It felt appropriate that Oswego East senior Kara Blasingame was being carried off the field via piggyback by classmate Jasmine Ruiz after Wednesday’s showdown with rival Oswego in the Class 3A Oswego Regional semifinals.
“She always has my back, and now I’m on her back,” an exhausted Blasingame said.
Ruiz, a Villanova recruit, did the heavy lifting in regulation, scoring both of the Wolves’ goals. Blasingame came through with the game-winner in overtime as the Wolves posted a 4-2 win over Oswego.
“It was just about perseverance. You have to want it more than anyone in the world,” Blasingame said. “We really proved that. I always tell my team that you have to come out, no matter what the game is, and think it’s the biggest game we’re ever going to play.”
It was 2-2 after regulation, and Blasingame continually was stymied by high winds and Oswego’s defense. In overtime, however, Blasingame finally broke through with a goal from 20 yards out with 6:24 left in the first overtime.
“Kara will step up when we need her to,” Oswego East coach Victor Cuevas said. “She was making herself an option every time we had it. She was doing a good job. I know that she wanted to get that goal because she was working hard for that goal. It really means a lot to our girls to have someone like her that doesn’t want her season to end now.”
Oswego (10-9-1) got the scoring started when forward Riley Parker scored with 27:07 left in the first half. Ruiz countered with 14:32 left to send the game into halftime tied at 1-1.
Ruiz gave Oswego East (12-7-1) a brief lead with 30:13 left in the second half. Her initial shot was blocked, but she put in the rebound to open a 2-1 lead.
Oswego senior Abby Grzetic answered 40 seconds later, however, scoring an improbable goal. With the roaring wind behind her, she fired a free kick from midfield that took a high hop into the net to tie it 2-2.
“Abby’s awesome bounce goal, you’ve got to love that,” Oswego coach Kelsey Champion said. “All of us were like, Abby, put it on frame because we know what she’s capable of. This wind is just ridiculous.”
The Wolves had flashbacks to a tough loss to Minooka.
“It’s happened before,” Blasingame said. “That’s basically the way we lost to Minooka, which took away our conference championship, unfortunately. It’s just like we said, perseverance. That’s what our team shows.”
Oswego, which was down two starters due to injuries, was unable to capitalize on its fortunate goal.
Oswego East put the game away on a long run and goal from senior Taylor Peck with 2:42 left in the second overtime.
Oswego says goodbye to 10 seniors.
“That 80 minutes (of regulation), talk about a fun game to watch — holy cow,” Champion said. “I was having a blast. Mostly, we were talking about how hard-fought it was. It was a good effort all over the field.
“We’ve got things to work on. We lose a lot of seniors.”
Eighth-seeded Oswego East next plays for the program’s first regional title. The Wolves will face one of the state’s top teams, Naperville North, at 4 p.m. Friday. The top-seeded Huskies (17-2-3) beat Romeoville 8-0 on Tuesday.
“All I have to say is, don’t count us out,” Blasingame said.
Paul Johnson is a freelance reporter for The Beacon-News.
