St. Charles E. blanks Batavia

The St. Charles East boys soccer team is making a road trip down to Carbondale this weekend.

Thanks to Thursday’s 3-0 shutout over Batavia in the Upstate Eight River Conference opener for both squads, an undefeated record will accompany the Saints to a city most known for its Salukis.

“We were a young team last year and went through some rough patches, but it’s all part of the process,” Saints coach Paul Jennison said. “We took our share of knocks last year.”

The Saints were the ones delivering blows to the Bulldogs, a team that’s just getting its feet wet after graduating 16 players from last year’s sectional-qualifying team.

“We’re being realistic and learning how to play at this level,” Bulldogs coach Mark Gianfrancesco said. “We’ve already seen some glimpses of quality play. We’re trying to build chemistry and know we have to be patient.”

St. Charles East senior Kevin Kurtz showed poise by scoring on a penalty kick in the opening half. Kurtz was awarded the opportunity after sophomore teammate Zach Manibog was upended.

Batavia (0-2-0, 0-1-0) nearly tied it with a little more than a minute left before halftime, but junior Nick Samperi’s shot was secured by Saints keeper, Chris Lucatorto.

St. Charles East (2-0-0, 1-0-0) extended its lead at the 28:47 mark of the second half when Jacob Sterling connected.

“That second goal was premiere, prime-time,” Jennison said. “They don’t get much better than that.”

Sophomore Taylor Ortiz joined in on the fun as he rolled in the final goal with 3:14 left.

Lucatorto protected the shutout with 27 seconds remaining when he batted away a free kick from Batavia’s John Barnes. It was one of only a few good scoring chances for the Bulldogs.

“We’re solid in the back and that helps the midfield,” Saints senior Michael Macek said. “(Elliot) Welter was winning so many airballs and so many of the other guys were great. It’s been a very good start.”

While it’s only been two games, Macek and the rest of the Saints are hopeful that this is just the beginning of a very successful season.

“We worked a lot on running and with fitness coming into the season and I think that’s going to be good for us,” he said. “I remember losing to some teams last year and it would be nice to return the favor.”

Batavia beat the Saints last year, 6-1. One favor has now been returned.