Bartlett, South Elgin play to scoreless tie
When Bartlett boys soccer coach Ben Beary put out a call for a sweeper, it wasn’t surprising that Fabio Aiello answered.
Usually a midfielder known for his ability to attack, Aiello made several key plays to prevent South Elgin from scoring. But with Aiello back on defense, the Hawks couldn’t manage to net a goal, tying the Storm 0-0 in the Upstate Eight Conference Valley Division opener for both teams Thursday night at Millennium Field in Streamwood.
“This is my first time playing sweeper,” Aiello said. “I just felt comfortable back there.”
Aiello was called on to play sweeper after regular starter Joey Morgan received a red card in the Hawks’ 4-3 Pepsi Showdown win over Washington in 4 overtimes Wednesday.
Known for his speed and quickness to the ball, Beary knew Aiello would make an excellent candidate to fill in on defense against a much taller South Elgin (3-2-1) team.
“That’s part of the captain he is,” Beary said. “(Against Washington) Joey got a red card and we tried something out and got scored on. Then we put Fabio back there and got scored on twice. Then we got organized back there, and he’s part of the reason we got organized back there. Not having him in the middle hurt us, but he’s the reason we have a 0 (on the scoreboard).”
With 28 minutes left in the game, South Elgin striker David Left had a near break when he wiggled past the Hawks’ defense and looked to score. Before Left could get a clear shot on goal, Aiello was able to clear the ball out and set South Elgin up with a throw-in.
Even during the closing seconds of the game, Aiello needed to clear the ball out after South Elgin had scrambled to get one last shot off. He managed to bicycle kick the ball to clear it out as time expired.
“You’re never going to be hurting with Fabio back there,” Storm coach John Uvegas said. “We put one of our forwards up trying to keep him off the ball. We were a lot more patient with the ball. We had possessions, it was just one of those things that both teams had a hard time getting the ball in the net.”
Bartlett (2-2-1) had scoring opportunities to open each half of play. Ramiro Arroyo almost scored in the opening minute of play when he hit the goal post off a corner kick. Anthony DiNuzzo suffered a similar fate 2 minutes into the second half. The senior wiggled past the Storm defense to set up an open shot. The shot was met by South Elgin goalkeeper Tyler Shipon, who made a leaping save to prevent the score. Shipon finished with 3 saves after entering the game at halftime. Starting goalkeeper Jarod Schieler netted 4 in the first half. Bartlett goalkeeper Alex Corona netted 4 saves.