Huntley blanks Green Wave

Huntley sports a veteran roster, with its top two scorers from last year returning. St. Edward fielded a roster with just 2 seniors and 8 freshman and sophomores. The differences were apparent, as Niko Carbonera scored 3 first-half goals to lead the Red Raiders past the Green Wave, 5-0, in St. Edwards tournament action Tuesday.

Adrian Alejos added a pair of second-half goals for Huntley (2-0).

Carbonera scored twice minutes apart to put the Red Raiders ahead early. He added a third goal on a breakaway at about the halfway mark of the opening half.

Alejos scored twice in rapid succession in a second half otherwise dominated by defense.

Having two proven scorers is a luxury for the Red Raiders.

"The nice thing is that as we go through our schemes of ball movement, I don't have to worry about (Carbonera and Alejos) so much," said Huntley coach Kris Grabner. "They pretty much no what's going on and they know what runs to take."

Alejos had a chance for a hat trick of his own, but his shot caromed off the right upright.

Kevin Montelongo, Wes Torres and Jonathan Jagdharry combined for the shutout in the net for Huntley.

For St. Edward, the early part of the season figures to be a learning experience.

"Our ceiling is really high right now, and we've only got two seniors on the squad," said Wave coach Tim Brieger. "Early on, we were pretty even. We were laughing that last year we didn't get a corner kick until the third game and we had three today.

"We're getting there. We've just got to each game get a little better."

St. Edward had a couple of chances early. Lucas Belcher actually got behind Montelongo on a breakaway, but the Huntley keeper was able to recover and cover up the ball before Belcher could get a solid shot.

Wave goalkeeper Will Lytle will get a bum rap from a cursory examination of the box score. He gave up 5 goals on which he had virtually no chance. Three came on breakaways and the other two were wide open shots from close range.

Carbonera's goals helped salvage an otherwise uneven first half for Huntley.

"I didn't think we deserved to be up 3-0 at half," said Grabner. "We kind of scrapped our way to it. I didn't think it was pretty soccer by any means."

Hampshire 5, Oregon 0: Hampshire (4-0-1) remained unbeaten after this nonconference shutout over Oregon. Junior Makinde led the Whip-Purs with 2 goals and an assist.

Tommy Gilbert added a knock assisted by Robert Murphy, as did Dustin Sundquist (Phil Bracke assist), and Shay Hauck (Makinde).

In goal, Cameron Rath preserved the shutout blocking 3 shots on goal.