Mazurczak’s late goal lifts Ridgewood

Updated: October 7, 2011 4:37PM

Andy Mazurczak saw his chance. With time out running out, he had little choice but to let it all hang out.

The Ridgewood midfielder scored on a header off an assist from Rafal Kapusciak with 1:37 in double overtime for the host Rebels’ 3-2 victory over conference rival Fenton Tuesday night in Norridge.

“We were able to get a 2-1 in that situation, and I just told my teammate [Kapusciak] to flick it ahead, and that’s what he did and I was able to get the angle against their keeper,” Mazurczak said.

Mazurczak is a player who likes the spotlight, said his coach, Robert St. John.

“He scored two goals against Burlington Central in the [Class 2A] state semifinals that got us into the state championship last year,” St. John said. “He’s a big-time player when the game’s on the line.”

The dramatic goal enabled the Rebels (10-5, 2-3 Metro Suburban) to rally from a 2-0 deficit. Fenton controlled most of the first-half possession that ended in a scoreless tie. Bison forward Giovanni Aguirre recovered a ball in the Rebels’ end and nailed a shot into the right corner for the 1-0 Fenton lead at the 15 minute mark of the second half.

About five minutes later, forward Pedro Lucatero received a through pass from Aguirre and drilled a point-blank shot for the 2-0 Bison advantage.

Mazurczak said even with the deficit Ridgewood never panicked. “We just told ourselves at that point we still had 22 minutes to play, and there was time,” he said. “Our motto all the time is play until the end.”

Sure enough, just seconds after the Lucatero score, the Rebels finally got untracked offensively on Tom Kuczek’s score. “We said at halftime that we could take advantage of what they were doing, especially their keeper the way he was coming out of the goal,” St. John said. “For whatever reason we seem to play better when we’re behind. We got that goal, and that really changed things for us.”

Both keepers made spectacular saves on penalty kicks late in the second half. Ridgewood’s Mike Morawiec, who was credited with 16 saves, made a superb stop against Aguirre with 19:09 remaining.

Ridgewood’s Przemyslaw Zabielski knotted the score with a penalty kick goal in the 28th minute of the second half.

Fenton drops to 9-5-3, 3-2.

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