CRYSTAL LAKE – Thirteen became Crystal Lake South’s lucky number in a 1-0 extra time win over Burlington Central in Fox Valley Conference action Tuesday.

Senior Nick Prus’ penalty kick golden goal 80 seconds into the first overtime session – the senior’s 13th strike and fourth game-winner of the season – secured the Gators’ victory.

With the home-pitch win, Crystal Lake South snapped a four-match losing streak.

The Gators’ determination paid off.

“I’ve got to give credit to my guys, because we were chipping away and hitting the post early,” Crystal Lake South coach Brian Allen said. “We could have gotten discouraged. I think earlier in the year with our inconsistency, we did. 

“Today we kept the pressure up. We kept playing with high intensity for the full 80 minutes and into overtime. Luckily, we were rewarded. 

“I was really proud of how they kept the energy level up and the press going, because if you give Burlington Central too much time and space, you can be in trouble.”

Crystal Lake South successfully countered the strategies of Burlington Central.

“We seemed to be a lot more directional and trying to push the ball to certain players in certain spots to try to get that one goal to end it in regular time,” said Burlington Central coach Dean Ames. “And Crystal Lake South seemed to be a little bit better in terms of intersecting, getting takeaways and building from there and then putting pressure on us.”

Prus, the Chicagoland Soccer Man of the Match, slammed his spot-kick into the lower-right corner of the net.

“We’re all just happy and excited it was over,” the all-stater said “It was a chippy game from the start. Weather conditions were pretty bad as well. We were just happy to get the goal and celebrate as hard as we could.”

Prus said his team was persistent.

“The whole entire game we were pushing but didn’t find the back of the net. We created chances,” said the senior. “They created chances, and we held our ground.

“Our team is really good at holding our composure. If we miss, we just go again. That’s how we play.”

Burlington Central goalkeeper Charles Wyzukovicz (five saves) believed his squad team played well against the 2023 Class AA title holder and back-to-back league champion.

“Since South is the defending state champion, we knew that we were going into a good game,” the senior said. “I think we really came out well.  Usually in the past few games we’ve been coming out with some slow starts just to shake out the nerves of the game. But I think we came out really well today. We held them to a 0-0 deadlock in regulation.”

Burlington Central was held scoreless for only the second time this season.

“All year long we’ve been very, a very high possession team, and we didn’t possess as much in this entire game,” noted Ames.

After a back-and-forth first half, Crystal Lake South dominated play in the second 40 minutes.

“We found our feet a little bit more; we started to connect passes a little bit better,” Allen said about the second half. “We started in better positions where our lines were a little bit more connected.

“Good things happen if you are able to take care of those details. That’s something we’ve been missing early on. That was a positive to see.”

The Gators manager lauded his midfield play in the second half.

“I thought our wingers, Mason (Ross), Josh (Moreno) and Dustin (Banner) really gave us some solid minutes out wide and really had a relentless work-rate, which allowed Will Prus, Hayden (Stone) and Zach (Vallicelli) to step up to control the ball,” Allen said. “That allowed us to open the game up and try and do some different things.”

Burlington Central changed shape from a 4-3-3 to a new 3-4-3 configuration to blunt Crystal Lake South’s attacks.

“I played a different formation, because of what I saw with them and the respect I have for them,” Ames said. “We went to a three-man backline in this game. With that it was a little bit different building in the midfield.

“We haven’t worked on it a lot, and that’s on me. We’ve been used to really wearing teams down and then being able to have a lot of possession in the second half. That wasn’t the case today.”

Holden Weigel, Owen Carlson and James Wagner-Vierbrock patrolled the backline for the Rockets; teammate Avery Pawlisch was moved to the midfield.

“Avery played a wing for us today, and he’s usually in a fullback type role. He had a great game,” Ames said. “With his soccer IQ and his ability to bring balls in, we did extremely well.

“When he was able to get up and wasn’t pinned back, we were able to expose some balls into the box at least.”

Pawlisch continued to help out on defense. With five minutes left in regulation, the junior broke up a promising Crystal Lake South attack.

Nick Prus directed a midfield free kick to Pierce Johnson, who in turn passed it to Will Prus, who was close to the near-side touch line. The sophomore charged up the sideline, but before he could cross the ball into the box, Pawlisch knocked it away with a well-timed sliding tackle.

Crystal Lake South’s backline of Pierce Johnson, Diego Paguada, Will Witak and Kaleb Nunnally is becoming very dependable.

“I want to give a shout out to all four, because they were really bringing pressure, playing with the intensity that we need to be successful,” Allen said. “I hate to say that I’ve come to expect that of them. It was good to see that they’ve been rewarded with a with a zero today for their work.”
Witak said the dramatic win was a total team-effort.

“Every person on the team, all 11, even our bench kept doing things to keep it positive,” the senior said. “There was no negative stuff on the field.”

Gators’ goalkeeper Noah Dunteman (five saves) notched his fourth clean-sheet of the season.

Crystal Lake South (7-6-0, 3-1-0) stretched its mini win-streak to two games with a 1-0 win at Hampshire on Thursday night.

Burlington Central (6-4-2, 1-3-0) saw its winless streak stretch to three games (0-2-1) with another 1-0 loss, this time to Crystal Lake Central. The Rockets have now lost by that score three times in their last five matches.

Starting lineups

Burlington Central
GK: Charles Wyzukovicz
D: James Wagner-Vierbrock
D: Holden Wiegel
D: Owen Carlson
MF: Avery Pawlisch
MF: David Mancera
MF: Noah Rosborough
MF: Zachary Batani
MF: Oleksil Sergyeyev
F: Samuel Knych
F: Max Salas

Crystal Lake South
GK: Noah Dunteman
D: Diego Paguada
D: Pierce Johnson
D: Will Witak
D: Kaleb Nunnally
MF: Josh Moreno
MF: Mason Ross
MF: Will Prus
F: Hayden Stone
F: Zach Vallicelli
F: Nick Prus

Chicagoland Soccer Man of the Match: Nick Prus, sr., F, Crystal Lake South

Scoring summary

First half
No scoring

Second half
No scoring

First overtime
CLS: N. Prus (PK), 82nd minute (golden goal)