Kaneland stays hot, avenges loss to DeKalb
What a difference a week makes.
Last Tuesday, Kaneland allowed an own goal against DeKalb in Maple Park to drop its Northern Illinois Big XII opener and fall to 1-4 overall.
Things were definitely looking bleak for the Knights.
On Wednesday in DeKalb though, the Knights avenged that 2-1 loss to DeKalb, shutting out the Barbs, 2-0, to win their third straight.
Talk about a quick turnaround.
"What a big win for us," Kaneland junior midfielder Drew Franklin said. "Last week we came out strong against them too but then they came back to beat us. This feels so much better. We got the win and are now back in the conference race."
Kaneland (4-4-1, 2-1-1) scored what would ultimately be the only goal it would need with 7:48 left in the first half. Junior Cameron Pieczynski was able to elude DeKalb goalkeeper Chris Luna to put the Knights on top.
"It just kind of came to me and I just kind of took a hit on it and it went in," Pieczynski said. "I didn't expect that to happen. I just got the ball and played it."
DeKalb (4-3-2, 2-1-0) managed a handful of scoring chances in the second half, but whenever they tried to conquer Kaneland's back line of Mark Dhom, Matthew Gombar, Jason Carlquist and Jack Wolf, their efforts were negated or ultimately stopped by goalkeeper, Andrew Mathys.
"The big thing throughout this season is that earlier on we weren't really working together," Dhom said. "Now we're stringing some victories together and playing together, like a family. Today, we were focused again and now we're really in the conference race and we showed we can do some good things."
The Knights added some insurance in the second half via a cross from Ivan Bohorquez to Franklin.
"We started going up the field and attacking more," Franklin said. "I got a great cross from Ivan off a defender and you just have to take shots to score. It was fortunate, but I'll take it."
And the Knights will take their winning streak into a few days of practice before they host Yorkville next Tuesday.
"We didn't play a full game the last time we played (DeKalb)," Dhom said. "Tonight we played our hardest for all 80 minutes and the game turned out differently. I think we've learned what we need to do."
According to Kaneland coach Scott Parillo, it was the first time the Knights have beaten DeKalb during the regular season.
"I'm super proud of the guys tonight," he said. "It's never easy to come out here and play. We've knocked them out of the playoffs before, but never in the regular season so we accomplished something tonight."