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Boys soccer: Castro casts his spell late in match

Boys soccer

Despite being quiet for most of the afternoon, Jesse Castro was loud and clear twice in the final quarter hour to help host Christian Liberty Academy defeat Guerin Prep 3-2 in a nonconference boys soccer match on Monday in Arlington Heights.

The home side opened with an impressive 10 minutes of box-to-box play which put the visitors under pressure.

But the Chargers (3-3-0) still ended up trailing when Crusaders talented striker Liam Carroll, on the turn, used a sublime touch to finish a superb helper chipped up and over the top from Cody Gomez for a 1-0 lead.

"I thought we came out and dominated, but that always doesn't show up on the scoreboard, and for us today, we found ourselves a goal down despite our terrific start," said Chargers coach Aaron DeRidder.

Following its 8-goal explosion against Morgan Park Academy on Friday, it appeared the Chargers were ready to pick up where they left off last Friday.

But while Castros and his teammates Isaiah Jaime, Miguel Perez, Alex Tolford and Ben Woods showed plenty of quality going forward, they still had to watch Crusaders freshman keeper Matt Gallagher make one brilliant save after another to help his club stay in the match.

"Their keeper really did a great job for them - he cleaned up so much, and probably kept us from getting 3 or 4 goals in the first half," DeRidder said.

Gallagher gave the crowd a glimpse of what was to come when he turned away both Castro and Jaime in the first minute, and then Woods and Castro in back-to-back point blank attempts six minutes later.

"Our offense was very good last Friday with those 8 goals that we scored, but I don't feel like it made us overconfident coming into this game," said Woods, who was strong from his usual spot in front of the Chargers' back line. "It's just that we couldn't finish our chances, and Guerin was a much better opponent."

The first of 2 goals from Carroll gave the visitors all the confidence they would need.

Following the 19th-minute strike, Guerin (0-4-1) went right at the home side as it went about in its search to double its advantage before intermission.

Carroll, Polo Lopez, Cody Gomez and sophomore Julius Lugo combined nicely on a handful of exchanges to force Chargers keeper Jimmy Cunningham into action.

But a well-played counter executed by Alex and Josh Tolford set up Miguel Perez for the equalizer in the 32nd minute.

Both sides started brightly after the break. Each played with a little more freedom and urgency in the attack. But once again it was Gallagher who came to rescue for Guerin Prep.

He took two out of the back of the net, one of which was likely with his best effort on the day against Castro at 49 minutes.

Castro put the Chargers in front with his right-footed angled low blast at 70 minutes, only to have Carroll answer just two minutes later.

When the Crusaders were unable to clear the area, Castro ran onto a sitter to the left of Gallagher and fired his game-winner into the far inside netting.

The final few minutes got chippy, and the officiating crew booked two players while sending off a Guerin Prep player to force the visitors to play a man down the rest of the way.

"We made some adjustments at the half moving Isaiah in as our center midfielder, and Alex (Tolford) where he made a big impact with his speed on the ball," said DeRidder, whose club is on the road Tuesday at Walther Christian. "But it still was a tough game against a team which was much better than its record."

Guerin Prep hosts Aurora Central Catholic in a Metro Suburban game in River Grove.

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