Make it two straight wins for Hoffman Estates

For Hoffman Estates' boys soccer team, the sense of repeating itself must have been suffocating.

The Hawks have been up and down and all around in the Mid-Suburban League this season, including recently, a once-close match with Buffalo Grove which ended in a 7-1 Bison romp, followed by a well played goal-less hour against Fremd which ended up having the Hawks concede 3 straight goals in a 3-0 defeat.

Things took a turn for the better for Hoffman Estates on Tuesday, as coach Matt Sriver's team topped division rival Conant 2-1 to earn its first victory of the year.

And the winning trend continued Thursday, on the strength of a Noe Padilla strike and perhaps their most complete all-around effort of the season as the Hawks registered a 1-0 triumph against host Hersey.

"We've played some terrific 55-60 minute games, but in this conference if you don't play 80 minutes, you're not going to end up with the result you want," said Sriver, whose team improved to 2-6-0 overall and 2-4-0 in the MSL. "After a slow start, we turned things around to play a solid 70-plus minutes against a Hersey team which is well-coached by one of the great coaches around in Darren Llewellyn, so we're obviously pleased to come away with 3 points tonight."

The Hawks looked vulnerable during the early exchanges, unable to possess or win many first and second balls while conceding a handful of deep throws and corners.

But after the Huskies (3-6-4, 2-4-0) started to fade, the visitors began to play through all-area senior Konrad Kieruzal and midfield teammates Padilla, Luis Gurrola and Declan Rustay.

"We've been struggling of late, so this win, along with the one against Conant, was something we really needed," said Kieruzal. "When we get everyone involved and don't play as individuals, we can be a pretty good soccer team, and tonight that's exactly what we did."

Kieruzal's ability to distribute gave the Hawks a distinct advantage, as did the pace up top from Remzi Ahmeti, who ran hard the entire night to help force the Huskies' back line to be conscious of the speedy senior.

"No. 10 (Ahemti) was dangerous when he was on the ball, but we had a lot of trouble in the midfield all night long, which is going to happen as we continue to play a really young lineup in a quality soccer conference like this one," said Llewellyn. "We did some good things out there tonight, but we were not dangerous at all in the final third, or for that matter, in most of our dead-ball chances."

Padilla found the upper-right corner from 40 yards in the 27th minute, and the visitors still had the advantage after the break after dominating the first 15 minutes after the intermission.

The Hawks play Streamwood on Saturday, while Hersey will begin training for three matches next week, beginning with host Palatine on Tuesday.

"We have more technically gifted players then we've had in awhile, so we'll play more wide open soccer from here on out and get our young players some valuable time together, with an eye on the future," Llewellyn said.