Kaneland still trying to finish

Scoring goals has been a problem for the Kaneland soccer team, a trend that continued Saturday morning in a 0-0 tie at Hinckley-Big Rock.

"We're struggling with that right now," Knights coach Scott Parillo said. "Today I thought we created more scoring chances than we have in previous games, we just didn't finish. I'm not disappointed in how we played. It would just have been nice to get a ball in the back of the net a couple times."

Kaneland (4-6-2) had the majority of chances, though Hinckley-Big Rock (12-1-1) did come close a couple times in the final 20 minutes.

Kaneland coaches were pleased with how the Knights worked the ball and got its outsides involved in the attack. Unfortunately it didn't pay off in any goals Saturday but bodes well for the rest of the season.

"It's a work in progress," Parillo said. "I keep telling the kids it's not how we start the race it's how we finish. Hopefully we take care of that before the state series. We didn't play bad. We connected a lot of passes."

Knights goalie Andrew Mathys turned away the few chances the Royals offered while Kaneland's defense worked to make sure Hinckley-Big Rock didn't get many clean looks.

The Royals' defense did the same to the Knights.

"We made good runs," Kaneland senior midfielder Ivan Bohorquez said. "We got to the corner, we passed nice. If no one was in front we passed back. We just couldn't finish today."

Bohorquez set up perhaps Kaneland's best chance midway through the second half. He sent a long cross from the right side. Cameron Pieczynski got his head on the ball and tried to loft it over keeper Jason Bohannon's head, but Bohannon was able to reach back for the save.

Jack Bullard had most of the Royals' best shot attempts, including one that Mathys saved with 15 minutes left. Eric Phillips had another opportunity moments later but also shot high.

"We blocked them out when they had a chance to take a shot," Bohorquez said. "We pressured them pretty hard."

Royals coach Paul Taeuber credited Jeremy Perales for creating most of their chances.

"Jeremy did a really good job, we've been working on playing a distributing role. Numerous times I said great ball," Taeuber said. "I think Kaneland probably had more shots but all those didn't really have anything on them. We're working on the same thing. We're trying to work for the better opportunities. We got a few of them."

Felipe Speraggi pushed forward in the final minutes a couple times for Kaneland, once putting a ball into the box that the Knights couldn't get a good foot on. Drew Franklin fired the final shot the Royals saved just before time expired.

"The defense did a really good job holding them and not getting beat really ever," Teuber said. "We hung with them enough that we never gave them good opportunities close and we were always there pressuring."