Sophomore midfielder Dylan Drendel will have a lot of memories from his first career playoff game for Oswego East.
Some will be good. Others will fuel his fire.
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Drendel scored a beautiful goal Wednesday might, kick-starting a spirited comeback against Wheaton Warrenville South.
“I feel like we played pretty good,” Drendel said. “A lot of games we were mentally not there, but today we were so focused and we all came together as a team.
“I definitely think that will carry into next year.”
This year ended for sixth-seeded Oswego East when Wheaton Warrenville South’s Gael Alfara scored his second goal of the game with 1:32 remaining to give the 11th-seeded Tigers a 3-2 upset in a Class 3A Plainfield North Regional semifinal.
“I was proud of our second-half effort,” Oswego East coach Steve Szymanski said. “We played hard and we played to the last second.”
The Wolves (9-7-4) were full of hope after watching 13th-seeded Oswego stun third-seeded Plainfield North 4-3 in the first semifinal. But Drendel said they got a little ahead of themselves.
“All we were worried about was if we won, we’d play Plainfield North,” Drendel said. “Once they lost, we were so happy because we wouldn’t have to play them.
“But that took our focus off a little bit.”
Wheaton Warrenville South (9-6-3), which hadn’t won a playoff game since 2016, took advantage and scored twice on perfectly executed counterattacks in the first half.
But Drendel got the Wolves on the board by scoring his fourth goal of the season with 27:52 left in the second half. He took a pass from senior forward Dupablo Parodis-Yu and blasted a 35-yard shot off the underside of the crossbar and in.
“I passed the ball to Dupablo, and originally I was going to try to stay back and assist,” Drendel said. “Then coach told me to get up further, so I stepped up. Instead of running into the box, I saw there was a lot of space.
“Dupablo was getting triple teamed as he always does, so I got the ball from him and shot and it went in. That was a big momentum boost for us.”
Indeed, Parodis-Yu tied the game four minutes later when he converted a penalty kick.
“Dylan’s goal was great because he hit it,” Szymanski said. “There was a smaller keeper and he struck it well.
“We needed a little bit more of that in the first half. We played not to make mistakes, and to their credit, they had two main shots and they buried them.”
Alfara buried Oswego East when he headed home a corner kick in the 79th minute.
The Wolves had lost star senior defender Drew Karg to a leg injury with 17 minutes remaining, which Drendel thought was a big factor.
“He’s normally a voice back there and he’s really tall,” Drendel said of Karg. “He’s a big part to our defense. You can try, but you can’t really replace him there.”
The Wolves had to replace 16 players who graduated after leading them to a program-record 17 wins and their first regional title in 2021.
Drendel was one of nine sophomores who stepped up.
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“We had a lot of guys that made some great growth and got a lot better, Dylan definitely being one of them,” Szymanski said. “Hopefully they learn and come back with a little fire in their belly and continue to get better.”
Parodis-Yu is confident Drendel will lead the way.
“Dylan, even though he wasn’t one, he acted like a captain, and I really like that,” Parodis-Yu said. “He took charge in the middle and he’s obviously a very strong player.”
Matt Le Cren is a freelance reporter for The Beacon-News.