Boys soccer: Ajroja, Dundee-Crown stop Round Lake for North Shore title
There are good reasons Julian Ajroja is headed to play soccer at Michigan State next fall, and some of them were on display Saturday — such as the playmaking and leadership he brings to the pitch for Dundee-Crown.
Entering his fourth year on the varsity for the Chargers. Ajroja has matured into in the kind of player every coach hopes to develop.
“I just do whatever I can to do to help the team win,” Ajroja said. “Whether it's scoring, finding the next pass, maybe getting some through balls. Whatever it takes to get the goals we need. Especially defensively, keeping the shape.”
On Saturday, he contributed to all three of Dundee-Crown's goals with assists in a 3-1 victory over Round Lake in the North Shore Shootout final in Lake Forest. It was the second tournament win for the Chargers in the last five years.
Mario Solano, Jason Miller and Roland Dearborn each scored.
“I always tell the guys if you can't make a shot, then find the next pass,” said Ajroja, who already has 4 goals and 5 assists. “It makes us look better if you make the pass than lose the ball. In some cases assists are better than making a goal.”
Dundee-Crown won all three of its games this past week in the tournament and started out 4-0.
“It's a great start to the season and I give all the credit to the boys for working hard,” Dundee-Crown coach Ray Vargas said. “They just really wanted it and they got it. The boys have been responding pretty well to the pressure. The nice thing is, they tend to bounce back when things go down for us. I think we did a good job accomplishing what we needed to do.”
The Chargers jumped out to a 1-0 lead late in the first half in the 36th minute. Ajroja set up Solano for the first goal.
Round Lake (2-1) got a goal back in the 44th minute, when Jesus Ramos curled a kick from outside the box on the right side and found the side netting.
Dundee-Crown responded with 2 goals in a five-minute span. Miller scored near the back post after Ajroja sent a ball high and off the hands of Round Lake backup keeper Ulies Nuno in the 59th minute. Then Dearborn scored into an open net after making a move past keeper Nuno for the other goal and a 2-goal advantage.
“(Dundee-Crown) was a good team, and they're solid,” Round Lake coach Hugo Tellez said. “We just couldn't score. We had chances in the first half and couldn't finish. The chances (Dundee-Crown) got, they netted the goals.”
• In the consolation, fifth place match, Carmel Catholic rolled past lake Forest 4-2 on Saturday. Rob Rao and Henry Barnes had 2 goals apiece for the Corsairs (2-1), while Lake Forest (1-2) had goals from Christophe Wettermann and Thomas Cutting.
Carmel has scored 9 goals in its last two matches and 11 goals in the three games in the tournament.
“We played with attitude to generate goals,” Carmel Coach Ray Krawzak said. “We still need to smooth things on the backline and need to come together. I'm very optimistic with our attack and how we can generate it.”
• Lakes won its final game in the North Shore Shootout with a 3-0 victory over Lake Forest Academy to earn third place.
Brett Holmes led the Eagles (2-1) with a goal and an assist. Max Keenan and Jeff Milostan had the other goals, and Matthew Mercure had an assist.
Danny Wieczorek made 8 stops in earning a shutout in goal.