You rarely see the name Dillan Max in the stats.

But you can’t miss the senior midfielder if you watch Oswego East play.

Max and the Wolves battled to the final seconds of Wednesday’s home opener, but fell to Waubonsie Valley 1-0.

“We had a lot of momentum from that West Aurora game and we had a lot of chances, but we just didn’t capitalize,” Max said. “That’s just how the game goes sometimes. Some teams are going to have momentum for a little bit and then it’s going to switch, because I felt like even in the second half we had some brief moments where we had a lot of momentum and a lot of good chances, but ultimately they got lucky with that one goal.”

Max is in his third year with the Wolves, who also return defenders Cade Cummings and Aaron Godinez, midfielder Vakaris Majus and forward Julian Nino. The Wolves graduated 13 seniors.

“Max doesn’t score, he’s just solid,” Wolves coach Steve Szymanski. “He’s not a goal scorer. He’s just a guy we can’t take off the field really.”

Waubonsie Valley (2-2) scored in the 65th minute when senior Diego Rodriguez gained possession on a headed ball near the end line and sent it ahead where junior Ethan Gupta was waiting.

“You know, I just made that run there, hoping the ball would be there,” Gupta said. “We had luck on our side, so the ball just rolled there and I just finished the job. It’s always good having our teammates like that in the box because you never know what can happen. It’s really unpredictable and it was just my duty to be there in case any bad luck happened for the other side.”

Majus and Nino led the attack for the Wolves who kept Waubonsie Valley goalkeeper Sebastian Herrera busy. Herrera got shaken up on a play in the 54th minute and Nolan Watt replaced him for eight minutes before he returned.

Herrera punched out a free kick attempt from Nino with two seconds remaining.

“All the seconds matter and go by quickly,” Herrera said. “I just got to act on it.”

Oswego East (1-1) opened the season with a 1-0 victory at West Aurora on Aug. 26 so the Wolves were well rested but wet. It rained for most of the first half before subsiding in the second half.

“I think our season is going to be like that for a lot of our games,” Syzmanski said. “I think we’re going to be in a lot of games. We’ll be competitive. It’s just, can we put the ball in the net? We kept them out and we made one little mistake and they capitalized on it, and they made a couple mistakes and we didn’t capitalize.”

Max is looking to capitalize on his opportunity to be a leader this fall.

“One thing I really like that I think I can work on always is my leadership, and just helping to be that spark out there, that positive force,” he said. “Because I feel like last year being a little bit younger, I didn’t always have that chance to really light the fire under other people. And I think this year, I know if I really use my voice and help make other people positive and ready, I think that I can make our team better, honestly.”