The West Chicago Wildcats faced off against the Hoffman Estates Hawks in a dramatic Varsity game on the clear evening of Tuesday, Mar. 12, which culminated in a tie game.

Kickoff began promptly at 6:40 p.m., and was followed by a sharp Hawk offensive into Wildcat territory, which ultimately netted them their first point just over 68 seconds into the half, allowing Hoffman Estates to set the pace for the next section of play.

A series of corner kicks and goal kicks defined the Wildcats’ aggressive efforts in the beginning of the first half, but they were largely unable to break through the defense of the Hawks until an impressive shot sent by sophomore Molly Merkel, which supplied the Wildcats with their first point and evened the score to an indecisive 1-1.

Merkel continued applying pressure on the Hawks with a shot-on goal with 27:30 left on the clock, but a tight defensive effort blocked the attempt and resumed normal play. Team huddles began with at 23:00, where both teams discussed strategies to shatter the defense of the other.

With 21:44 on the clock, the Hawks scored their second point of the game which resulted from an intense battle over control of the ball near the northwest corner of the field following a throw-in. The score was now 1-2, but great efforts by goalie Ariana Hernandez, a senior, dismantled any further scoring by the Hawks.

The game remained mostly in stalemate as the clock began to dwindle towards the end of the first half, despite ferocious attacks by the Wildcats to even the score, despite a collision between a Wildcat forward and a Hawk defender which granted WEGO a penalty kick.

With just nine minutes left in the half, Merkel scored yet another point for West Chicago with an impressive penalty kick, balancing the score once again to 2-2, which remained the score at halftime.

“We are feeling okay, I feel like we could have done better, but I feel proud, I think we all did good,” senior Leslie Garnica said.

Following a brief intermission, the second kickoff marked the continuation of the game with a very hard-fought advance by the Wildcats, in which sophomore Jessie Myers received multiple passes and successfully enabled the team to make progress towards the goal, where senior Heidi Pereckas scored a vital point with 35:16 on the clock, allowing West Chicago to take the lead for the first time during the game.

“We are always happy when we score, now we just need to keep them from scoring against us… so when we settle that I think we will be fine,” coach Cesar Gomez said.

However, at the 18:42 mark, the Hawks scored yet another point and tied up the score to 3-3 following some intense back-and-forth which left West Chicago defenders spread out and dismayed as the Hawks kept up their offensive push.

Just seven minutes later, Pereckas followed up her first goal and gifted West Chicago the lead once again, wrenching the game out of the grasp of Hoffman Estates. Unfortunately, another long-shot point was scored by the Hawks’ Natasha Navarro at 8:24 brought the match back to equilibrium, which led up to the end of the second half.

The final minute of regulation was an eventful one, with an array of headers countered by the Hoffman Estates’ defense, which unfortunately to the injury of Merkel with just under 22 seconds on the clock. However, the overall result of the game was cemented in: a 4-4 scoreline tied the game.

“The season is very young still, and we are only two games in, and we are getting accustomed to how we play and position,” Gomez said.