resulted in a penalty.

Lapnet stepped up and fired home the game-winning goal from the penalty spot to keep Oakton’s hopes alive of a fourth straight conference championship.

Oakton coach Steve Brody reflected upon the match.

“You want to see those kind of things [battling back] early in the season. The character of the team was tested," he said. "We could have folded our tents and gone.

"The fact that we played better as the match went on was a direct reflection of getting that late goal. I would have liked to have seen that intensity early in the match,” he added.

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