Boys soccer: Elgin blanks Hampshire

Hampshire's boys soccer team definitely got off to a slow start Tuesday.

The Whip-Purs' bus was late arriving for the game against Elgin. Then the Whips gave up a penalty kick and got a player and coach carded off within the first 10 minutes.

But, despite having an extra man, the Maroons were slow to take advantage. They did eventually capture the momentum and with 2 goals from Omar Lopez and rolled to a 4-0 win in nonconference action at Memorial Field.

"It was an ugly game," said Elgin coach Dave Borg. "We're happy with a 4-0 win because we didn't play well. We had some good runs at the end of the second half when we started to have some through balls and our midfielders played better. I thought we'd be lucky to get out of here with a 1-0 win the way it was going. We just couldn't get any kind of rhythm, momentum, or anything going."

Elgin jumped on top when Lopez converted the penalty kick but then stalled. The defense, led by Manny Ramirez and Alex Kunicki, kept Hampshire from threatening either. Braeden Frenette had the Whips' only shot on goal on a free kick midway through the half.

Elgin finally broke through again when Kunicki jumped on a rebound and punched it in in the 33rd minute.

Elgin began to get in sync midway through the second half. Lopez scored his second off a feed from Fernando Nava with 24:25 left. Jean Padilla-Gomez capped the scoring with about 12 minutes left.

"It was a little bit better," said Lopez of the second-half spurt. "But we still didn't play like we want to play."

Hampshire's Sawyer Shores put the ball in the net late in the game, but it was negated by an offside call. It was that kind of day for Hampshire.

"When you give up a penalty kick and lose a guy on a red card in the first 10 minutes, it changes the whole game," said Hampshire coach Rick Schuster. "We told the kids that we can't afford to get red cards. We're not good enough to play 10 on 11."