Dundee-Crown puts away Hampshire

If not a work of art, Dundee-Crown’s 4-0 boys soccer defeat of Hampshire Thursday was at least symmetrical.

Eduardo Arellano and Salvador Rodriguez both scored goals in each half as the Chargers triumphed in a Fox Valley Conference crossover in Carpentersville. With the win, the Chargers remained undefeated after 4 games.

“There were a couple of things here and there I thought we could have executed a little better, but these guys came out and gave us a battle,” said Chargers’ coach Rey Vargas. “I wouldn’t expect anything less, really.”

The battle was scoreless for more than 30 minutes, until Arellano and Rodriguez struck 2 minutes apart late in the first half.

Arellano pounced on a loose ball after a scrum in front of the Hampshire net and banged it in to give the Chargers the lead. Shortly thereafter, Alex Ramirez made a run up the left side and fired a perfect cross to Rodriguez, who knocked it in from close range.

“We still have some work to do, but I think we’re kind of chipping away at things little by little,” Vargas said. “We seem to have a nice streak going.”

Arellano scored again early in the second half, converting a free kick from about 20 yards out. Rodriguez added an insurance goal in the final minute, knocking in the rebound of a shot by Ben Stone.

D-C goalkeeper Jose Gonzalez was seldom challenged, but turned away all 3 of Hampshire’s second-half shots. Jose Hernandez had a couple of chances for the Whip-Purs (2-2), but Hampshire couldn’t generate much on offense all night.

The Chargers generally controlled the ball in the midfield and, when Hampshire did get the ball, got back quickly.

On offense, Ramirez had a couple of scoring chances in the early going for Dundee-Crown, but passed up perhaps his best chance to feed Rodriguez, who was wide open on the other side of the net.