SCHAUMBURG – Nothing seemed to work in Wheaton Warrenville South’s favor early in the Tiger’s early bird special against Carmel in the first round of the Body Armor tournament Saturday morning.

Maybe it was the time. The game was among the first to start at the event in the 8 a.m. kickoff slot.

The match also had a combined quirk at its beginning: one of the two referees missed the first few minutes of the game because he forgot his whistle, even after the match started 10 minutes late.

The proceedings didn’t start well for Wheaton Warrenville South, which surrendered two first half goals within 13 minutes that led to a 2-0 halftime deficit.

After the 10-minute intermission, Tigers manager Guy Calliparo inserted junior goalkeeper Jared Ferreyra into the game. At the time, starting senior keeper Carroll Dunn thought his day was over.

But Dunn did get a second chance at the match after Ferreyra suffered an injury in the 47th minute.

And he and his teammates made the most of the final 33 minutes and beyond. The Tigers scored twice to force a shootout. Dunn stopped the Corsairs’ first attempt with a dive to his right to spark the Tigers 4-2 advantage in PKs and the comeback victory. 

Wheaton Warrenville South will next meet Addison Trail at 4:45 p.m. Monday at Metea Valley in the event’s final pool play round.

Dunn produced seven saves, highlighted by a leaping stop with just over 10 minutes left in the regulation.

“I was just mad at first. I felt on their first goal I could’ve reached, but I just saw it late,” he said. “On their second one, I don’t even know if it went in. I felt it hit my shoulder blades. I knew I had to make the most of it when I came back in the game in the second half. My teammates helped me. It feels amazing to (win) this.”

Callipari said his players upped their performance after the break.

“I don’t think we played poorly in the first half, but we gave up two soft free kicks, and they made the best out of those free kicks,” Callipari said. “I did like the way they responded in the second half. It was about getting into a rhythm of some sort, as small as the field was and finding the open man and getting the ball on frame and take your chances from there. That’s what we were able to do with some consistency for the 40 minutes of the second half.

“I thought the back four did a nice job, with Quentin (Oker) and Brooks (Becker) doing a great job. We had a platoon of backs going in all day. Carroll did a nice job in goal with some nice saves. He wasn’t going to play in the second half, but our backup got hurt. Dunn got his mind back in the game. He did a great job on the PKs. He’s big and strong and did a great job for us.”

Carmel coach Rob Etheridge said it was the classic tale of two halves that cost his team the victory.

“We dominated the game and made our quality chances count, but in the second half we had to come out and match their intensity,” Etheridge said. “We had a few team breakdowns, and they got a couple of goals. It was a different game at 2-1. Then at 2-2 they were back in it. We have to find a way to win a game. We have a good quality team, but we need to find a way to bring that perfect game out. We have to believe in what we have.”

The Corsairs (2-5-0) shocked Wheaton Warrenville South (2-3-1), when Roman Lynch’s free kick found the foot of Rolando Colin. The Carmel senior midfielder soft-touched the ball inside the near post for a 1-0 lead for his fourth goal of the season. Colin said the Corsairs wasted an opportunity to get a key win.

“I was in the PK area by the box. Roman saw me making the run, and I just one-timed it with my left foot,” Colin said. “We had an amazing start, up 2-0 but we didn’t stay composed. It was a tough loss. We have to learn from this and not make mistakes. We have to stop our mistakes.”

Roughly 13 minutes later, Carmel sophomore midfielder Edeson Maradiaga drilled a shot that hit the crossbar and managed to land inside the goal line for a 2-0 lead.

The Corsairs couldn’t ride their early momentum to the tournament victory at Olympic Park.

Lynch, a four-year varsity player, pointed out that the Corsairs have to break free from their pattern of letting off the attack at key points of the game.

“It was an early bus ride for us,” Lynch said. “I’m happy with the way we performed in the first half, but the level just dropped in the second half. If you want to win games, that can’t happen. We have to be composed and into it the entire game. 

“I’m happy with the way we came out and got those two goals, but we have to do it for the full 80 minutes. That’s been a reoccurring theme for us this season. We come out strong and (hurt) that opposing team. … But then we let ourselves down in the second half. We have to have that grit the entire game.

“I’m really happy with how our team has come along this year. Our younger guys have been able to step up a lot. This year I feel we have so much potential, and we have to show it and prove ourselves.”

Wheaton Warrenville South sophomore forward Samin Razman helped spark the comeback with his aggressive play, sending two-straight shots into the six-yard box just seconds apart after the Corsairs set their 2-0 lead.

“We bounced back from our start and found a way and figured out what to do,” Razman said. “We had to show our talent and finish it. We did a good job in the second half.”

Wheaton Warrenville South’s senior Becker said the backline tightened up in the final 40-plus minutes to hold the Corsairs at bay. He also contributed on the offensive end, igniting the turnaround by scoring on a header from six yards in the 51st minute to slice the deficit to 2-1.

“It was a set piece, and I’m a bit taller. I was in the box and saw Jet (Oehrlein) with the ball and knew he would be able to get a pretty good cross in. I saw an opening and got it,” he said. “It was tough coming here in the morning, but it felt good to score. I feel we rallied off that (goal). We’ve been losing a little bit and when we went down two goals, it felt like another one of those games. But coming back, it was a good turning point, not only for the game. We showed what we can do when we were down.

“Our record is not too good, but we know how to bounce back. We showed we wanted to win, and plan on giving our all every game and not give up.”

Wheaton Warrenville South junior midfielder Rob Redlich scored the equalizer in the 71st minute. He took a pass from Razman and slotted a shot that Carmel keeper David Fajardo got a hand on but couldn’t stop from slowly trickling over the goal line. Redlich said the entire team came out focused in the second half, and highlighted Dunn’s play in goal.

“We won the ball on the counterattack. I saw an opportunity, and I got the ball and was able to put it inside the back post,” Redlich said of his goal. “(Carroll) played great for us. He was a game-changer for us with his saves and kept us in the game.”

Starting lineups

Wheaton Warrenville South
GK: Carroll Dunn
D: Jay Weber
D: Santiago Mosca
D: Brooks Becker
D: Quentin Oker
MF: Nathan Vassios
MF: Diego Bautista
MF: AmZa Lian                                              
MF: Samin Razman
F: Robert Redlich
F: Jet Oehrlein

Carmel
GK: David Fajardo
D: Zach Grzesiak
D: Roman Lynch
D: Matt Lochner
D: James Willemsen
MF: Imanol Cervantes
MF: Edeson Maradiaga
MF: Nikki Glokke
MF: Bryan Orozco
F: Rolando Colin
F: Sammy Arroyo

Chicagoland Soccer Man of the Match: Carroll Dunn, sr., GK, Wheaton Warrenville South

Scoring summary

First half
Carmel: Colin (Lynch), 11’
Carmel: Maradiaga, 23’

Second half
Wheaton Warrenville South: Becker (Oehrlein), 51’
Wheaton Warrenville South: Redlich (unassisted), 71’

Penalty kicks

Wheaton Warrenville South: Razman (goal); Crisostomo (post); Becker (goal); Smeir (goal); Bautista (goal).
Carmel: Arroyo (saved); Mazzocco (post); Maradiaga (goal); Lynch (goal).