Elgin too much for South Elgin
Storm falls 4-0 in regional opener
By Jared Birchfield
ELGIN -- A nearly full Hunter’s Moon rose over the east side bleachers at Memorial Field during the second half of Tuesday evening’s Class 3A regional first semifinal between host Elgin and South Elgin.
However, rock and roll buffs among the visiting, red-clad Storm fans were probably thinking of a golden oldie about a “bad moon rising” during the last half of the contest.
South Elgin started the second half trailing 2-0, a challenging but not insurmountable deficit. But as the moon rose, South Elgin’s hopes for its first regional title since 2012 sank as Upstate Eight Conference rival Elgin doubled its advantage and won the match, 4-0.
Led by Eduardo Nava’s hat-trick, the Maroons, seeded fourth in the Huntley Sectional, advanced to the Saturday’s regional final against conference foe Streamwood. The 12th-seeded Sabres downed Hononegah, a five seed, 5-0 in the second semifinal Tuesday. The Maroons defeated Streamwood 4-1 last month.
South Elgin (6-10-5) coach Jerzy Skowron said a lack of playoff experience contributed to the loss.
“I think it was just a little bit of pressure. We only had three guys with playoff experience on this team,” the Storm coach said. “I think the pressure got to us. Eventually it gets heavy and sometimes you tend to crumble, but it was a fantastic learning experience for these boys.”
Elgin (10-3-5) definitely had home-field advantage according to Maroons coach Dave Borg.
“The key to getting off to a fast start was getting to play on this field. When we played them at South Elgin (a 0-0 tie on Oct. 6) they packed it in on a narrow field. We could not get anything generated,” Borg said. “On this one we used the width. Also, we probably had more speed than they do. We used it to our advantage.”
South Elgin, seeded 13th in the sectional, was unable to adjust.
“We tried to play a game that wasn't ours,” said Skowron. “We played a lot differently than the way we did when we played them the first time.”
Nava put Elgin on the board at the 11:55 mark of the first half. Olamipo Ajayi crossed the ball to Nava, who was stationed in front. He tapped tapped the ball in from about 10 yards. Six minutes later, he repeated the move from the same spot, this time on a Ronaldo Reynoso cross.
“I saw my man (Ajayi) run to the side. I knew he was going to cross it,” Nava said about the first score. “I was there, and I to poked it for the first goal. The one from Ronaldo was a perfectly timed run and then just a little tap.”
South Elgin had several scoring opportunities in the first half but was unable to complete them. The Storm was unable to take advantage of three corner kicks and a free kick in the first 40 minutes. An Omar Lara boot from 30 yards at the 16:20 mark was stopped by Maroons goalkeeper Fhernando Aviles.
Andrew Montenegro, one of the nine graduating Storm players, said his team did not match Elgin’s energy at the start.
“The difference-maker today was the pressure. We weren't composed. We weren't coming out high,” said the senior midfielder. “We just we started out slow, and that's what really killed us. We ruined our chances at the beginning. We had adecent number of opportunities, but we killed them. It just wasn't our game today.”
Skowron wished Montenegro had a different end for his high school varsity career.
“Andrew he's a transfer student he came in and fit in right away. With the motor that kid has, it kind of makes you wonder what that kid eats for breakfast,” he said. “He hates coming off the field. To see him have the season that he's had and kind of go out like this is very hard.”
Skowron said slow starts have been an issue throughout the season.
“We haven't done a very good job jumping on teams early, and if ever there's a time you absolutely need to do that it was a game like this one” he said.
The Storm’s best chance of the first half was a close-in Ryan Doherty shot that bounced off the cross bar just before the end of the period.
“We were unable to capitalize on the chances we had early. I felt for the first 30 minutes we were the better team,” Skowron said. “We just didn't execute when we needed too. Sometimes that's just the way it goes.”
Ajayi scored the Maroons third goal in the 57th minute on a tap from the just outside the left corner of the goal. Nava, who crossed the ball into junior, got an assist.
Skowron said Ajayi, who came off the bench, made his presence felt.
“He came in, and he completely changed the entire game. I think he might have been involved in all four of their goals,” said the South Elgin coach. “We saw that kid in the spring, and we knew right away he was going to be a problem. Today he proved us right. Unfortunately for us we were unable to keep him at bay.”
Doherty also had the best Storm scoring opportunity in the second half. He got past most of the Maroons defense and chased the loose ball at the corner of the penalty box. However, Elgin’s Nick Lopez beat him to it.
Nava notched the hat-trick with less than a minute left. The sophomore got past South Elgin’s defense and took a shot on an open net.
“He had real good composure tonight. He did what we asked of him, and he scored the hat-trick. You can't ask anymore from him,” said Borg about Nava, who earned Chicagoland Soccer’s Man of the Match honors. “He's really grown as a player throughout this season, and we needed that.”
Storm defender Carlos Barajas felt the backline was too silent.
“The difference was communication,” he said. “We weren't talking during the game.”
Skowron is optimistic about the state of the program in 2022.
“We fully expect to be fairly competitive next season,” said the South Elgin coach.” Although we are graduating nine seniors, we’ll bring back 12. When the time comes next season, we will be ready to go.”
Starting lineups
South Elgin
GK Luke Bondi
D Brandon Pina
D Vito DiVietro
D Brandon McKee
D Omar Lara
D Carlos Barajas
MF Andrew Montenegro
MF Rocco Marzullo
MF Ryan Nguyen
F Kendall Andrewin
F Ryan Doherty
Elgin
GK Fhernando Aviles
D Alan Sanchez
D Nick Lopez
D Julian Orozco
D Abraham Valle
MF Ronnie Umana
MF Erick Ortiz
MF Omar Saldana
F Jose Hernandez
F Issac Espinosa
F Eduardo Nava
Chicagoland Soccer Man of the Match: Eduardo Aviles, so, F, Elgin
Scoring summary
First half
E: Eduardo Nava (Olamipo Ajayi) 29th minute
E: Nava (Ronaldo Reynoso) 35th minute
Second half
E: Ajayi (Nava) 67th minute
E: Nava 80th minute
Storm falls 4-0 in regional opener
By Jared Birchfield
ELGIN -- A nearly full Hunter’s Moon rose over the east side bleachers at Memorial Field during the second half of Tuesday evening’s Class 3A regional first semifinal between host Elgin and South Elgin.
However, rock and roll buffs among the visiting, red-clad Storm fans were probably thinking of a golden oldie about a “bad moon rising” during the last half of the contest.
South Elgin started the second half trailing 2-0, a challenging but not insurmountable deficit. But as the moon rose, South Elgin’s hopes for its first regional title since 2012 sank as Upstate Eight Conference rival Elgin doubled its advantage and won the match, 4-0.
Led by Eduardo Nava’s hat-trick, the Maroons, seeded fourth in the Huntley Sectional, advanced to the Saturday’s regional final against conference foe Streamwood. The 12th-seeded Sabres downed Hononegah, a five seed, 5-0 in the second semifinal Tuesday. The Maroons defeated Streamwood 4-1 last month.
South Elgin (6-10-5) coach Jerzy Skowron said a lack of playoff experience contributed to the loss.
“I think it was just a little bit of pressure. We only had three guys with playoff experience on this team,” the Storm coach said. “I think the pressure got to us. Eventually it gets heavy and sometimes you tend to crumble, but it was a fantastic learning experience for these boys.”
Elgin (10-3-5) definitely had home-field advantage according to Maroons coach Dave Borg.
“The key to getting off to a fast start was getting to play on this field. When we played them at South Elgin (a 0-0 tie on Oct. 6) they packed it in on a narrow field. We could not get anything generated,” Borg said. “On this one we used the width. Also, we probably had more speed than they do. We used it to our advantage.”
South Elgin, seeded 13th in the sectional, was unable to adjust.
“We tried to play a game that wasn't ours,” said Skowron. “We played a lot differently than the way we did when we played them the first time.”
Nava put Elgin on the board at the 11:55 mark of the first half. Olamipo Ajayi crossed the ball to Nava, who was stationed in front. He tapped tapped the ball in from about 10 yards. Six minutes later, he repeated the move from the same spot, this time on a Ronaldo Reynoso cross.
“I saw my man (Ajayi) run to the side. I knew he was going to cross it,” Nava said about the first score. “I was there, and I to poked it for the first goal. The one from Ronaldo was a perfectly timed run and then just a little tap.”
South Elgin had several scoring opportunities in the first half but was unable to complete them. The Storm was unable to take advantage of three corner kicks and a free kick in the first 40 minutes. An Omar Lara boot from 30 yards at the 16:20 mark was stopped by Maroons goalkeeper Fhernando Aviles.
Andrew Montenegro, one of the nine graduating Storm players, said his team did not match Elgin’s energy at the start.
“The difference-maker today was the pressure. We weren't composed. We weren't coming out high,” said the senior midfielder. “We just we started out slow, and that's what really killed us. We ruined our chances at the beginning. We had adecent number of opportunities, but we killed them. It just wasn't our game today.”
Skowron wished Montenegro had a different end for his high school varsity career.
“Andrew he's a transfer student he came in and fit in right away. With the motor that kid has, it kind of makes you wonder what that kid eats for breakfast,” he said. “He hates coming off the field. To see him have the season that he's had and kind of go out like this is very hard.”
Skowron said slow starts have been an issue throughout the season.
“We haven't done a very good job jumping on teams early, and if ever there's a time you absolutely need to do that it was a game like this one” he said.
The Storm’s best chance of the first half was a close-in Ryan Doherty shot that bounced off the cross bar just before the end of the period.
“We were unable to capitalize on the chances we had early. I felt for the first 30 minutes we were the better team,” Skowron said. “We just didn't execute when we needed too. Sometimes that's just the way it goes.”
Ajayi scored the Maroons third goal in the 57th minute on a tap from the just outside the left corner of the goal. Nava, who crossed the ball into junior, got an assist.
Skowron said Ajayi, who came off the bench, made his presence felt.
“He came in, and he completely changed the entire game. I think he might have been involved in all four of their goals,” said the South Elgin coach. “We saw that kid in the spring, and we knew right away he was going to be a problem. Today he proved us right. Unfortunately for us we were unable to keep him at bay.”
Doherty also had the best Storm scoring opportunity in the second half. He got past most of the Maroons defense and chased the loose ball at the corner of the penalty box. However, Elgin’s Nick Lopez beat him to it.
Nava notched the hat-trick with less than a minute left. The sophomore got past South Elgin’s defense and took a shot on an open net.
“He had real good composure tonight. He did what we asked of him, and he scored the hat-trick. You can't ask anymore from him,” said Borg about Nava, who earned Chicagoland Soccer’s Man of the Match honors. “He's really grown as a player throughout this season, and we needed that.”
Storm defender Carlos Barajas felt the backline was too silent.
“The difference was communication,” he said. “We weren't talking during the game.”
Skowron is optimistic about the state of the program in 2022.
“We fully expect to be fairly competitive next season,” said the South Elgin coach.” Although we are graduating nine seniors, we’ll bring back 12. When the time comes next season, we will be ready to go.”
Starting lineups
South Elgin
GK Luke Bondi
D Brandon Pina
D Vito DiVietro
D Brandon McKee
D Omar Lara
D Carlos Barajas
MF Andrew Montenegro
MF Rocco Marzullo
MF Ryan Nguyen
F Kendall Andrewin
F Ryan Doherty
Elgin
GK Fhernando Aviles
D Alan Sanchez
D Nick Lopez
D Julian Orozco
D Abraham Valle
MF Ronnie Umana
MF Erick Ortiz
MF Omar Saldana
F Jose Hernandez
F Issac Espinosa
F Eduardo Nava
Chicagoland Soccer Man of the Match: Eduardo Aviles, so, F, Elgin
Scoring summary
First half
E: Eduardo Nava (Olamipo Ajayi) 29th minute
E: Nava (Ronaldo Reynoso) 35th minute
Second half
E: Ajayi (Nava) 67th minute
E: Nava 80th minute