Boys soccer: Streamwood shuts down South Elgin

The Streamwood boys soccer team proved it can play on any type of field Thursday night.

The Sabres are use to utilizing their speed when they play their home games on the artificial turf at Millennium Field, but didn't seem to be slowed down much by the longer grass at South Elgin as they rolled to their third straight win with a 2-0 victory.

"The guys were a little concerned because the grass is really thick here," Streamwood coach Matt Polovin said. "But I thought we played at a real good pace. We moved the ball around with some quick 1-2 touches and guys were moving off the ball. It was refreshing."

Streamwood dominated the first half with an 8-0 shot advantage, but only managed 1 goal. Christian Lopez got the Sabres on the board with 13:29 left in the half. It was a bit of a fluke goal. Lopez was to the right of the net and trying to center a pass when it deflected off the back of a defender and trickled into the net.

"The ball found its way into the net," Lopez said. "That's all that matters. I'll take it. We were in the mindset that we weren't going to let the different kind of field affect us. We have to play our game no matter the conditions. We always play good possession and we just carried that into this game."

South Elgin went more on the attack in the second half created a few scoring opportunities but couldn't cash in.

"We struggled in the first half to get the ball up the field," said South Elgin coach Simon Brinklow. "But I thought we did a better job of moving the ball quicker in the second half. I felt we were the better team in the second and had a couple clear cut chances to score. But once again we had periods of time where we played very well and other periods where we didn't."

South Elgin's best scoring chance came with 31:40 left in the game when Nicholas Flores worked his way free for a wide-open shot from 20 yards, but Streamwood goalkeeper Daniel Dominguez came up with a big kick save to protect the lead.

'Daniel is a big time keeper," Polovin said. "One of the best in the area. So we expect him to make the big saves when we need them."

The rest of the Sabres' defense did a great job of helping to record the team's second straight shutout. Polovin pointed to the play of center Brian Mora as the key for the defense'

"He was the engine for us," Polovin said. "His distribution and awareness were excellent. He was keeping the ball moving from side to side and was hitting guys on the run with passes."

Oscar Chavez added a late goal to seal the deal for the Sabres.