ROCHELLE — It was a tale of two halves when the Rochelle Township High School varsity boys’ soccer team hosted Sycamore Tuesday afternoon. Unfortunately, it was the second half that spoke the loudest.

Scoring four times in the first 17 minutes, thanks to a pair of goals by both senior Austin Brown and junior Zane Walters, the Hubs took what seemed to be an insurmountable lead.
But then came the second half.
Behind the impressive play of senior Issac Plagakis, the Spartans scored four times in the first 10 minutes to tie the match. Plagakis, who went on to score six goals in Sycamore’s 7-4 win, tallied three times in the first three minutes, including his first goal with just 43 seconds into the half.

Plagakis’ third goal came on a penalty kick when Rochelle keeper Jarret Milan came out of the goal and collided with him. Even though Milan was kicked in the head and had to leave the contest, Hub coach Brad Male said the referees ruled that he was going after a Sycamore player and not the ball.
Male added that Milan, who did not return to the game, is currently being evaluated for a possible concussion.
Rochelle is already playing without two of their leading scorers in junior forward/midfielder Brayan Orozco and his brother, sophomore forward Josue Orozco.
Despite making a number of nice stops, Milan’s replacement, Alexis Quintanilla, was simply bombarded by the Sycamore attackers who seemed totally rejuvenated once they got on the scoreboard. The visitors outshot the Hubs 24-6.
Sycamore just missed scoring a number of times in the first half, but either athletic saves by Milan – who often strayed far from the goal – errant shots or missed communication kept them scoreless. At least three shots sailed past Milan and bounced off the goal posts.
“We came out strong in the first half,” Male said. “In the second half we missed a few opportunities and let them back in the game. They had good play on the ball and it cost us. We have to play for 80 minutes and not just 40.”
“We made a tactical change,” Sycamore head coach David Bachta said. “We had a tough match on Saturday against Rockford and we really came out slow in the first half. These are 16-year old kids and everything is now-now-now. We just told them to slow down in the second half. It wasn’t anything magical I said. It was the players.”
Trying to put a positive spin on the loss, Rochelle’s fourth in 10 games, Male said this should be a good learning experience for the Hubs.