Trevians Stage Rally, Tie Maine East

While many high school sports fans think of "fall football," there was a true element of autumn to be felt Tuesday night.

It was at the New Trier Stadium where sweatshirts, blankets and drama were on the cards as New Trier, down 3-0 at halftime to Central Suburban League rivals Maine East High School, staged an unforgettable comeback to tie 3-3 in boys soccer.

"We've never won on this field," said Maine East head coach Vic DiPrizio. "The kids played so tough, and I told them at halftime to look at that score. I told them it wasn't three-zero. It was zero-zero. But, give New Trier credit for coming back."

As great as the comeback was, it seemed so unlikely at halftime. Things couldn't have started any better for Maine East. Five minutes in, sophomore Rami Dajani was a lucky goal scorer. A corner kick was awarded to the Blue Demons and from there a cross was sent in. It was deflected into Dajani's path and he poked it home from a yard out.

On 22 minutes, the visitors were in dreamland. After a New Trier corner kick came to nothing, Dajani picked up the ball just outside of his box and started sprinting downfield toward the Trevian goal. From 30 yards out he played a neat one-two with teammate Alexis Chavero before the ball was slotted home between the legs of Trevian goalie Chris Sullivan.

Sixteen minutes later, things got even better for the visitors in Winnetka--albeit with a bad refereeing decision. Senior Peta Tijanic clearly fouled a New Trier player at midfield but the referee was having none of it. After Tijanic composed himself after realizing no foul was called, he launched a ball forward to Chavero who only had Sullivan to beat. He popped it just over his shoulder to make it 3-0.

It was quite incredible for the visitors. But, it was all about to change. New Trier came out of the halftime break with a new life.

"We changed our formation at halftime," said Trevian freshman phenom Jeff Farina. "We switched from a 4-4-2 to a 3-4-3. We had to get some goals and it seemed to work out for us."

Four minutes into the second half and the Trevians were off and running.

Junior Andrew Cahill picked up the ball inside the Blue Demon half of the field and started charging toward the goal with Maine East defenders scattered. He cut inside and unleashed a drive that was saved by goalkeeper Luis Carlos Ortiz. But Ortiz's parry fell right to the feet of teammate Hermez Mando whose momentum caused him to kick the ball into the net for their opponent.

New Trier's new formation and added pressure saw the team with the lion's share of possession deep inside Maine East's end of the field. A corner was awarded at the 57-minute mark and what followed was expert stuff. From the corner, a pass was sent toward Farina--whom Trevian head coach Craig Fairbairn acknowledges "could be one of the best"--who found himself standing 25 yards from the goal. He saw Ortiz quite a bit off of his goal line and tried to chip it over him. Ortiz backpedaled and saved the ball onto the crossbar. However, his momentum carried him deep into his goal and Cahill was there to tap the ball in from a yard out.

It was game on.

Seven minutes before the full-time whistle, the Trevians had completed the comeback. Cahill was brought down in the box after sprinting clean through and senior captain Matt Spicer made no mistake from the penalty spot, sending Ortiz the wrong way.

"Our one thing this year is to give up goals at the beginning of the game," said coach Fairbairn. "You have to expend so much energy to get back, and we don't need to put ourselves in that position. We had to start attacking and forcing the issue and--we'll take it!"

New Trier moves to 4-4-2 on the season.