ARLINGTON HEIGHTS, Ill. – In a back-and-forth thriller Friday afternoon, Parkside men's soccer squandered a 2-0 halftime lead and fell 4-3 to Roosevelt at Morris Field, as the Lakers scored four second-half goals to complete the program's first-ever multi-goal comeback win.
The Rangers (1-3-1, 1-1-0 GLIAC) opened the scoring in the 25th minute when Colin Mullen delivered a long throw-in from the left touchline to the edge of the box. Eduardo Aguilera-Guillen rose above the defense, headed it down, turned, and fired a shot inside the bottom left corner past Roosevelt goalkeeper Eric Carvajal to make it 1-0.
Six minutes later, Parkside doubled the lead after Carvajal misplayed a ball and slipped after clearing it away. Tank Anderson pounced on the turnover in the attacking third and found a streaking Aguilera-Guillen, who drew the keeper off his line before feeding Yeison Santos for a tap-in goal at the 30-minute mark. The Rangers carried the 2-0 advantage into the break after holding Roosevelt to just six first-half shots.
Everything changed after halftime. In the 56th minute, Noah Vasilev fired a shot from the edge of the box that was blocked by Armin Dedic, but Fynn Mewes buried the rebound for his team-leading fourth goal of the season to cut the deficit in half. Less than three minutes later, Mewes played a skipping pass through the box that Oskar Schuster tucked away for the equalizer, tying the match 2-2 in the 59th minute.
The Lakers grabbed their first lead of the day in the 72nd minute when Krystian Niziolek sent a curling cross into the box that Omar Yousaf headed home just before Parkside goalkeeper Daniyal Rana could get a hand on it.
The Rangers responded just over seven minutes later when Keven Sosa chipped a ball from 30 yards out to Aguilera-Guillen, who slotted it inside the right post for his second goal of the match and GLIAC-leading fifth of the season to even things at 3-3. It also marked Aguilera-Guillen's second multi-goal game of the year, as he continues to pace the Rangers' offense through the first five matches.
But the Lakers had the final say. With just under seven minutes to play, Luca Swinton found space from 35 yards out and ripped a shot past a diving Rana to put Roosevelt ahead for good in the 84th minute, completing the 4-3 comeback victory.
Roosevelt (3-1-3, 1-0-1 GLIAC) outshot Parkside 17-8 overall, including an 11-3 margin in the second half. Rana finished with five saves for the Rangers, while Carvajal made two stops for the Lakers. Aguilera-Guillen led all players with two goals and an assist, while Santos added a goal on two shots for Parkside.
The Rangers return to action Sunday, Sept. 28, traveling to Purdue Northwest at 2 p.m. as part of a men's and women's doubleheader.
For complete coverage of Parkside Athletics, visit parksiderangers.com/coverage.
