STREAMWOOD — Elgin appeared destined for a victory and berth in the championship game in the Streamwood Fall Classic. The Maroons held a 2-0 lead over Leyden with less than five minutes remaining in Thursday’s semifinal.

But things can change so quickly in a soccer game.

The Eagles scored twice in 24 seconds to tie the game, and it appeared as if the teams were headed to a shootout.

It still seemed that way when Elgin junior defender Tony Hernandez lofted a long ball deep into the box with 36.3 seconds remaining on the scoreboard.

But nothing was as it seemed in Streamwood, especially during the final 4:44.

Leyden senior goalkeeper Daniel Llanos snagged Hernandez’s final kick of the night but after collecting it, he was ruled by the official to parry it. In other words, he was ruled to have controlled it with his hands for too long.

“In the (Class 3A) girls state finals (this spring) it happened with New Trier and St. Charles North. It was the exact same thing,” Leyden coach Mark Valintis said. “It is what it is. To be honest with you, you deal with it. You learn from it, and you move on. It’s nobody’s fault. To have it come down to something like that is unfortunate, but we learn from it, and we move on.

“And to be honest, the blessing in disguise is we could certainly use some time off with 13, 14 games played already. The kids are hurting, but we’ll be fine. They are happy with how they played in the second half.”

Steve Goletz, a former goalkeeper at Northern Illinois, who is the Naperville North girls head coach and an assistant with the boys, also brought up what transpired in the girls championship match when Chicagoland Soccer reached out for a better explanation of the rule. 

Although he didn’t see footage of the play Thursday, he said it sounded similar to the one in the girls state final.

“You can’t catch it and drop it and catch it again,” he said. “It’s got to be purposeful. Everybody was shocked at the call last year (at state), but it was the right call.”

Elgin coach Jimmy Romano said he was notified about the rule earlier this year but hadn’t seen it called before, let alone in a tie game, especially late.

“I was made aware of the rule during a summer league game that goalkeepers cannot parry the ball down to kind of waste time,” he said. “If they have a chance to grab it then they decide to parry it down, they cannot do that. 

“It’s a silly rule that honestly should not exist. If it’s a hard shot, like they can’t handle it, and (the ball) goes down, it’s no problem. But if it’s a slower roller and you’re intentionally doing it, then it’s an indirect free kick. Honestly, it’s unfortunate, but for me it cancels out the penalty kick.”

The penalty kick was the result of a long ball similar to the one that ultimately led to the game-ending call, except it favored Leyden.

The 20th-ranked Maroons were whistled for a foul, much to the chagrin of Romano.

Senior defender Dave Tracewicz got a lot behind the ensuing spot- kick with 4:20 remaining. Just like that and Elgin’s two-goal lead went up in smoke.

“I guess you could say it was discombobulation,” Romano said. “There was a lot going on. I blink, and it’s 2-2. And everyone is like ‘What is going on here?’

“They are a great team, Leyden. I was hoping to finish it 2-0 or 3-0, but this was like a good playoff game I guess you could say.”

Romano wants these kinds of games against these kinds of teams to better prepare his team for a run toward postseason success.

“One thing I wanted this year was playoff-like games,” he said. “We got it with Naperville Central and Morton and tonight, so that provides us the experience. 

“We may come across this again in a playoff game. If so, can we manage our emotions? Can we manage the game? Can we put the game away? So, it’s very much a learning experience. 

“We’ve learned so much this season. I would say more than previous seasons during the regular-season. Because playoff-time comes and you see everything. 

“So this year my goal was ‘Can we get playoff-like games early on so we get more of that experience?’ And we’re getting that.”

The game took another strange turn when with :36.3 seconds left in the match, the referee had the clock reset to 1:38.

After the confusion subdued over the call on the field, Elgin senior center-mid Aaron Saldana lined up next to the ball on the six to take the indirect free kick with senior all-state defender Robert Salinas to his right with 8.3 seconds left on the clock.

Saldana barely tapped it forward with his right foot toward Salinas, who blasted it with his right foot to deflect through a long blue wall of Leyden players. Suddenly it was 3-2 Maroons.

“Honestly, all the players standing there on the goal line were intimidating, but I knew I had to keep my cool.  If I wasn’t focused on how I was going to hit it, it wasn’t going to come out well,” Salinas said. “I also tried looking at every option, and I ended up going first post right, right where we were at pretty much.”

Saldana acknowledged there were a lot of thoughts running through his head as the final play unfolded.

“A lot of adrenalin. A lot of ‘What’s going?’” he said. “When the keeper made the mistake, we just had to capitalize on the moment. And Robert did that.”

Salinas was named the co- Chicagoland Soccer Man of the Match.

Although a shootout seemed more and more in the game’s future, Salinas was confident that the Maroons would find a way to pull out the win.

“In my head, at least, the score was 2-2,” he said. “I knew that even if it ended, then we would still have some time to think about the penalties we were going to take.

“So we knew we were still in the game no matter what.”

It took a crazy finish after a fantastic start for Elgin to win.

The Maroons got under way when senior forward Beto Gaytan sped forward from the left corner of the box after a pass from Saldana and produced a ripping finish for a 1-0 lead with 31:33 left in the first half.

It was the quick start the Maroons were hoping for. Both teams battled a great opponent who was also playing for the second time in as many days. Any advantage was welcome.

“We came out with a lot of energy, and I felt like we connected very well.” Saldana said, “I think it started from the warm-up. We warmed-up good for the first time in a while. So, we went into the game, and we connected as a team in the first 10 minutes and got a goal.”

It took some time to get that second one. Saldana was the recipient after a nice drive and pass from junior center-mid Danny Perez in the 28th minute.

“It was a beautiful ball, and I knew he was going to play the ball,” Saldana said. “He (Perez) is a very talented player with the ball. Once I saw him take a player on, I saw a space that I had and took the run. He saw me, he played me, and I just had to finish it far post.”

In the second half, Leyden (9-1-2) looked like the no. 3-ranked team in the Chicagoland Soccer Top 25. The Eagles came out of halftime with urgency and began with a strong first 15 minutes.

“At halftime we made a few adjustments and talked how we wanted to defend as a team and they carried out the game plan brilliantly,” Valintis said. “I felt like we limited their chances in the second half, and we played better soccer and got a little bit of life in our legs. 

“We were happy to come away with two goals and tie the game in the last 10 minutes.”

Tracewicz took a shot with just under five minutes remaining that fell to senior Christian Esquivel. It was the chance the Eagles had been working toward for 75 minutes and finally converted with 4:44 left. It sliced their deficit to 2-1.

“David (Tracewicz) shot it, and it fell right to my feet, and all I had to do was turn around and finish it there,” Esquivel said. “I was all by myself, and it was a whole new lifeline right there.”

Esquivel, who shared the Chicagoland Soccer Man of the Match honor, said the Eagles rallied together.

“In the second half we just had to come out together as a team,” he said. “We had to start pressing the ball more. In the first half we were dribbling too much in the middle. We were taking too many touches and then losing the ball in the counterattack. 

“In the second half we had to be focused more on passing one-touch. Then the last five minutes, that one goal gave us a whole lifeline so we could keep going. We got the pen and tied it up.”

Valintis really was pleased with what he saw from his team, especially in the second half.

“At halftime we talked about how we’re going to see the character of this team in the second half, and you saw it,” he said. “We played great soccer. We scored two goals against a really, really good team. Now we’ll see what the second half (of the season) brings us.”

Elgin now enjoys a six-match win streak.

“We’re on a roll, and the guys are feeling the momentum,” Romano said. “Guys are getting their feet under them. We made some minor adjustments early on in the season, but those early games (0-1-2) were good for us too. We want to play good competition to make adjustments that we need to make to get ready for the conference and playoffs. 

“We’re playing well. We’re playing good soccer,  the way we should be able to -- rotating a lot of players in and out.”

Starting lineups

Elgin
GK: Brody Grosenbach
D: Daniel Lemus
D: Oliver Garcia
D: Robert Salinas
D: Tony Hernandez
MF: Jayden Plancarte
MF: Aaron Saldana
MF: Issac Cuahquentzi
MF: Danny Perez
F: Bryan Diaz
F: Beto Gaytan

Leyden
GK: Daniel Llanos
D: Allan Cardoso
D: Yadier DeLaCruz
D: David Tracewicz
D: Stefano Andrino
MF: Diego Esquivel
MF: Christian Esquviel
MF: Brandon Delgado
MF: Ryvin DelPilar
MF: Rogelio Herrera
F: Jesus Ramos

Chicagoland Soccer Men of the Match: Robert Salinas, sr., D, Elgin; Christian Esquivel, sr., MF, Leyden

Scoring summary
First half
E: Beto Gaytan (Aaron Saldana), 9’
E: Aaron Saldana (Danny Perez), 28’

Second half
L: Christian Esquivel (David Tracewicz), 76’
L: David Tracewicz (PK), 76’
E: Robert Salinas (Aaron Saldana), 79’