Elgin ignores distractions,
tops Streamwood
New no. 1 rank not a stumbling block in impressive 2-0 U8 win
By Bobby Narang
ELGIN — Call it a fitting end to a fitting day.
When the final buzzer sounded following Elgin’s 2-0 victory over Streamwood in Upstate Eight Conference action on Monday night, the public address announcer chose a classic song with significant meaning.
As “We Are The Champions” by Queen blared over the speakers at Memorial Stadium, the Maroons slowly walked over to the main grandstand to thank the fans for attending the spirited match.
Earlier Monday, the Maroons were named the no. 1 team in the Chicagoland Soccer Top 25, which marked another banner achievement in a banner season.
In their latest shutout, the Maroons (11-0-3, 3-0-1) got off on the right foot after the honor but still have some work to do -- no team has held the top spot for two-consecutive weeks this season. In addition, Elgin notched its 10th shutout of the season -- the Maroons have allowed just four goals in 14 games.
Elgin first-year coach James Romano said he realized his team hit a significant milestone Monday.
“I don’t know if it has ever been done, so this program is setting a lot of new marks this year,” Romano said. “I’ll have to go back and look at it.
“They knew about the ranking. I told them today. They are humble. I texted them today that they’re number one for a reason, and that they would have a target on their backs. It will be bigger. Everyone is coming out to play them hard, and wants to knock number one off.”
Whether the Maroons can walk off the field with “We Are The Champions” playing in the background at Hoffman Estates High School after the Class 3A championship match Nov. 5 remains to be seen.
For now, the Maroons are all smiles. The win over their rivals, who were undefeated in the conference, brought a great conclusion to their special day.
“Being number one for us is pretty cool, especially since we haven’t done it in a while,” Elgin senior defender and captain Julian Orozco said. “For us, it’s a really big achievement in the Elgin area. It’s big for us but also the community.
“The students and staff are giving us more recognition. It used to be always football and about going to the Friday game. Now it’s more about soccer is doing really well, and let’s go watch them. We’re getting a lot more recognition.
“We have a lot of individual talent. We have to come together as a team and play with each other’s specialties and use our skills as individuals.”
Senior midfielder Geo Catalan, who scored the insurance goal in the second half, indicated the Maroons were pleased with the number one ranking, but the ultimate goal is to win the state title.
“This is stuff you always talk about before the season, when you set goals and try and meet them,” said Catalan, who earned the Chicagoland Soccer Man of the Match for his feverish and impactful play. “To make it a reality is very different.
“Now that we know we’re number one, we know other teams are looking to beat us. We like the competition. We want to prove we’re one of the best teams in the state, and in order to do that, we have to compete every night.”
Streamwood (7-5-2, 2-1-0) had momentum on their side entering their second showdown against Elgin. The Maroons won the first meeting 2-1 on Sept. 17, but the Sabres were missing two key players, notably senior captain Michael Garcia.
Streamwood built off its loss to Elgin and prepped for the rematch by defeating Glenbard South 4-0 and Waubonsie Valley 3-0. But beating the Maroons on their home turf proved to be too tall of a task.
The Sabres kept their defensive scoreless streak intact on Monday for an additional 1 minute, 36 seconds. That’s all it took before the Maroons scored the first goal of the game. Standout junior forward Eduardo Nava scored on a header after a pass from German Lara.
Streamwood coach Matt Polovin said he disagreed with the call on Nava’s header, which hit both posts.
“We gave them two chances tonight,” Polovin said. “Our plan was to double team (Eduardo Nava). They try and hit him 99.9 percent of the time. We did very well the rest of the game, but that second minute, we gave him a goal. We weren’t goal side of him.
“The ball was crossed in, and he jumped up, headed it off two poles, and it went out of bounds. But somehow that was counted as a goal. It hit off the far post and came across and hit the pole. It didn’t look like it came close to crossing the line.
“But the point is, he should’nt have had a chance like that to get his head on the ball. That’s what’s frustrating the most. That was his only chance all game. Marcos Gutierrez and Diogo Magana did a phenomenal job on him. They minimized any chance he touched the ball or to do anything toward the goal.
“We have to be better defensively. We had one little slip up. The second goal caught us flat-flooted. We were kind of hanging back and disrupted him and made him go backward.
“We had so many chances, especially in the second half. I would love to see them a third time. We have to forget about tonight, and keep playing like we’ve been the last few games.”
Garcia said the early goal was tough to swallow for many reasons, mainly because it immediately squashed the Sabres’ momentum from their two-game winning streak.
“They possessed the ball pretty good, but we have to finish our chances,” Garcia said. “We have to move the ball. They had two chances and finished both of them. My mindset, I thought it wasn’t a goal, but they called it. We had to get it back.”
Nava added to his solid season with the goal, but he received a red card with 6:23 left in regulation that will put him on the sidelines. He felt he let down his teammates after getting in a brief argument with a Streamwood player.
Nava said he was excited to get the goal.
“I got the ball … I jumped and headed it, placed it and it went in, a (good) header from the top of the box,” Nava said. “I put some force into it. But now, I’ll be out. We got a great team and can go far. This might be a bad game for me, but a good game for my team.”
Streamwood senior captain Hugo Marquez said the first goal was a big shock that took some time to digest. The Sabres closed out the game with four shot attempts in the final 26 minutes, highlighted by A.J. Sabanovic’s header that was saved in the 69th minute. Sanchez blasted a shot way wide in the 70th minute.
Sabres junior goalie Jason Ramirez had four saves in the defeat.
“It was hard, because a lot of players put their heads down. But I tried to get their heads up, because we still had a lot of time on the clock,” Marquez said. “The way we saw the chances was really good, just the way we broke down their defense. They’re really talented and know how to play with each other and move the ball to the back and play it back up. The fact we played well in the second half shows a lot.”
Elgin tacked on an insurance goal in the 44th minute, when Catalan’s slow roller from 23 yards away snuck through the Sabres’ backline and inside the far post.
Catalan said it was a satisfying win before a crowd of nearly 300 fans on a cold night.
“We always try and follow each other up, because you never know what’s going to happen,” Catalan. “I was able to capitalize and score on that one.
“I know a lot of people from Streamwood, with a lot of my friends playing there. It’s always fun to have that friendly competition against them, and to have bragging rights after the game. We all wanted to get a win and stay undefeated.”
Elgin’s defense played stoutly. It did not allow Streamwood any clean looks at the net and forced them to attempt wild shots that often sailed over the post or wide. The pressure of a 2-0 deficit also took its toll.
“We had to stay patient, but we knew time was running down,” Garcia said.
Meanwhile, Orozco said Elgin’s backline stuck to the game plan and helped the Maroons stay undefeated.
“We played as a team, especially in the first half,” Orozco said. “We played really well defensively and in the middle. We were really disrupting their plays and not letting their playmakers do much in the midfield, which really helped us out counterattacking and doing our thing.”
Elgin made it to the Sweet 16 in the state tournament last fall and finished with a 12-3-5 record.
Romano said his program is motivated to do even better this season and has its eyes on the prize. He credited his teammates for playing a solid 80 minutes against a quality Streamwood program.
“We saw them a week ago in the semifinals of the Streamwood tournament,” he said. “I know their players well, and they’re a quality program and it’s a rivalry game. We knew they were going to bring it.
“It was a great soccer match. It was good for us. We knew it was going to be a battle and come down to a couple of plays. We had to execute. We played lockdown defense.
“This team fights like brothers and lifts each other up like brothers. That bond carries on and off the field. I’ve never seen anything like that. Talent-wise, they’re so talented to go with caring so much for each other. It’s a different group."
Starting lineups
Streamwood
GK: Jason Ramirez
D: Diego Magana
D: Aaron Taboada
D: Marcos Gutierrez
D: Alex Alcala
MF: Hugo Marquez
MF: Trey Yi
MF: Bryan Huerta
MF: Andy Mendoza
F: Michael Garcia
F: A.J. Sabanovic
Elgin
GK: Kleber Rodriguez
D: German Lara
D: Geovanny Aviles
D: Julian Orozco
D: Edgar Perez
MF: Omar Saldana
MF: Aaron Saldana
MF: Geo Catalan
F: Miguel Navarro
F: Erick Ortiz
F: Eduardo Nava
Chicagoland Soccer Man of the Match:
Geo Catalan, sr., MF, Elgin
Scoring summary
First half
Elgin: Nava (Lara), 2’
Second half
Elgin: Catalan (Omar Saldana), 44’
tops Streamwood
New no. 1 rank not a stumbling block in impressive 2-0 U8 win
By Bobby Narang
ELGIN — Call it a fitting end to a fitting day.
When the final buzzer sounded following Elgin’s 2-0 victory over Streamwood in Upstate Eight Conference action on Monday night, the public address announcer chose a classic song with significant meaning.
As “We Are The Champions” by Queen blared over the speakers at Memorial Stadium, the Maroons slowly walked over to the main grandstand to thank the fans for attending the spirited match.
Earlier Monday, the Maroons were named the no. 1 team in the Chicagoland Soccer Top 25, which marked another banner achievement in a banner season.
In their latest shutout, the Maroons (11-0-3, 3-0-1) got off on the right foot after the honor but still have some work to do -- no team has held the top spot for two-consecutive weeks this season. In addition, Elgin notched its 10th shutout of the season -- the Maroons have allowed just four goals in 14 games.
Elgin first-year coach James Romano said he realized his team hit a significant milestone Monday.
“I don’t know if it has ever been done, so this program is setting a lot of new marks this year,” Romano said. “I’ll have to go back and look at it.
“They knew about the ranking. I told them today. They are humble. I texted them today that they’re number one for a reason, and that they would have a target on their backs. It will be bigger. Everyone is coming out to play them hard, and wants to knock number one off.”
Whether the Maroons can walk off the field with “We Are The Champions” playing in the background at Hoffman Estates High School after the Class 3A championship match Nov. 5 remains to be seen.
For now, the Maroons are all smiles. The win over their rivals, who were undefeated in the conference, brought a great conclusion to their special day.
“Being number one for us is pretty cool, especially since we haven’t done it in a while,” Elgin senior defender and captain Julian Orozco said. “For us, it’s a really big achievement in the Elgin area. It’s big for us but also the community.
“The students and staff are giving us more recognition. It used to be always football and about going to the Friday game. Now it’s more about soccer is doing really well, and let’s go watch them. We’re getting a lot more recognition.
“We have a lot of individual talent. We have to come together as a team and play with each other’s specialties and use our skills as individuals.”
Senior midfielder Geo Catalan, who scored the insurance goal in the second half, indicated the Maroons were pleased with the number one ranking, but the ultimate goal is to win the state title.
“This is stuff you always talk about before the season, when you set goals and try and meet them,” said Catalan, who earned the Chicagoland Soccer Man of the Match for his feverish and impactful play. “To make it a reality is very different.
“Now that we know we’re number one, we know other teams are looking to beat us. We like the competition. We want to prove we’re one of the best teams in the state, and in order to do that, we have to compete every night.”
Streamwood (7-5-2, 2-1-0) had momentum on their side entering their second showdown against Elgin. The Maroons won the first meeting 2-1 on Sept. 17, but the Sabres were missing two key players, notably senior captain Michael Garcia.
Streamwood built off its loss to Elgin and prepped for the rematch by defeating Glenbard South 4-0 and Waubonsie Valley 3-0. But beating the Maroons on their home turf proved to be too tall of a task.
The Sabres kept their defensive scoreless streak intact on Monday for an additional 1 minute, 36 seconds. That’s all it took before the Maroons scored the first goal of the game. Standout junior forward Eduardo Nava scored on a header after a pass from German Lara.
Streamwood coach Matt Polovin said he disagreed with the call on Nava’s header, which hit both posts.
“We gave them two chances tonight,” Polovin said. “Our plan was to double team (Eduardo Nava). They try and hit him 99.9 percent of the time. We did very well the rest of the game, but that second minute, we gave him a goal. We weren’t goal side of him.
“The ball was crossed in, and he jumped up, headed it off two poles, and it went out of bounds. But somehow that was counted as a goal. It hit off the far post and came across and hit the pole. It didn’t look like it came close to crossing the line.
“But the point is, he should’nt have had a chance like that to get his head on the ball. That’s what’s frustrating the most. That was his only chance all game. Marcos Gutierrez and Diogo Magana did a phenomenal job on him. They minimized any chance he touched the ball or to do anything toward the goal.
“We have to be better defensively. We had one little slip up. The second goal caught us flat-flooted. We were kind of hanging back and disrupted him and made him go backward.
“We had so many chances, especially in the second half. I would love to see them a third time. We have to forget about tonight, and keep playing like we’ve been the last few games.”
Garcia said the early goal was tough to swallow for many reasons, mainly because it immediately squashed the Sabres’ momentum from their two-game winning streak.
“They possessed the ball pretty good, but we have to finish our chances,” Garcia said. “We have to move the ball. They had two chances and finished both of them. My mindset, I thought it wasn’t a goal, but they called it. We had to get it back.”
Nava added to his solid season with the goal, but he received a red card with 6:23 left in regulation that will put him on the sidelines. He felt he let down his teammates after getting in a brief argument with a Streamwood player.
Nava said he was excited to get the goal.
“I got the ball … I jumped and headed it, placed it and it went in, a (good) header from the top of the box,” Nava said. “I put some force into it. But now, I’ll be out. We got a great team and can go far. This might be a bad game for me, but a good game for my team.”
Streamwood senior captain Hugo Marquez said the first goal was a big shock that took some time to digest. The Sabres closed out the game with four shot attempts in the final 26 minutes, highlighted by A.J. Sabanovic’s header that was saved in the 69th minute. Sanchez blasted a shot way wide in the 70th minute.
Sabres junior goalie Jason Ramirez had four saves in the defeat.
“It was hard, because a lot of players put their heads down. But I tried to get their heads up, because we still had a lot of time on the clock,” Marquez said. “The way we saw the chances was really good, just the way we broke down their defense. They’re really talented and know how to play with each other and move the ball to the back and play it back up. The fact we played well in the second half shows a lot.”
Elgin tacked on an insurance goal in the 44th minute, when Catalan’s slow roller from 23 yards away snuck through the Sabres’ backline and inside the far post.
Catalan said it was a satisfying win before a crowd of nearly 300 fans on a cold night.
“We always try and follow each other up, because you never know what’s going to happen,” Catalan. “I was able to capitalize and score on that one.
“I know a lot of people from Streamwood, with a lot of my friends playing there. It’s always fun to have that friendly competition against them, and to have bragging rights after the game. We all wanted to get a win and stay undefeated.”
Elgin’s defense played stoutly. It did not allow Streamwood any clean looks at the net and forced them to attempt wild shots that often sailed over the post or wide. The pressure of a 2-0 deficit also took its toll.
“We had to stay patient, but we knew time was running down,” Garcia said.
Meanwhile, Orozco said Elgin’s backline stuck to the game plan and helped the Maroons stay undefeated.
“We played as a team, especially in the first half,” Orozco said. “We played really well defensively and in the middle. We were really disrupting their plays and not letting their playmakers do much in the midfield, which really helped us out counterattacking and doing our thing.”
Elgin made it to the Sweet 16 in the state tournament last fall and finished with a 12-3-5 record.
Romano said his program is motivated to do even better this season and has its eyes on the prize. He credited his teammates for playing a solid 80 minutes against a quality Streamwood program.
“We saw them a week ago in the semifinals of the Streamwood tournament,” he said. “I know their players well, and they’re a quality program and it’s a rivalry game. We knew they were going to bring it.
“It was a great soccer match. It was good for us. We knew it was going to be a battle and come down to a couple of plays. We had to execute. We played lockdown defense.
“This team fights like brothers and lifts each other up like brothers. That bond carries on and off the field. I’ve never seen anything like that. Talent-wise, they’re so talented to go with caring so much for each other. It’s a different group."
Starting lineups
Streamwood
GK: Jason Ramirez
D: Diego Magana
D: Aaron Taboada
D: Marcos Gutierrez
D: Alex Alcala
MF: Hugo Marquez
MF: Trey Yi
MF: Bryan Huerta
MF: Andy Mendoza
F: Michael Garcia
F: A.J. Sabanovic
Elgin
GK: Kleber Rodriguez
D: German Lara
D: Geovanny Aviles
D: Julian Orozco
D: Edgar Perez
MF: Omar Saldana
MF: Aaron Saldana
MF: Geo Catalan
F: Miguel Navarro
F: Erick Ortiz
F: Eduardo Nava
Chicagoland Soccer Man of the Match:
Geo Catalan, sr., MF, Elgin
Scoring summary
First half
Elgin: Nava (Lara), 2’
Second half
Elgin: Catalan (Omar Saldana), 44’