Cary-Grove relishes second straight Grant title
Cary-Grove's boys soccer team battled through more than a half of soccer in a scoreless tie with host Grant on Saturday afternoon.
The Trojans were trying to get just one goal and they found a few others after that first one. C-G scored 5 second-half goals and won the Grant Soccer Invitational for the second straight year, beating the Bulldogs 5-0.
Mike McKune scored twice and assisted on a goal from his brother Charlie. Kevin Budrech and Joey Klawitter netted the other two goals for the Trojans.
“We were passing the ball around in the first half, but we were holding onto it too long,” Cary-Grove coach Mark Olson said. “(That) allowed (Grant's) physicality to go ahead and beat us.”
The Trojans (4-0-1) put together a storm of goals, four of them in five minutes, and another later.
“Second half, we were pressing, pressing, pressing and something had to give,” Olson said, “The handball actually opened things up for us. After that, the boys didn't stop and smelled things a little bit.”
Mike McKune started the barrage in the 48th minute with a penalty kick after a Bulldogs' player was called for a handball in the box.
“The second half, we came out with a lot of intensity,” Mike McKune said. “We were able to put one away with the PK. We just wanted to score as many as we can. I'm usually the one that steps up for the PKs.”
Budrech made it 2-0 just 47 seconds later, on a one-time kick off a Brian O'Connor cross.
Mike McKune scored his second goal on a header off a service from Brett Schuerg in the 51st minute followed by Charlie McKune with his own head ball that was served from his brother Mike a minute apart for the fourth goal. Joey Klawitter had one other goal in the 60th minute.
Cary-Grove won its earlier game over Harvard 2-1 on Saturday morning. Kevin Wilde and Mike McKune netted the goals.
Grant (2-4) played right with Cary-Grove and had a chance to get past the Trojans.
“We were battling and we were right there,” Grant coach Bryan Mark said. “Second half , (Cary-Grove) got the one goal and then it deflated us.
“We were able to get ourselves in the win column and get a couple of goals. This tournament definitely helped our confidence. I'm disappointed that we didn't win, but second place isn't that bad either.”
Grant got past Grayslake North 1-0 in its other game Saturday morning.
Cary-Grove, a young team this year, was trying to use the Grant Invite as bonding time in its team play.
“Coming up here to play allows them to work together as a team, because of the turf,” Olson said. “We only have three players with varsity experience this year.
“This was an opportunity to get better and to become more cohesive in trying to jell game in and game out. They haven't played that much together. If we work together then we're able to score goals.”
Harvard (5-4) finished in third place with a 1-0 shutout over Grayslake North (2-6).