Gratz goal lifts Cary-Grove by Dundee-Crown
Calm, collected and relaxed.
Those emotions were running through the mind of Cary-Grove senior midfielder Josh Gratz when he attempted a penalty shot with 24:20 remaining in Thursday's boys soccer game against Dundee-Crown.
Gratz calmly blasted a shot past Dundee-Crown senior goalkeeper Jose Gonzalez for the match's lone goal as Cary-Grove was able to post a hard-fought 1-0 win over the host Chargers in Fox Valley Conference Valley Division action in Carpentersville.
"I was completely focused and blocked everything out of my mind," said Gratz, "I knew where I was going with the ball. I was confident I
would score. This was one of the three most physical games I have ever played in. I will sleep well tonight."
Another hero for the Trojans (15-2, 4-1) was senior goalkeeper Ethan Csoka.
Csoka's biggest save of the match came with 4:20 remaining. D-C senior defender Ivan Sanchez raced through the Cary-Grove defense and blasted a shot on Csoka from 10 yards out. The Cary-Grove senior dove and deflected the ball over the net to preserve the shutout.
"I thought the ball was in for a goal," said Csoka. "I luckily just got enough of my hand on the ball to deflect the shot. Dundee-Crown is an excellent team and they really put a lot of pressure on me for the entire game. It was a good win and a tough win."
D-C (12-6, 2-2) came out as the aggressor in the first half. The Chargers, who had 5 shots on goal in the first 15 minutes, missed on a golden opportunity with 32:52 left in the first half when Freddy Martinez's breakaway shot sailed over the net.
"We came out with great intensity the first few minutes and missed on some great opportunities," said D-C coach Rey Vargas. We played really hard but one dumb foul cost us."
Dundee-Crown outshot Cary-Grove 10-8 in the game. Csoka garnered 5 saves in the match while Gonzalez collected 6 saves.
"Dundee-Crown is a very talented, very good and very fast team," said Cary-Grove coach Mark Olson. "This is a very good win on the road. Our seniors Josh and Ethan came up big. They did a great job. D-C came out blazing and we didn't match their intensity the first 5 or 6 minutes of the match. This was a very physical match. Both teams played very hard."