Zee-Bees get a kick out of Torres
Manny Torres learned more than just how to ride a bicycle when he was younger.
He learned how to execute a bicycle kick.
The Zion-Benton senior scored both of his soccer team's goals Saturday to lift the Zee-Bees to a 2-0 win over Grayslake Central at Vernon Hills. His first goal was of the spectacular variety, as he scored using a bicycle kick in the opening minute of the second half.
"I learned that shot in Barcelona," said Torres, who was born in Brazil.
The victory allowed Zion-Benton to win the championship of the Vernon Hills Cougar Classic.
"It felt good to win this tournament," Torres said.
Torres scored his second goal of the game unassisted from 40 yards out with 21 minutes left in the second half.
"That shot was lucky because it deflected off of one of the defenders and went in," Torres said.
Zion-Benton (5-4-1) finished with a 3-0 record in the tournament, In their morning game, the Zee-Bees shut out Vernon Hills 3-0.
"We have a good mix of upper and lower classmen and we're progressively getting better," Zee-Bees coach Cliff Pontillo said. "We're playing in a very tough conference (North Suburban Lake), but I think we'll be OK this season."
Grayslake Central, which was last year's tournament champion, finished second with a 2-1 record.
The Rams. who played their fifth game in six days, had 12 shots on goal.
In the first minute of the game, Grayslake Central senior Ryan Williams took a breakaway shot from 20 yards out, but the ball went wide of the goal.
Later, Williams attempted to put in a corner kick, but the ball hit the post and went out of bounds.
"In the first half, I thought we took it to them," Rams coach Mike McCaulou said. "In the second half, we allowed them to do some things which led to their goals. The team is fatigued mentally, but we need to learn how to overcome that."
In their first game Saturday, the Rams beat Northridge Prep 2-1.
Vernon Hills finished third by defeating Northridge Prep 2-1 in a shootout. The Cougars won the kicks 9-8 as Kyle Miller scored on the 10th shot.
Vernon Hills (1-11) celebrated its first victory by showering coach Shannon Etnyre with a bucket of ice water.
"We played real well," Etnyre said. "In fact, it was the best soccer that we played all season and we're excited about that. It's good that after we've played some real good soccer we finally got a win."