Piqued South Elgin takes
down Streamwood
Lara records 3 assists in borrowed boots in 5-1 Storm win
By Bobby Narang
Omar Lara might have just earned himself a new pair of game shoes after his play on Saturday.
The South Elgin senior defender was credited with three set piece assists in a row in the second half of the Storms’ 5-1 victory over Streamwood in Upstate Eight Conference play.
Rather than take the credit for his placement of the ball, or even mention all his practice attempts on corner kicks, Lara glanced down at his feet.
“My coach let me borrow his shoes today, so I think that gave me a little bit more power,” Lara said, laughing. “He has some old Adidas shoes. I ripped my shoes last game. I have to wear (his) now again next game.”
Lara earned his three assists on his team’s only three corner kicks in the second half, all from the far side corner. Each assist to Ethan Scholl, Andrew Montenegro and Zachary Meyer came in a 17-minute segment in the second half.
“We kind of moved Omar, because he needed a bit of confidence,” South Elgin coach Jerry Skowron said. “This is year two for him on the set pieces. But we have three different guys usually do it, but Omar hits a consistent ball for us. He knows where to put the ball.”
The Storm (5-6-4, 3-2-1) capitalized on a decided advantage in height, strength and size over the Sabres.
“The wind was in my favor, but I just aimed for my bigger guys,” Lara said. “We’ve always been a good team in the air. We had some players step up today. I was just aiming for them. We practiced corners a lot.
“I think we’re a good team. We’ve been getting better. We started rough, just lacked communication. But we have a lot of good players and young players with talent. We're trying to build off that.”
Streamwood coach Matt Polovin said it was a frustrating performance for his team, which controlled the ball for 75 percent of the first half but came away with just one goal. The Sabres (4-8-2, 1-4-0) had seven first half shots, including four shots on goals.
“We have a lot of inexperienced guys, even this late in the season,” he said. “They have to play faster and finish. We normally always have fantastic seasons, but this season (record) is right where it should be. We had our chances to put these guys away in the first half, but we didn’t.
“(Set pieces) have been our problem the last two seasons. We just can't seem to defend them. I don't know why, because we work on it all the time in practices.
“When we get in a game with another team with height, they’re in the back post and scoring like it's nothing. We have no one even putting a body on them. We’re not doing it. We have to keep working until regionals to be ready for it."
After playing before numerous fans sporting umbrellas to mask the sun on a muggy afternoon, the Storm enjoyed every aspect of their victory. For the second time this season, five different players scored a goal for the Storm.
“We had five guys score against Glenbard South,” Skowron said. “We are starting to see that we don’t have to always rely on Ryan Doherty. Especially when we have guys clicking the way we are with dthree set piece goals, which we probably haven’t done since 2019.
“It’s a really good feeling heading into the playoffs. We kind of fixed some things at halftime and motivated them. We also had the wind at our back, which helped things.”
Junior forward Kendall Andrewin made the Sabres pay for not getting back on defense with an early goal. After Streamwood’s Gonzalo Taboada just missed a scoring chance in the fourth minute, Andrewin raced down the pitch and knocked in the first goal of the match at the 35:45 mark — just 38 seconds after Streamwood’s near-goal. It was Andrewin’s fifth goal of the season.
“I just saw an opening, saw someone making a run and he had somebody on his back, so I took it and was faster than (the defender) and beat him,” Andrewin said. “It hit off a defender, so I got lucky.”
Ryan Doherty notched the second goal of the game with a one-on-one short tap-in in the 32nd minute.
“It looked like a mishit shot by Xavier (Marquez) to me, so when someone is ready to shoot, I’m always ready to follow-up, because I want to score goals,” Doherty said.
Streamwood sophomore forward Trey Yi caught the Storm off guard with 59.1 seconds left to halve the Sabres halftime deficit.
Doherty said South Elgin had extra incentive against the Sabres. Despite a solid schedule and a few key wins, the Storm were given the no. 13 seed in the Class 3A Huntley Sectional, one spot behind Streamwood.
“The seedings, in my opinion, showed we had something to prove,” Doherty said. “I think our strength of schedule has been so much harder than most teams in our area. Being ranked no. 13 was insulting to a lot of us in the program. I think we're going to use this as motivation for the rest of the season.”
Skowron can use the situation as a motivational tool.
“We played a tough schedule, but some teams decided to say we're one of the worst teams in the sectional,” he said. "But we will find out. Our record maybe rightfully so deserved it, but like any school, we’re out to prove everybody wrong.”
Ethan Scholl started Lara’s assist string in the 45th minute. Andrew Montenegro continued it two minutes later to pad the lead to a comfortable 4-1 in the 47th minute.
Fifteen minutes later, South Elgin junior defender Zac Meyer, at 6-foot-1 and 175 pounds, finished it with his first goal of the season.
“I give all the credit to Omar,” Meyer said. “We scored on all our second half corners. We owe it to Omar. But we practice it a lot, and it showed on the scoreboard today. It’s common sense to get your biggest and strongest guys in the box on a corner. It worked for us. It’s only up for us from here.”
Streamwood defenders, sophomore Bryan Huerta and junior E.J. Satsatin, lamented the Sabres performance.
“We have to be able to control the ball better, but we didn’t keep it on the ground," Huerta said. “They also beat us on headers, which were the majority of their goals.”
“We have to learn to keep fighting no matter what the score,” Satsatin said. “We have to learn from this. We have to communicate and play hard (on set pieces) and double up on them and keep them out of the box."
Starting lineups
South Elgin
GK Luke Bondi
D Guido Gonzalez Ortiz
D Nick Warwik
D Rocco Marzullo
D Omar Lara
M Andrew Montenegro
M Kendall Andrewin
M Xavier Marquez
M Zachary Meyer
F Ryan Doherty
F Ethan Scholl
Streamwood
GK Jason Ramirez
D Joel Benitez
D Eric Satsatin
D Diego Taboada
D Bryan Huerta
M Jairo Sanchez
M Gonzalo Taboada
M Andy Mendoza
M Ajdin Sabanovic
F Ricardo Aguilar
F Miguel Angel Gutierrez
Chicagoland Soccer Man of the Match: Omar Lara, sr., D, South Elgin
Scoring summary
First half
South Elgin — Kendall Andrewin (Xavier Marquez ), 5th minute
South Elgin — Ryan Doherty (Andrew Montenegro), 32nd minute
Streamwood — Trey Yi (unassisted), 40th minute
Second half
South Elgin — Ethan Scholl (Omar Lara), 45th minute
South Elgin — Andrew Montenegro (Omar Lara), 47th minute
South Elgin — Zachary Meyer (Omar Lara), 62nd minute
down Streamwood
Lara records 3 assists in borrowed boots in 5-1 Storm win
By Bobby Narang
Omar Lara might have just earned himself a new pair of game shoes after his play on Saturday.
The South Elgin senior defender was credited with three set piece assists in a row in the second half of the Storms’ 5-1 victory over Streamwood in Upstate Eight Conference play.
Rather than take the credit for his placement of the ball, or even mention all his practice attempts on corner kicks, Lara glanced down at his feet.
“My coach let me borrow his shoes today, so I think that gave me a little bit more power,” Lara said, laughing. “He has some old Adidas shoes. I ripped my shoes last game. I have to wear (his) now again next game.”
Lara earned his three assists on his team’s only three corner kicks in the second half, all from the far side corner. Each assist to Ethan Scholl, Andrew Montenegro and Zachary Meyer came in a 17-minute segment in the second half.
“We kind of moved Omar, because he needed a bit of confidence,” South Elgin coach Jerry Skowron said. “This is year two for him on the set pieces. But we have three different guys usually do it, but Omar hits a consistent ball for us. He knows where to put the ball.”
The Storm (5-6-4, 3-2-1) capitalized on a decided advantage in height, strength and size over the Sabres.
“The wind was in my favor, but I just aimed for my bigger guys,” Lara said. “We’ve always been a good team in the air. We had some players step up today. I was just aiming for them. We practiced corners a lot.
“I think we’re a good team. We’ve been getting better. We started rough, just lacked communication. But we have a lot of good players and young players with talent. We're trying to build off that.”
Streamwood coach Matt Polovin said it was a frustrating performance for his team, which controlled the ball for 75 percent of the first half but came away with just one goal. The Sabres (4-8-2, 1-4-0) had seven first half shots, including four shots on goals.
“We have a lot of inexperienced guys, even this late in the season,” he said. “They have to play faster and finish. We normally always have fantastic seasons, but this season (record) is right where it should be. We had our chances to put these guys away in the first half, but we didn’t.
“(Set pieces) have been our problem the last two seasons. We just can't seem to defend them. I don't know why, because we work on it all the time in practices.
“When we get in a game with another team with height, they’re in the back post and scoring like it's nothing. We have no one even putting a body on them. We’re not doing it. We have to keep working until regionals to be ready for it."
After playing before numerous fans sporting umbrellas to mask the sun on a muggy afternoon, the Storm enjoyed every aspect of their victory. For the second time this season, five different players scored a goal for the Storm.
“We had five guys score against Glenbard South,” Skowron said. “We are starting to see that we don’t have to always rely on Ryan Doherty. Especially when we have guys clicking the way we are with dthree set piece goals, which we probably haven’t done since 2019.
“It’s a really good feeling heading into the playoffs. We kind of fixed some things at halftime and motivated them. We also had the wind at our back, which helped things.”
Junior forward Kendall Andrewin made the Sabres pay for not getting back on defense with an early goal. After Streamwood’s Gonzalo Taboada just missed a scoring chance in the fourth minute, Andrewin raced down the pitch and knocked in the first goal of the match at the 35:45 mark — just 38 seconds after Streamwood’s near-goal. It was Andrewin’s fifth goal of the season.
“I just saw an opening, saw someone making a run and he had somebody on his back, so I took it and was faster than (the defender) and beat him,” Andrewin said. “It hit off a defender, so I got lucky.”
Ryan Doherty notched the second goal of the game with a one-on-one short tap-in in the 32nd minute.
“It looked like a mishit shot by Xavier (Marquez) to me, so when someone is ready to shoot, I’m always ready to follow-up, because I want to score goals,” Doherty said.
Streamwood sophomore forward Trey Yi caught the Storm off guard with 59.1 seconds left to halve the Sabres halftime deficit.
Doherty said South Elgin had extra incentive against the Sabres. Despite a solid schedule and a few key wins, the Storm were given the no. 13 seed in the Class 3A Huntley Sectional, one spot behind Streamwood.
“The seedings, in my opinion, showed we had something to prove,” Doherty said. “I think our strength of schedule has been so much harder than most teams in our area. Being ranked no. 13 was insulting to a lot of us in the program. I think we're going to use this as motivation for the rest of the season.”
Skowron can use the situation as a motivational tool.
“We played a tough schedule, but some teams decided to say we're one of the worst teams in the sectional,” he said. "But we will find out. Our record maybe rightfully so deserved it, but like any school, we’re out to prove everybody wrong.”
Ethan Scholl started Lara’s assist string in the 45th minute. Andrew Montenegro continued it two minutes later to pad the lead to a comfortable 4-1 in the 47th minute.
Fifteen minutes later, South Elgin junior defender Zac Meyer, at 6-foot-1 and 175 pounds, finished it with his first goal of the season.
“I give all the credit to Omar,” Meyer said. “We scored on all our second half corners. We owe it to Omar. But we practice it a lot, and it showed on the scoreboard today. It’s common sense to get your biggest and strongest guys in the box on a corner. It worked for us. It’s only up for us from here.”
Streamwood defenders, sophomore Bryan Huerta and junior E.J. Satsatin, lamented the Sabres performance.
“We have to be able to control the ball better, but we didn’t keep it on the ground," Huerta said. “They also beat us on headers, which were the majority of their goals.”
“We have to learn to keep fighting no matter what the score,” Satsatin said. “We have to learn from this. We have to communicate and play hard (on set pieces) and double up on them and keep them out of the box."
Starting lineups
South Elgin
GK Luke Bondi
D Guido Gonzalez Ortiz
D Nick Warwik
D Rocco Marzullo
D Omar Lara
M Andrew Montenegro
M Kendall Andrewin
M Xavier Marquez
M Zachary Meyer
F Ryan Doherty
F Ethan Scholl
Streamwood
GK Jason Ramirez
D Joel Benitez
D Eric Satsatin
D Diego Taboada
D Bryan Huerta
M Jairo Sanchez
M Gonzalo Taboada
M Andy Mendoza
M Ajdin Sabanovic
F Ricardo Aguilar
F Miguel Angel Gutierrez
Chicagoland Soccer Man of the Match: Omar Lara, sr., D, South Elgin
Scoring summary
First half
South Elgin — Kendall Andrewin (Xavier Marquez ), 5th minute
South Elgin — Ryan Doherty (Andrew Montenegro), 32nd minute
Streamwood — Trey Yi (unassisted), 40th minute
Second half
South Elgin — Ethan Scholl (Omar Lara), 45th minute
South Elgin — Andrew Montenegro (Omar Lara), 47th minute
South Elgin — Zachary Meyer (Omar Lara), 62nd minute