Bartlett, St. Charles E. earn different kinds of wins

In a sense, Wednesday's Bartlett-Kaneland soccer match looked a lot like the kind of football they play that used all the stripes that covered the Kirk Road field that is used for some of St. Charles East's Invitational matches.

This had all the elements of classic gridiron football -- gritty stuff, lots of tackles and a number of passes that crossed the goal line but outside the space where soccer puts its nets.

While neither team walked off the field ecstatic, Bartlett gained a 1-0 victory thanks to a Joey Macchione second half penalty kick. So the Hawks could at least assuage their feelings of not playing well with a win.

"Today was not a great Bartlett soccer day," Bartlett coach Steve Buchs said. "If you've watched soccer, this was definitely not a good day for Bartlett soccer."

The potential was there, and showed itself in spots. But for the majority of the match, linking those solid moments was beyond the Hawks.

"When our guys play like they're supposed to play and like they're told to play, we get the ball to where we want it and we get our opportunities," Buchs said. "It's those times in-between where we're doing other things that's causing problems. The more we get on the same path, the more we'll play better."

The Hawks (5-6-1) won at nearly the midpoint of the second half. Doug Digiovanni was taken down in the penalty area and Macchione struck home the penalty kick.

One area of the match where Bartlett excelled was in defense. Kaneland (4-5-2) had its chances too, but the Hawks kept the most dangerous threats from becoming goals.

"It's good to win, but we're taking one small step at a time," Bartlett's Lenny Szakowski said. "We had spurts of good play."

Bartlett is playing a brutal stretch of matches and is in its second consecutive week of varied tournament play. The matches are coming almost daily, with rest and practice shoved to the side for now.

"We're coming together," Szakowski said. "We changed a few players around. All credit to (Buchs.) He put me back in defense and moved some people back. The defense has been stepping up recently."

Kaneland is in a long series of matches as well -- and has yet to play a home match this season.

"We played well and dominated in some points," Kaneland coach Scott Parillo said. "They dominated in some points. Our passing was pretty decent today. Our trapping and first touch wasn't that great."

The Knights finally have a home match next week.

"I'm tired of being on the road," Parillo said. "Our kids are tired of being on the road. Our families are tired of being on the road. We'll get our first home game on Monday."

St. Charles East 4, Plainfield South 0: After posting the game-winning goal against Burlington Central Monday, St. Charles East junior forward Ben Fowler scored his second and third goals of the tournament in the shutout against the Cougars Wednesday.

"I'm really glad he's stepping up in this tournament," St. Charles East coach Jorge Ortiz said. "He's turned it up a notch."

Fowler scored the third and fourth goal of the game. The Saints had a 3-0 lead at the break.

Cam Caruso, the Saints' other top scorer, scored the second goal of the game. Jeff Jones was credited with the first goal.

Goalkeeper Dan Nikolich recorded 5 saves for the Saints, who improved to 5-4-2.

Ortiz thought several of his players did a nice job. He's also happy his bench players clocked in time in the second half.

"I thought Angel Pedraza and Robert Soutar played well, especially in the first half," Ortiz said. "Robert has really been a solid sweeper for us."

The Saints continue tournament play against the JV squad at 7 p.m. tonight at Norris Stadium.

-- Christine Bolin