West Aurora’s Mason Aguirre was excited to play his first varsity game Tuesday night.
What happened over the next 80 minutes came as a surprise to the sophomore midfielder.
“I did not expect that at all,” Aguirre said.
The Blackhawks put pressure on but couldn’t break through until Aguirre took a pass from junior midfielder Allen Ortiz and fired a 25-yard strike to the upper right corner.
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His first varsity goal with 15:15 left in the game held up as West Aurora earned a 1-0 nonconference victory over host Batavia in the season opener for both teams.
“I just took a touch,” Aguirre said. “I saw an open shot and I knew we were down so I just had to take it. I was aiming for the right corner. It was a huge relief.
“It took a lot of chances, but we got it in the end. At least we won.”
West Aurora coach Joe Sustersic said if the Blackhawks weren’t as senior-heavy last season that Aguirre would have opened his career right away on the varsity.
Now, he’s getting his chance. And he’s already making an impact.
“He’s a kid that could have played if we weren’t so old last year,” Sustersic said. “He plays quality club soccer. He’s a good kid, silent player. He’s a leader by example but his performance and not much more than that. He’s not going to yell all day and all of that. Mason is just a silent leader.
“As the center defensive mid, you have to do that stuff. He knows how to do that.”
It was the only blemish for Batavia goalkeeper Thomas Replogle, who was peppered with shots. He made 11 saves to keep the Bulldogs in the game.
“More saves just equal more saves,” Replogle said. “The more confidence I build, the more hyped the crowd gets. I can hear them screaming. It’s a snowball effect.”
Batavia coach Mark Gianfrancesco said the performance of Replogle helped energize his team, particularly as it kept getting later in a 0-0 tie.
“I think it did give us a lot of juice,” Gianfrancesco said. “It gives a lot of confidence to your defenders as well. They know that guy is behind them.
“They have some really fast guys that can get by you. He was doing a nice job coming off his line and picking up some balls. That relieves a lot of pressure. You saw the offensive pressure that those guys have. We needed all of that.”
West Aurora had several chances to tack onto its lead but was unable to score again.
Sustersic said his team, which features players from multiple countries, didn’t get to spend much time together in the offseason, so they’re still working on chemistry.
“We saw mistakes,” Sustersic said. “We’re going to learn from our mistakes. We saw who we can count on and who we cannot count on. It’s the first day.”
The Blackhawks already had a list that included a handful of players they could count on coming into the season.
Judging by Aguirre’s performance in the opening game of the season, West Aurora found another building block Tuesday.
“It makes my confidence a lot higher to take shots from far out and be able to put them in,” he said. “It feels great.
“I know that we did not do that well, but I feel that since we had so many chances that we can definitely put some more away.”
Paul Johnson is a freelance reporter for The Beacon-News.
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