Boys soccer: Streamwood blanks Bartlett
Talk about starting the season out with a bang.
The Streamwood boys soccer team took all of 12 seconds to score its first goal in the opening game on Tuesday at Millennium Field. It wound up being all the offense the Sabres would need as they went on to a 1-0 win over Bartlett.
In the opening seconds Alex Herrerra poked the ball away from a Bartlett player. He quickly slid it over to Oscar Chavez, who made a quick touch pass to Aldo Lazaro on the left side. Then without hesitation Lazaro let go a kick and put the ball into the back lower left corner of the net.
"I talked to the team before the game about wanting to get a quick score," Streamwood coach Matt Polovin said. "I just had no idea it was going to be that quick. It's pretty amazing to score in 12 seconds. It started with high pressure. That's what we wanted. Then it was just a couple nice passes to get the ball to Aldo."
Lazaro picked up right where he left off last season when he earned All-State honors.
"We wanted to start strong," Lazaro said. "We got good pressure right away and my teammates made a couple passes to get the ball at the top of the box. It's always a big relief to get a goal early. It sets it up for the rest of the game."
The Sabres had a 9-3 shot on goal advantage and had other great scoring opportunities, including two balls off the posts and another off the crossbar, but couldn't cash in.
"I liked the way we put so many shots on frame," Polovin said. "The offense really moved the ball nicely. We just know we have to be able to put more of those shots in the net in the future."
That left it up to the Sabre defense and they were up to the challenge.
"The defense really stuck together and didn't leave any holes," Polovin said, "We have a lot of experience back there, but I thought our overall MVP tonight might have been our freshman center back Jose Ibarra. What he did on the tackles and the 50/50 balls was impressive. He played with no fear and that's hard for a freshman in his first game."
Bartlett had difficulty overcoming the Sabres' quick score. The Hawks' best scoring opportunity came midway through the second half when a free kick from 35 yards out by Carlos Alfaro hit the crossbar.
"That goal changed our whole state of mind for the next 79 minutes and 48 seconds," Bartlett coach Victor Marquez said. "It was just a lapse in concentration. We had some isolated moments where we moved the ball with 4 or 5 passes. We just need to do that more."