Boys soccer: Glenbard East gets to work early vs. West Chicago

Sometimes a boys soccer team can redeem itself in the second half.

Glenbard East didn't give West Chicago the time to do it.

The Rams scored an insurance goal just 93 seconds into the second half of Tuesday's Upstate Eight Conference Valley Division game and held on to blank the Wildcats 2-0 in Lombard.

It was déjà vu of sorts, as the Rams needed only a little more than two minutes in the opening half to take a 1-0 lead.

"One of the things we're trying to establish is setting the tone early and getting ourselves into a good rhythm," Rams coach Josh Adler said. "That helps us build confidence in ourselves."

Librado Olivares got things started for the Rams (5-4-2, 3-1-0), taking a feed from fellow senior Belgoni Basunda and finishing it.

"Coach always says we have to progress going up the field and he tells us when to hold that ball like Belgoni did," Olivares said. "I ran off and Belgoni held it up top and then laid it off to me. I had a good strike and luckily it went in the back of the net."

It was Belgoni's turn with 38:27 left in the second half as he sped past the remaining defenders and deposited it into the back of the net to make it 2-0.

"We just kept fighting until we scored another goal," Belgoni said. "We knew that would help us get the win."

West Chicago (5-6-1, 1-1-1) was shut out for just the third time this season.

"They get the second one and it kind of tears you apart and breaks you down a bit," Wildcats coach Jose Villa said. "Hat's off to them. (Belgoni) is great up top, super fast and hard to contain and they made the saves they needed back there to get the win."

Charlie Tennant, Edwin Alanis, Fabian Medina and Arturo Marquez all had scoring chances in the second half for the Wildcats, including a header from Marquez that required a diving save from Glenbard East goalkeeper Jose Carrillo.

"We're happy with creating chances, but we're not finishing," Villa said. "We can continue to control possession, but at the end of the day if we don't finish them this will be the scoring line the rest of the season."

A lot of that had to do with the Rams, who constantly applied pressure.

"Our goal is to try to be a disruptive team and force them into situations where they're not comfortable in taking shots," Adler said. "This was a great team effort and puts us in a good place right know where hopefully we'll keep rolling."