Dundee-Crown’s winning streak hits 11
It took a penalty kick to get Dundee-Crown going.
The Chargers had several chances in the first half against Huntley, but couldn’t find the back of the net until Eduardo Arellano converted a penalty kick 3 minutes into the second half. The Chargers followed with 2 more goals, defeating the Red Raiders, 3-1, in the Fox Valley Conference Valley Division boys soccer opener for both teams Tuesday in Carpentersville.
Paul Buch and Francisco Nava added goals for the Chargers (11-1, 1-0), who won their 11th in a row.
“We had our opportunities and we came out ready to go,” said Dundee-Crown coach Rey Vargas. “Not getting one in that half just kind of shut us down a little bit. But getting that PK riled us up again. Luckily, we got it going.”
Five minutes after Arellano’s goal, Lucas Baker answered for Huntley on a quick shot off Christian Ramos’ corner kick. But the tie didn’t last long.
Buch took a nice cross from Arellano and settled it into the open net. Nava added an insurance goal on a breakaway 4 minutes later, as all the scoring was bunched in a 12-minute span early in the second half.
While not taking anything away from D-C, Huntley coach Kris Grabner thought his team suffered a bit of a letdown after facing some tough competition in the Pepsi Showdown.
“We didn’t come out to play,” said Grabner, whose team lost its third straight after a 9-0 start. “This was by far the worst game we’ve played all year, partially due to the play of Dundee-Crown. I thought they did a great job. They’ve got a real nice team, but also we come off the Pepsi Showdown. You’re in a big event, and they don’t know how to react after that.”
The Chargers had several scoring chances in the first 40 minutes, particularly on breakaways by Jose Angeles and Malik Washington, but Huntley goalkeeper Tommy Helm was equal to the task.
The Red Raiders (9-3, 0-1) got going at the end of the half. After Charger keeper Christian Martinez stopped Jaime Quintana’s free kick, Niko Mihalopoulos pounced on the rebound, but his shot hit the crossbar. Minutes later Jakub Rys fired a header from point-blank range, but Martinez made the stop.
Shortly after intermission, Washington raced in on a breakaway but was pulled down from behind, resulting in Arellano’s penalty kick.