The boys’ Varsity soccer team at West Chicago Community High School wrapped up the season by playing their last game against Addison Trail at St. Charles North on Tuesday, Oct. 18.

While the opposition this fall was strong, the Wildcats have proven themselves to be a tough team, both mentally or physically, and have come together in the past to defeat their most challenging competition. While WEGO’s soccer team did work as a team to get closer to victory and achieve the Upstate Eight Conference championship title, they ultimately lost the final game of the season with a score of 0-1.

St. Charles North, with a record of 9-6-4, was a relatively even match for West Chicago: the Wildcats won 10 of their games this season, and lost eight.

“[The] ball got sent to their midfielder and we couldn’t come back from that,” said junior Donovan Avila. 

Still, the Wildcats finished fourth in conference. Four players were named All-Conference athletes, including seniors Diego Martinez, Faris Osman, Hernan Medina and Nathan Sanchez.

Prior to the Oct. 18 game, the Wildcats tied against St. Charles East, number one in the DuKane Conference, and defeated teams such as Fenton (5-0), South Elgin (4-2), Aurora East (4-2), Downers Grove North (4-2), and Maine South (2-1).

“Throughout the season, I believe that St. Charles East and Main South games were two of our toughest. Not so much because of the opponent, but the adversity we had to overcome,” said coach Dorian Carrasco.  

In fact, the soccer team lost just four of its matches prior to Oct. 18’s game. Elgin, who defeated the Wildcats on Sept. 28 with a score of 0-3, was one of only a handful of competitors to defeat the Wildcats.

“I believe this year Elgin was up there as one of our biggest competitions. They are very similar to us, in the sense of community-wise, style of playing, and just mindset. [Elgin] really set a bar and they came here to compete, and they were here competing, and it was nice competing against them,” said Carrasco.

WEGO’s soccer team featured strong players this year, including Osman, who put 25 points on the scoreboard this year, and made 10 goals.

Other standout players included senior Diego Martinez, with 18 points and six goals this fall, and Sanchez, who finished with 14 points and five goals. The team’s goalies also played well this season, with seniors Mark Martinez and David Ramirez averaging 1.524 and 2.699 goals against average (GAA).

The players attribute their success to the leadership on the team.

“The captains talk to the team about our mistakes and what we needed to do to help us throughout the game,” said Diego Martinez.

The boys have established a friendship off the team, which they claim helps them come together when they play. According to Diego Martinez, the athletes have to be comfortable with each other in order to give each other advice on how to work together.

Nicknames are one way the group maintains its tight bond. Diego Martinez goes by “Ansu”, senior Medina is called “Ye Rob”, junior Juan Salinas has been deemed “Mago”, and senior Manuel Robles is “Injury-prone Robles”.

“We’re all pretty close to each other. We worked for each other and we fought for each other and it was good because we all had this cohesion and a sense of brotherhood since we’ve all known each other for so long,” said Ramirez.