Round-up: Maroons blank Storm

With their leading goal scorer out, Elgin's boys soccer team had to change its game plan, and it worked as the Maroons defeated South Elgin 2-0 in an Upstate Eight Conference game Thursday night at Millennium Field.

Lucas Valencia suffered a minor concussion earlier in the week, which forced Elgin coach Dave Borg to move Joel Perez to forward.

"With Lucas out, we were wondering what we were going to do," Borg said. "I have to tip my hat to (Perez). He has played outer-mid, center-mid and forward and hasn't been able to settle in to one set position."

Perez put the game-inner into the Storm net halfway through the first half with an assist from Pedro Rodriguez.

The Maroons (9-6, 3-3) put the final nail into the Storm's coffin in the second half when Omar Dina scored off a pass from Perez.

But after keeping the Storm's shot on goal count to 2 in the first half, Maroons goalkeeper, Nikil Satish, had to work extra hard in the second half as the Storm (3-8, 0-5) tallied 6 shots on goal the final 40 minutes.

"He told me before the game he was going to have a big night," Borg said of Satish. "We were working hard to preserve the shutout for him."

For the Storm, it was missed opportunity after missed opportunity that killed it with several open chances.

In the first half, Ernesto Caballero edged his way ahead of the Maroons' defenders for a one-on-one chance against Satish, but shot it right at the goalie.

"We were dangerous, or at least more dangerous than usual," said Storm coach Mark Neville.

Caballero had another one-on-one chance with Satish, missing just wide right with 13 minutes left in the first half.

The second half saw more of the same with five breakaway chances.

Bartosz Mazurek had two breakaways in the first 12 minutes of the half shooting directly to Satish while Kevin McElwain, James Hollander and Devin Crockett each had one-on-one chances as well.

The Storm's best chance came with around 17 minutes left to play as Hollander made a perfect pass to Javier Rojo, who ended up hitting the post on the then game-tying chance.

Boys soccer

Indian Creek 3, Elgin Academy 2: Elgin Academy (1-9-1) fell just shy of victory losing to Indian Creek 3-2. Dan Zecchiolla scored the first of the 2 goals for the Hilltoppers on a corner kick. Nick Garcia scored the second unassisted, while Brandon Cork was in the net and collected 17 saves.

Westminster Christian 4, Christian Life 1: Tyler Beachler, Ben Carani, Pierce McKenna, and J.J. Marshall each had a goal for Westminster Christian (7-7-3) in its 4-1 win over Rockford Christian Life. Cory Hodge contributed 2 assists while Steven Hoeflich also contributed an assist. Ethan Flickenger was in the goal for Westminster Christain and had 4 saves.

St. Edward 2, Aurora Central Christian 0:ΠSt. Edward (2-13, 2-1) pulled out this Suburban Catholic Conference win in the second half of play against Aurora Central Catholic. Alex Ptak scored first for the Green Wave and was assisted by Clay Pfeiffer. Alex Koller then scored St. Edward's second and final goal, assisted by David Smith. Will Lytle collected 5 saves for the Wave

Burlington Central 3, Richmond-Burton 1: The Rockets (9-4-2, 4-1-1) sealed the deal in the second half of play in this Big Northern East win. Enrique Alvarado scored Burlington Central' s first goal on a penalty kick. Daniel Conran scored the next 2 goals, assisted by Ryan Reopelle and Michael McCurdy. Kyle DeRaedt was in the goal and collected 4 saves for BC

Johnsburg 2, Huntley 1: Huntley (8-7, 5-2) couldn't pull out the Fox Valley Fox win against Johnsburg in double overtime. Dan Regan scored Huntely's only goal. Kevin Montelongo had 12 saves.

Larkin 2, Waubonsie Valley 2: Larkin (9-3-2, 3-1-2) and Waubonsie Valley tied in an Upstate Eight Conference match. Louis Maldanalo scored first for the Royals followed by Raul Sandoval. They were both unasisted. Raziel Somarriba had 4 saves for Larkin.

Crystal Lake South 1, Jacobs 0: Crystal Lake South (11-7-1, 4-3) defeated Jacobs in a FVC Valley match. Kevin Novak scored the only goal for the Gators, assisted by Mike McKenna. Danny Trevor was in the net for Jacobs with 4 saves, and Zach Dalzell was in the goal for Crystal Lake South and he had 1 save.

Cary-Grove 2, Dundee-Crown1: Cary-Grove (13-2, 5-2) outlasted Dundee-Crown in a FVC Valley game. Andy Martin had Cary-Grove's first goal and was assisted by Calvin Brown. Andy Roberts then scored on a free kick. Wyatt Vucic scored Dundee-Crown's only goal and was assisted by Eugene Zau. In the goal for Dundee-Crown was Mike Zozokos with 12 saves, and in goal for Cary-Grove was Keenan Walsh with 8 saves.

Boys golf

Big Northern meet: Sam Schmalz shot a 78 to take third place individually and lead Burlington Central to a fourth-place team finish at the Big Northern Conference meet at Timber Pointe. Rockford Lutheran won the meet with a 320 but Byron , which had a 325, finished first overall in the league. Marengo was third in Thursday's meet with a 336, BC had a 359 and Hampshire finished fifth with a 362. Peter Cappas shot an 80 for the Rockets to finish sixth while Grant Yoder had an 83 to finish 11th for Hampshire.

Women's soccer

St. Ambrose 2, Judson 1: After taking a 1-0 lead in the second half, Judson University (3-5-1) couldn't hold onto the lead as St. Ambrose University (4-5-1) came back to win. Samantha Vestal scoredJU's only goal. Rebecca O'Donnell recorded 9 saves in the loss.