Boys soccer: Fast start propels Joliet West past Providence Catholic

NEW LENOX – After slow starts in their past couple of matches, Joliet West coach Mike O’Shea was hoping that his team would start quickly Monday in a non-conference match against Providence Catholic.

O’Shea got what he wanted.

Joliet West (11-4-1) wasted little time putting the match away early, scoring three times in the first 10 minutes and six times in the first 17 minutes en route to a 7-0 victory.

Ozzie Ortiz got the scoring going for the Tigers, stealing the ball from a Providence defender and scoring unassisted at the 34:06 mark of the first half. With 31:10 to play in the first, Michael Vargas scored on a penalty kick, then Vargas scored again less than a minute later on an assist from Jake Polacek.

“We wanted to get off to a quick start, and we were able to do that,” O’Shea said. “We played pretty well today. We had some players move to different positions to see if that would shake things up, and we were able to get some guys some playing time that don’t normally get a lot of time. The way they played today, they have earned more playing time.”

The barrage continued as Polacek scored with an assist from Angel Meza at the 29:12 mark, followed by a pair of goals by Landon Brouwer at the 24:41 and 23:37 marks, the latter also on an assist from Meza.

Even though they were trailing, the youthful Celtics (0-10) kept battling, and got two shots on goal in the first half from Joe Baumhardt and another by Gabriel Selinas.

The Tigers eased up on the offensive attack the rest of the first half and played keep-away for the final 20 minutes to take the 6-0 lead into halftime.

Just over four minutes into the second half, Victor Antomez scored on an assist from Alex Garcia to make it 7-0 with 35:50 left. The seven-goal differential cut the remaining time in half to 18:00, and neither team scored again.

“There is no shame in losing to a team as good as Joliet West,” Providence coach Bernard O’Donnell said. “We are a very young team and we are trying new things. They are going to work, we just have to be patient.

“One thing about our kids, they have the heart and passion for the game. They didn’t give up, and they aren’t afraid to stick their noses in there. But we have a lot of freshmen and sophomores playing, and the physicality of the varsity game is a lot different than what they are used to seeing. We had some good looks when it was one or two touches, but once the players got in a group, it was tough for us.”

O’Shea also was pleased with his team play defensively.

“We have played good defense all year,” O’Shea said. “We don’t give up many goals. It was nice tonight to see some more goals go into the net. We have some tough games coming up, so it was nice to be able to have a game where we could relax a bit.

“Landon Brouwer had a couple of nice goals, and we moved the ball better offensively. The guys communicated well, and that was good to see.”