Alfaro, Brauner pave the way for Buffalo Grove against Hersey
It was too much Alex Alfaro and Drew Brauner on Tuesday night in Mid-Suburban League boys soccer.
Their presence helped visiting Buffalo Grove defeat Hersey 2-0 in an MSL opener for both clubs at Roland Goins Stadium.
The twosome was at the heart of most of what the Bison were able to manufacture, especially during a first-half downpour. And teammate Manny Marzariegos opened the scoring at two minutes to chalk up a crucial away goal.
"It was a bit of bad luck which led to that first goal, but in the end, we didn't deal real well with their speed and size, as well as No. 9 (Alfaro), who did a lot of creative things for them in the middle tonight," said Hersey coach Darren Llewellyn, who listed just one senior in his starting lineup.
"That might have been our most complete effort thus far," said Brad Abel, who is in his first year as head coach for the Bison after a long and successful tenure as the girls head coach at Hersey. "Getting that first goal so early was huge for us, and it was a great way to start against a Darren Llewellyn-coached team which is always organized and solid, from front-to-back.
Less than two minutes after the opening whistle, the hosts found themselves chasing the lead when Marzariegos unloaded a wicked blast, which was redirected off a player from Hersey (0-2-3, 0-1-0) and found the net - much to the dismay of keeper Brett Harris, who had no chance on the attempt from 30-yards.
Alfaro provided plenty of inspiration in the attack for the Bison (2-3-1, 1-0-0), thanks to some superb work on the ball and a creative touch that sprung several of his mates in the Huskies' area. That forced Llewellyn's group to focus on defending.
"(Alfaro) can do some amazing things with the ball, and tonight you saw some of what he can do," said Brauner.
Brauner, too, provided plenty of pace and energy from his spot as one of the strikers in BG's 4-4-2 formation, and on two occasions, the senior got close before intermission.
Harris nimbly kept on his feet when he came off his line to push away one of Brauner's attempts at 18 minutes. Later, Brendan Carr had a go from long range, only to see Harris save his shot as well.
Finally, a long throw from BG's Hans Haller resulted in a corner kick, and the ever-present Brauner doubled the Bison advantage when his left-footed shot found the far inside netting.
"We distributed and possessed the ball so much better than we had in our first few games at the New Trier tournament last week," said Alfaro.
Llewellyn, who is still tinkering with his roster and rotations, did more of the same after the break. Despite seeing his players compete hard for the final 40 minutes, the Huskies were unable to get on the scoresheet.
"We're going to have to begin to play more direct than we have," Llewellyn said. "We have some technically skilled players, but we're not strong enough, nor do we have the experience, to play that way in this conference."
"There's a lot of young guys on this roster, and it's taking a while for them to deal with playing at this level, and playing from behind, like we did tonight," said Hersey captain Jack Rasmussen.
Next up for the Bison is Hoffman Estates on Saturday morning, while the Huskies travel to Hoffman Estates on Thursday to play Conant.
Schaumburg 8, Rolling Meadows 2: Jessie Lopez scored twice and assisted on another goal, Noah Kostkiewicz scored twice and Jason Schoo had 1 goal and 1 assist to pace the Saxons.