Streamwood 2nd half comeback earns draw
No. 17 Sabres earn 2-2 league road against no. 10 Elgin
By Steve Nemeth
ELGIN --- On paper it looks like a tale of two halves.
Veteran Elgin coach David Borg aptly renamed the match “a tale of two minutes.”
Actually Wednesday’s 2-2 deadlock between the host Maroons and Streamwood could be shortened even further, to like 21 seconds.
While Elgin, ranked no. 10 in the Chicagoland Soccer Top 25, appeared to be headed for a one-sided victory, Streamwood’s second half response cut like a knife, or in their case, a sharpened sabre.
No. 17 Streamwood scored goals just 21 seconds apart to negate a first half deficit and produce the third deadlock between the two schools in the last four years.
That result means both stay in the running for the 2018 Upstate Eight Conference title which this season is based on top-to-bottom standings for the 10 schools. Last year, Elgin edged the Sabres to win the UEC’s River Division while current no. 11 West Aurora finished atop the Valley.
The Blackhawks were 2-0 victors over rival East Aurora on Wednesday and are also undefeated (4-0-0) thus far in the league. Both the Maroons and Sabres have October dates with West Aurora (10-1-0).
As expected, Elgin (8-1-1, 4-0-1) was led by scoring sensation Omar Lopez. The “first” minute Borg referenced was in regard to Lopez striking just 42 seconds after the opening whistle. The senior forward took a feed from Christopher Collin to put the Maroons ahead as fans were still settling into their Memorial Stadium seats.
Based strictly on schools opting to submit individual numbers to MaxPreps, Lopez is the state’s leading goal producer for Class 3A. He scored again to up his season total to 24 and give the Maroons a seemingly comfortable 2-0 lead at intermission.
That did not sit well with the Streamwood management.
“Let’s just say we had a spirited talk at halftime, and they were asked to come out strong,” Sabres coach Matt Polovin said.
Consider that message received, producing the second of Borg’s “two minutes” reference. Streamwood needed a mere 1:22 to pull to within one. Only 21 seconds followed before the Sabres drew even. Not to say the rest of the match wasn’t entertaining, but all four of the scoring plays were quite memorable.
The very first score saw Lopez use his speed to get by a defender. Although attacking from a tough left-side angle, he boomed his shot inside the far right post. Less than a minute had passed when Rafael Perez cut to the middle and launched a shot that Streamwood goalie Hector Alfaro stopped with a dive to his right.
Streamwood’s first threat came nine minutes in, however Elgin keeper Martin Jimenez jumped to catch a corner kick service before any Sabres could get near. Thanks to the early wake-up call, Streamwood’s defense denied Lopez space to operate, so the Maroon ace sent a textbook cross from the left side that went begging for any teammate to simply re-direct it.
Having dodged that bullet, the Sabres got back-to-back chances. The initial resulted in a shot that was too high and a follow-up possession led to a 24-yard direct free kick. Bryan Mora bent his kick around a defensive wall, but Jimenez dove for a comfortable save.
Then it was Elgin back on the offensive with a corner kick on which a Lopez header was too high. The solution for the Maroons was to keep their attack on the ground. Ramon Orozco’s pass led Lopez to cut back into the center prompting Alfaro to make a dive. With the Sabre goalie on the ground, Lopez dribbled by and had an empty net.
By agreement between match officials and both coaches, the contest started a little early and minus the national anthem from Elgin’s marching band which was on hand for the contest. It was late in the opening half when a downpour began so the crowd of 300-plus were largely huddled under umbrellas for the band’s halftime performance as well as that of the Maroons’ dance team.
Perhaps Streamwood’s “spirited talk” was finally interrupted when an assistant referee knocked on the locker room door to get the Sabres on the field.
“It was a combination of us being a little overconfident and them being opportunistic,” Elgin’s Borg acknowledged.
Long-time Maroon assistant coach John McCreery shrugged in saying “We had a couple of missteps on the defensive side and those cost us.”
“They’re young so lapses in judgement happen,” Borg added. “It doesn’t take away from another great showing by Omar. And Manny (Ramirez) also played a hell of game for us. We’ll regroup, learn from our mistakes and move forward for the next one.”
One obvious lesson will be if a goal is allowed not to dwell on it.
Streamwood’s Mora earned his team-best seventh assist with a well-placed chip toward the far post where Chavez timed his run to bang home a four-yard finish.
“Whenever I’m playing on the wing I look for the defensive backs and try to find space behind them,” Chavez explained. “It was a great pass, and the shot felt good off my foot. At halftime coach (Polovin) told us to start fast and if we scored, to get another one. Scoring quickly meant they were a little down and started to worry about the lead -- the perfect time to catch a team again.”
And that’s exactly what Streamwood did by taking away an Elgin restart and immediately attacking the net. Edwin Peralta’s second assist of the year enabled Jesus Limon to keep match the scoring pace of Chavez. The Sabres forwards both have seven goals for the season.
“I knew Edwin was going to get me the ball quickly, and although I saw a lot of black (Elgin) jerseys in front of me, I aimed it low and hard,” Limon said. “They’ve got a great keeper, so that makes the goal feel sweeter.”
Despite those impressive offensive showings, it was a Streamwood defender who earned Chicagoland Soccer’s Man of the Match accolade. Unlike most teams, Polovin wasn’t interested in constantly double-teaming Lopez, instead he challenged junior defender Josh Taboda to man-mark the high-powered scorer.
“Yeah, he had a couple mistakes in the first half and perhaps some players would be down or quit but not Josh. He buckled down, refocused his efforts and didn’t back down from the challenge,” Polovin stated. “He had one job, and I thought he did a heckuva job in the second half. He shut down one of the top offensive threats and this isn’t the first time, nor do I think it’ll be the last time he does that.
“As for that halftime talk, yeah it was spirited. But mainly I told them that they know we’re better than what we showed as a team in that first half,” Polovin added. “We’ll take it. Not losing is far better considering we down two.”
Last year Streamwood and Elgin battled to a 1-1 stalemate. The 2016 meeting was an anomaly with the Sabres breezing to a 4-0 triumph after the 2015 match-up also finished in a 1-1 tie.
There’s a distinct possibility of a rematch in the postseason since it nearly happened last year. Both Elgin and Streamwood are among the 19 schools assigned to this year’s Hampshire Sectional. In 2017, the Maroons were the number two seed, and they were upset via a shootout by 11th-seeded Hampshire. Having won that regional title, the Whip-purs then were beaten by Streamwood in the sectional semifinals. The Sabres were eliminated in the final by Jacobs.
“This clearly wasn’t the outcome we wanted, but we’ll learn from our mistakes today,” Elgin’s Alex Kunicki vowed. “We still can get the conference title once again, and maybe we’ll even see them again in the postseason.”
Those ideas fueled teammate Jimenez’s view as well.
“In this case a tie isn’t really good because it meant we gave up a lead," he said. “We got a little too confident, and they got momentum on their side really quick to start the second half. This becomes motivation and another chip on our shoulder going forward.”
Elgin has four-straight road games including a Sept. 26 UEC visit to Glenbard East. The Maroons’ final three regular season matches are all UEC affairs with home dates against Glenbard South and West Chicago bookending a trip to West Aurora.
Streamwood visits Lake Park on Saturday and then goes UEC crazy with conference games constituting six of the regular season’s last seven outings.
Starting lineups
Streamwood
GK Hector Alfaro
D Ethan Satsatin
D Jose Ibarra
D Michael Rubio
D Josh Taboda
M Edwin Peralta
M Bryan Mora
M Alex Chavez
M Fernando Mancera
F Rolando Martinez
F Jesus Limon
Elgin
GK Martin Jimenez
D Rafael Perez
D Manuel Ramirez
D Alex Kunicki
D Julian Garfias
M Eric Gomez
M Christopher Collin
M Jesus Millan
F Luisrey Ramos
F Omar Lopez
F Rafael Perez
Chicagoland Soccer Man of the Match: Josh Taboda, jr., D, Streamwood
Referees: Curt Wegner (center), Rauel Farfan, Jeffrey Chung
Game summary
Streamwood 2, Elgin 2
Streamwood 0 2 --- 2 8-3-1 (UEC: 1-0-1)
Elgin 2 0 --- 2 8-1-2 (UEC: 4-0-1)
Scoring
First half
E – Lopez left side angle attack 14-yarder tucked inside far right post (Collin assist), 0:42 gone
E – Lopez cut back to middle dribble by keeper nine-yard empty net (Orozco assist), 21:40 gone
Second half
S – Chavez four-yard finish off chip pass (Mora assist), 41:22 gone
S – Limon 12-yard strike from left (Peralta assist), 41:43 gone
Shots
S 3 – 7 --- 10
E 5 – 7 --- 12
Shots on goal
S 1 – 5 --- 6
E 3 – 3 --- 6
Saves (GK/defender)
S (Alfaro) 1 – 3 --- 4
E (Jimenez) 1 – 3 --- 4
Corner kicks
S 5 – 1 --- 6
E 2 – 3 --- 5
Offsides
S 2 – 1 --- 3
E 1 – 1 --- 2
No. 17 Sabres earn 2-2 league road against no. 10 Elgin
By Steve Nemeth
ELGIN --- On paper it looks like a tale of two halves.
Veteran Elgin coach David Borg aptly renamed the match “a tale of two minutes.”
Actually Wednesday’s 2-2 deadlock between the host Maroons and Streamwood could be shortened even further, to like 21 seconds.
While Elgin, ranked no. 10 in the Chicagoland Soccer Top 25, appeared to be headed for a one-sided victory, Streamwood’s second half response cut like a knife, or in their case, a sharpened sabre.
No. 17 Streamwood scored goals just 21 seconds apart to negate a first half deficit and produce the third deadlock between the two schools in the last four years.
That result means both stay in the running for the 2018 Upstate Eight Conference title which this season is based on top-to-bottom standings for the 10 schools. Last year, Elgin edged the Sabres to win the UEC’s River Division while current no. 11 West Aurora finished atop the Valley.
The Blackhawks were 2-0 victors over rival East Aurora on Wednesday and are also undefeated (4-0-0) thus far in the league. Both the Maroons and Sabres have October dates with West Aurora (10-1-0).
As expected, Elgin (8-1-1, 4-0-1) was led by scoring sensation Omar Lopez. The “first” minute Borg referenced was in regard to Lopez striking just 42 seconds after the opening whistle. The senior forward took a feed from Christopher Collin to put the Maroons ahead as fans were still settling into their Memorial Stadium seats.
Based strictly on schools opting to submit individual numbers to MaxPreps, Lopez is the state’s leading goal producer for Class 3A. He scored again to up his season total to 24 and give the Maroons a seemingly comfortable 2-0 lead at intermission.
That did not sit well with the Streamwood management.
“Let’s just say we had a spirited talk at halftime, and they were asked to come out strong,” Sabres coach Matt Polovin said.
Consider that message received, producing the second of Borg’s “two minutes” reference. Streamwood needed a mere 1:22 to pull to within one. Only 21 seconds followed before the Sabres drew even. Not to say the rest of the match wasn’t entertaining, but all four of the scoring plays were quite memorable.
The very first score saw Lopez use his speed to get by a defender. Although attacking from a tough left-side angle, he boomed his shot inside the far right post. Less than a minute had passed when Rafael Perez cut to the middle and launched a shot that Streamwood goalie Hector Alfaro stopped with a dive to his right.
Streamwood’s first threat came nine minutes in, however Elgin keeper Martin Jimenez jumped to catch a corner kick service before any Sabres could get near. Thanks to the early wake-up call, Streamwood’s defense denied Lopez space to operate, so the Maroon ace sent a textbook cross from the left side that went begging for any teammate to simply re-direct it.
Having dodged that bullet, the Sabres got back-to-back chances. The initial resulted in a shot that was too high and a follow-up possession led to a 24-yard direct free kick. Bryan Mora bent his kick around a defensive wall, but Jimenez dove for a comfortable save.
Then it was Elgin back on the offensive with a corner kick on which a Lopez header was too high. The solution for the Maroons was to keep their attack on the ground. Ramon Orozco’s pass led Lopez to cut back into the center prompting Alfaro to make a dive. With the Sabre goalie on the ground, Lopez dribbled by and had an empty net.
By agreement between match officials and both coaches, the contest started a little early and minus the national anthem from Elgin’s marching band which was on hand for the contest. It was late in the opening half when a downpour began so the crowd of 300-plus were largely huddled under umbrellas for the band’s halftime performance as well as that of the Maroons’ dance team.
Perhaps Streamwood’s “spirited talk” was finally interrupted when an assistant referee knocked on the locker room door to get the Sabres on the field.
“It was a combination of us being a little overconfident and them being opportunistic,” Elgin’s Borg acknowledged.
Long-time Maroon assistant coach John McCreery shrugged in saying “We had a couple of missteps on the defensive side and those cost us.”
“They’re young so lapses in judgement happen,” Borg added. “It doesn’t take away from another great showing by Omar. And Manny (Ramirez) also played a hell of game for us. We’ll regroup, learn from our mistakes and move forward for the next one.”
One obvious lesson will be if a goal is allowed not to dwell on it.
Streamwood’s Mora earned his team-best seventh assist with a well-placed chip toward the far post where Chavez timed his run to bang home a four-yard finish.
“Whenever I’m playing on the wing I look for the defensive backs and try to find space behind them,” Chavez explained. “It was a great pass, and the shot felt good off my foot. At halftime coach (Polovin) told us to start fast and if we scored, to get another one. Scoring quickly meant they were a little down and started to worry about the lead -- the perfect time to catch a team again.”
And that’s exactly what Streamwood did by taking away an Elgin restart and immediately attacking the net. Edwin Peralta’s second assist of the year enabled Jesus Limon to keep match the scoring pace of Chavez. The Sabres forwards both have seven goals for the season.
“I knew Edwin was going to get me the ball quickly, and although I saw a lot of black (Elgin) jerseys in front of me, I aimed it low and hard,” Limon said. “They’ve got a great keeper, so that makes the goal feel sweeter.”
Despite those impressive offensive showings, it was a Streamwood defender who earned Chicagoland Soccer’s Man of the Match accolade. Unlike most teams, Polovin wasn’t interested in constantly double-teaming Lopez, instead he challenged junior defender Josh Taboda to man-mark the high-powered scorer.
“Yeah, he had a couple mistakes in the first half and perhaps some players would be down or quit but not Josh. He buckled down, refocused his efforts and didn’t back down from the challenge,” Polovin stated. “He had one job, and I thought he did a heckuva job in the second half. He shut down one of the top offensive threats and this isn’t the first time, nor do I think it’ll be the last time he does that.
“As for that halftime talk, yeah it was spirited. But mainly I told them that they know we’re better than what we showed as a team in that first half,” Polovin added. “We’ll take it. Not losing is far better considering we down two.”
Last year Streamwood and Elgin battled to a 1-1 stalemate. The 2016 meeting was an anomaly with the Sabres breezing to a 4-0 triumph after the 2015 match-up also finished in a 1-1 tie.
There’s a distinct possibility of a rematch in the postseason since it nearly happened last year. Both Elgin and Streamwood are among the 19 schools assigned to this year’s Hampshire Sectional. In 2017, the Maroons were the number two seed, and they were upset via a shootout by 11th-seeded Hampshire. Having won that regional title, the Whip-purs then were beaten by Streamwood in the sectional semifinals. The Sabres were eliminated in the final by Jacobs.
“This clearly wasn’t the outcome we wanted, but we’ll learn from our mistakes today,” Elgin’s Alex Kunicki vowed. “We still can get the conference title once again, and maybe we’ll even see them again in the postseason.”
Those ideas fueled teammate Jimenez’s view as well.
“In this case a tie isn’t really good because it meant we gave up a lead," he said. “We got a little too confident, and they got momentum on their side really quick to start the second half. This becomes motivation and another chip on our shoulder going forward.”
Elgin has four-straight road games including a Sept. 26 UEC visit to Glenbard East. The Maroons’ final three regular season matches are all UEC affairs with home dates against Glenbard South and West Chicago bookending a trip to West Aurora.
Streamwood visits Lake Park on Saturday and then goes UEC crazy with conference games constituting six of the regular season’s last seven outings.
Starting lineups
Streamwood
GK Hector Alfaro
D Ethan Satsatin
D Jose Ibarra
D Michael Rubio
D Josh Taboda
M Edwin Peralta
M Bryan Mora
M Alex Chavez
M Fernando Mancera
F Rolando Martinez
F Jesus Limon
Elgin
GK Martin Jimenez
D Rafael Perez
D Manuel Ramirez
D Alex Kunicki
D Julian Garfias
M Eric Gomez
M Christopher Collin
M Jesus Millan
F Luisrey Ramos
F Omar Lopez
F Rafael Perez
Chicagoland Soccer Man of the Match: Josh Taboda, jr., D, Streamwood
Referees: Curt Wegner (center), Rauel Farfan, Jeffrey Chung
Game summary
Streamwood 2, Elgin 2
Streamwood 0 2 --- 2 8-3-1 (UEC: 1-0-1)
Elgin 2 0 --- 2 8-1-2 (UEC: 4-0-1)
Scoring
First half
E – Lopez left side angle attack 14-yarder tucked inside far right post (Collin assist), 0:42 gone
E – Lopez cut back to middle dribble by keeper nine-yard empty net (Orozco assist), 21:40 gone
Second half
S – Chavez four-yard finish off chip pass (Mora assist), 41:22 gone
S – Limon 12-yard strike from left (Peralta assist), 41:43 gone
Shots
S 3 – 7 --- 10
E 5 – 7 --- 12
Shots on goal
S 1 – 5 --- 6
E 3 – 3 --- 6
Saves (GK/defender)
S (Alfaro) 1 – 3 --- 4
E (Jimenez) 1 – 3 --- 4
Corner kicks
S 5 – 1 --- 6
E 2 – 3 --- 5
Offsides
S 2 – 1 --- 3
E 1 – 1 --- 2