Nate Dunaj certainly wasn’t the obvious choice as the replacement for Adam Jedrzejczyk, Oak Forest’s four-year starting goalkeeper who graduated in the spring.
After all, Dunaj had never even played the position. But the junior knew the Bengals needed someone, so he decided to give it a shot over the summer.
“My whole life, I played winger,” Dunaj said. “But I knew we lost Adam and someone had to take over. I didn’t even know what to do. I didn’t know much about goalie.
“Over the summer, Adam kind of taught me all his tricks. He coached me. He brought me to who I am today in goal.”
Who Dunaj is now is a confident goalkeeper capable of taking over a game the way he did Wednesday. Dunaj made 12 saves to lead the host Bengals to a 1-0 upset win over Reavis in a South Suburban Conference crossover.
Emilio Guiza scored the goal for Oak Forest (11-6-3, 6-3-2 SSC Blue), which extended its unbeaten streak to eight games heading into the playoffs.
Galileo Figueroa finished with five shots on goal and Pawel Hreska made two saves for Reavis (11-6-2, 9-1-1 SSC Red).
The Rams spent most of the second half on the attack, putting a ton of pressure on Dunaj and firing nine shots on goal. Dunaj handled them all.
That certainly impressed Guiza.
“Looking at him, the way he’s been playing, I think it’s the most progress I’ve ever seen a player make in that time span,” Guiza said. “From just starting the position and seeing how he was playing earlier in the season, then looking at how he’s playing now, it’s crazy progress.
“He’s a great athlete and he’s adjusted to the position.”
Dunaj has a good mentor in Jedrzejczyk, who is now playing at Triton. But while learning the physical mechanics of a new position was a big enough challenge, Dunaj discovered learning how to get over failure was even harder.
In September, the Bengals gave up five goals each in consecutive losses to Bremen and Lemont. They have not lost since.
“Every time a goal comes in, you feel like it’s on you,” Dunaj said. “We took two big losses to Bremen and Lemont and I was blaming myself, but Adam told me I can’t let anything bother me.
“I realized that you have to move onto the next one and get over it. I’ve definitely grown a lot.”
Dunaj’s progress has definitely been a welcome, albeit unexpected, sight for first-year Oak Forest coach Alex Alvarez, who was guiding the junior varsity the last two seasons when Dunaj was a field player.
“Holy cow, he’s surprised us this year,” Alvarez said of Dunaj. “He’s stepped it up and he’s showing his skills out there. He’s gotten more confident. Our girls goalie has helped him. Adam has helped him.
“He’s open to it all and he’s taken the time to learn.”
Dunaj, who also plays baseball, picked up another new passion over the last year, becoming a student photographer for Oak Forest. He can be seen on the sidelines taking photos at other sporting events.
“My grandpa’s a photographer and I kind of just picked up his camera one day,” Dunaj said. “Last October, I started to get into it. My first time taking photos was actually at our sectional game.
“After that, I fell in love with it. I want to go to college for it now.”
Dunaj puts his photography to good use in helping him as a goalkeeper as well.
“Sometimes when we don’t have a game or practice, I’ll go to another game and take some photos and I’ll watch these good teams play,” Dunaj said. “I’ll watch the goalies and see what they do.
“I’ll learn from them.”
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