Boys soccer: Jacobs dominates Rockford Guilford for sectional crown

The last time the Jacobs boys soccer team took home a sectional plaque, Golden Eagles' head coach Anthony Cappello was a junior on the Cary-Grove soccer team, Noah Melick was one year old, Colin Walsh was nine months old and many of the Golden Eagle freshmen, sophomores and juniors weren't born yet.

So a little history was achieved and a 16-year-streak came to an end at the Class 3A Huntley sectional Friday night as the Golden Eagles earned their second supersectional berth in school history in grand fashion with a dominant 6-1 win over Rockford Guilford.

"We've only won it one other time," Jacobs' Patrick Murphy said. "It seems like we've had good teams in the past and good players so for us to win it it's pretty exciting."

And it only gets more exciting for the Golden Eagles (16-5-4), who will square off against Conant, a 3-1 winner over Addison Trail Friday, on Tuesday at 5 p.m. at the Class 3A Bartlett supersectional at Streamwood's Millennium Field. And if the win over the Vikings is any indication, Jacobs looks determined to make a state appearance for the first time.

The Golden Eagles looked to set the tone early and take Guilford (17-6) out of its game within the first 10 minutes. That was achieved when Jacob Sabella poked in a rebound inside the left post off Murphy's shot in the 5th minute for a 1-0 lead.

Then all craziness ensued 7 minutes later, when 3 goals were scored in a span of 63 seconds.

Melick scored on a cross from Walsh with 28:51 left in the first half for a 2-0 lead but Guilford striker Raul Pulido answered 30 seconds later on a play over the top right off the restart to make it 2-1. But if you blinked or looked away you probably missed Melick, who raced down the right sideline and blasted a shot from 10 yards out 30 seconds later for a 3-1 lead that never wavered.

"We got a goal and they came back and they got a goal and we knew had to pick that up because we can't give that up," Melick said. "It felt big because I felt like they had the momentum and we just had to get our momentum back and we had to score some more."

"We knew we could because we have a good attack," Sabella said. "It was good we got a goal really early so we could start that offense quickly."

Jacobs then poured it on in the second half. Noah Perrone connected on a head-to-head connection with Murphy, who finished his header for a 4-1 lead in the 43rd minute. Walsh added a goal in the 50th minute as he finessed a shot to his left almost even with the goal line that skidded inside the right post for a 5-1 lead. Melick capped the scoring with a hat trick and his 32nd goal of the season from 3 yards out in the 56th minute. The defense did the rest thereafter.

"We scored early so that was a big help," Murphy said. "We just played solid defensively and let them not have much and controlled most of the game and didn't let them create too many chances. If they did it was a far shot or we had close coverage on crosses. We just felt confident in our defending and we create a lot of chances every game."

"It starts with our defenders, we're really solid in the back and they just do their work," Melick added. "They get the ball up and we move the ball around very well."

Jacobs held a 6-3 shot advantage on goal while Guilford put 6 shots off goal and that was they key: get Guilford out of rhythm and set the tone during the first 10 minutes along with relentless scoring mixed in.

"We don't get complacent with goals which is wonderful because we've all been around teams who get a goal and they sit in a bit and we want more," Cappello said. "We felt going forward if we could put a little doubt in their minds and have to deal with our attack we could slow them down."