A dream that he scored the winning goal in the state soccer series? Brother Rice’s Adam Wozniak probably wouldn’t have admitted that if he hadn’t actually done it Friday night in the Crusaders’ 1-0 victory over Batavia in the state quarterfinals at Naperville North.
No, not when you share the same team with Billy Savarino, the usual offensive hero and the state’s all-time leading goal-scorer.
Not when you’re a junior defenseman who has never scored before.
“It was one of his greatest goals,” Savarino said.
It was his only one, he was reminded.
“Well, that’s true,” Savarino said, “but he was there and he just took a rifle shot, a bullet right in the hole.”
A shot that put Brother Rice into the semifinals at 11 a.m. Saturday, the first time the Crusaders (18-7-2) have advanced to the final four since 1978.
Friday’s tentative match had reached a lull as the second half settled in with a scoreless tie.
It was punctuated by a wide-open chance for Batavia with 27 minutes 21 seconds to play that halfback Kyle Krause missed high and left.
Batavia had one other shot on goal, but Brother Rice kept the ball on its side of the field much of the contest, with six corner-kick opportunities to put the ball close in the middle.
But the scoring play didn’t come until 23:07, when Savarino’s missed shot came back and Wozniak found himself in position with 25 open yards and nothing but Batavia keeper Jason Voorhies in his way. Voorhies guessed wrong and Wozniak’s kick went through.
“I collided with the keeper and when I looked up, next thing you know the ball was in the net,” said Savarino.
Said Wozniak: “I had had a shot (in another game) and it went high and hit the post and the coach had told me, `Adam, just keep the ball down below the crossbar.’ I put my head down and hoped for the best.”
It was not the script either coach would have predicted after Batavia (17-5-6) had beaten Brother Rice 2-0 early in the season.
But the Bulldogs, explained coach Katie Keller, never overcame the jitters. Only five of Batavia’s 22 players are seniors, and the inexperience, Keller said, “might have shown.”
“They put the pressure on us, and if we put three passes together all night it wasn’t very often,” Keller said. “We just kind of watched the game at times instead of playing it.”
Brother Rice, Savarino speculated, may have wanted the game more.
“We went out there and played with a lot of heart,” he said. “They had beaten us, but we held Eisenhower (in the supersectional) and they were one of the best attacking teams around, so why couldn’t we hold Batavia?”
