Streamwood's sharp against Niles West
Donnie Sosa's first-half double gave Streamwood (5-2-1) a big lift as the Sabres went on to dismantle an undermanned Niles West club 7-1 to open their PepsiCo Showdown appearance on a high note.
Next up for the Sabres' boys soccer team in the tournament will be either No. 5 Libertyville or Oswego on the road this Tuesday.
"It was exactly the type of start to this game and tournament that we wanted," said Sosa, who opened the scoring just four minutes into this bone-chilling 8 a.m. match in LaGrange, then answered the Wolves' equalizer with the eventual game-winner in the eighth minute with a screamer from the right side to fuel a 6-goal first period onslaught.
"I know they were without their starting keeper, and that's always tough, but we created and finished chances all throughout that first half, and that's something we want to see from the guys and it's something we will have to do the rest of the way," said Streamwood coach Matt Polovin, whose club recently lifted the championship trophy at the Jacobs Tournament.
The Sabres never looked short of ideas in the attack against Niles West (2-4-2) and immediately set out to test keeper Pujan Patel, who was promoted from the JV when the Wolves' terrific sophomore keeper Carlos Lome was red-carded in last Thursday's 4-1 loss at Niles North.
"It was a tough one to throw Pujan into today, especially with us missing two starters as well - but that's no excuse for our defensive work in the first half," said Niles West coach Scott Ackman.
Sosa and teammate Alan Camarena were both a thorn in the side of the Wolves with their pace and energy up top and they combined to give the Sabres their first goal.
The lead was short-lived, however, and after some trouble in the Sabres' end allowed Denis Soldo to equalize 60 seconds after the Sosa goal, the junior struck again.
Camarena doubled the lead with his team-leading seventh goals in the 19th minute, and the Sabres were off and running.
Blerim Shoboni enjoyed his minutes off the bench for Polovin, striking for the Sabres' next 3 goals, his third coming seconds before intermission to increase the lead to 6-1 at the break.
"I didn't like us giving away that goal so easily after Donnie's first goal, it's something we just cannot afford to do when we play even more important games from here on out," said Polovin.
"I thought we had a very good half of soccer," said Soto, "and we didn't let up in the second half, even with that big lead, and that was another great thing about today's win."
Edwin Rueda enjoyed a marvelous day at midfield for the Sabres as the team's chief creator, while Aaron Villegas, Erie Ortiz and captain Mike Delaney did well to keep the Wolves from putting much toward keeper Sergio Blanco, who turned in a relatively easy 80 minutes of play.
Jasminko Dizdarevic ended the scoring four minutes from time when he steered in the Sabres' final goal after Patel made a sensational first-save on a wicked strike from Camarena.