Streamwood edges Elgin

In his entire 15 years of coaching the Streamwood girls soccer team, Matt Polovin has never led the Sabres to an IHSA regional final.

Consider that box checked.

Thanks to an early decision to move up Shonali Pierce-Vazquez to the front line that resulted in a pair of assists from the speedy sophomore, Streamwood beat Elgin 2-1 Wednesday to advance to the Class 3A regional final at 4:30 p.m. Friday at South Elgin against the host Storm, who defeated Larkin 8-0 in Wednesday's first semifinal.

"Usually every year at this point of the season I'm down to one sub because of injuries, my starters are hurt, and then we're always playing St. Charles East, St. Charles North or someone of that caliber," said an elated Polovin, who saw his team improve to 12-11.

On another night, with better weather conditions, the game might have turned out otherwise for Polovin and his charges, as Elgin put forth strong offensive pressure in the last 20 minutes and twice nearly tied the game.

But Streamwood held, and then celebrated.

"I think our whole defensive unit played out of their minds in this game," Polovin said. "With the conditions, with the ball skipping everywhere, I think they tried to minimize any mistakes they could, especially in the second half, keeping that lead."

That lead came about due to a Polovin's decision to shift Pierce-Vazquez from the midfield to forward 20 minutes into the game. That proved to be a shrewd move, as she assisted senior Tawny Carroll's goal in the 36th minute.

Carroll was streaking down the center of the field and slipped a pass over to Pierce-Vazquez, who turned on her defender and passed back to Carroll on the right side. All that was left was for Carroll to bury the ball in the left corner of the net, past sophomore goalkeeper Hannah Erickson.

The move paid dividends early in the second half as Pierce-Vazquez helped break a 1-1 deadlock with another assist. She got loose down the right side, beat two defenders, then fired a perfect cross pass to junior midfielder Vanessa Campos, who chipped the ball into the left corner of the net.

She didn't score Wednesday, but that mattered little to Pierce-Vazquez, who preferred to focus on the bigger picture.

"When he moved me up, I knew I had to step up my game and I helped do it with my speed, and just helping with the assists," she said. "That's just as good as a goal. As long as I helped the team, that's all that matters."

The Maroons, who concluded their season with a 7-12-4 record, made it interesting late, exerting offensive pressure that tested Streamwood's back line of freshmen Esmeralda Navarro and Alex Bonilla, and junior Lexi Wilson, along with sophomore goalkeeper of Yasmine Resendiz.

In the 67th minute, Elgin junior forward Chasya Avendano nearly tied the game with a 20-yard shot that Resendiz just managed to get her fingertips on at the last minute and block over the crossbar, eliciting and "Oooh" from the crowd.

"She was on top of the box, she took a shot, and I just got my hand over it and I tipped it over the crossbar," said Resendiz, who ended with 3 saves. "It felt amazing to save a goal."

Seven minutes later, Avendano nearly struck again, corralling the ball in the center of the 18-yard box, but firing it wide left.

Those were the kind of missed opportunities that left Elgin coach Alicia Knoll glum.

"Definitely disappointed," she said. "They played hard, though, I have to say. They played extremely well, they played strong, and I can't ask for a better game that they end on. They did pressure, they did send balls at the goalie. It's not a bad game to end on. They tried their hardest."

Elgin got its only goal in the 45th minute from Melissa Galarza, who fired a shot from the top of the 18-yard box into the right corner of the net.

The teams each took 10 shots, with Elgin recording 8 on goal, 7 in the second half alone.