West Aurora's late goals do in South Elgin

When West Aurora finally got a couple of scoring chances in the second half, the Blackhawks took advantage.

Jose Gallegos and Damian Castaneda scored in the final 26 minutes to lead West Aurora past South Elgin, 2-0 in Upstate Eight Conference Valley Division boys soccer action in South Elgin Tuesday.

For the first 50 minutes, the game was a taut, physical struggle that produced few scoring chances for either side.

So when Gallegos pounced on a loose ball and drilled it into the net from about 15 yards out in the 55th minute, it was a huge relief for the visitors and a bit dispiriting for the home team.

"I was looking for the shot," Gallegos said. "I saw another defender coming, I faked him out, and then I looked toward the goal and there it was. I just popped it in."

Castaneda added an insurance goal in the 72nd minute, taking a feed from Alejandro Espana right in front of the net and drilled it in.

The West Aurora defense did the rest. After a slow start, the Blackhawk defenders, led by Riley Roos and Luis Gallegos, kept the Storm away from the net, helping goalkeeper Robert Marquez to record the shutout.

"It's nice to come to a place like this that we've never played at, creating a rivalry that we're going to have with us now being in the Upstate Eight," said West Aurora coach Joe Sustersic. "It was nice to win a game on the road."

It was a day of frustration for the Storm, which celebrated Senior Day, but failed to capitalize on a couple of early chances.

Al-Ameer Rosenje came in on a breakaway early in the game, but just missed wide to the left. Luke Bohlin and Jacob McKee also had shots early on but Marquez made the stop each time.

After that the Storm offense bogged down. Goalkeeper Colton Wenig matched Marquez save-for-save for 50 minutes until Jose Gallegos found the range.