Kaneland routs Yorkville

The Kaneland boys soccer team was tired of goose eggs in postseason play.

The Knights made their debut in the first year of class expansion a rousing success against Western Sun Conference rival Yorkville.

Even with a number of missed opportunities, Kaneland showed no mercy to the Foxes in its 6-0 Class 2A regional semifinal victory on Tuesday at home in Maple Park.

The Knights failed to score in back-to-back one-sided losses in the last three years of a two-class state tournament.

With its first regional triumph in four years, second-seeded Kaneland (10-12-1) advances to meet No. 1 seed Oswego Saturday afternoon in the championship match.

Yorkville closed out its year at 2-19.

"We have a very strong midfield," said Kaneland senior Santiago Tovar, who scored the Knights' opening 2 goals and assisted another.

"We were able to control the middle of the field. I thought the only thing we need to work on is finishing."

Tovar opened the scoring five minutes into the contest when his cross hit a Yorkville defender and bounded in the net.

But Yorkville played tough over the next 30 minutes of play, and the Foxes had two golden opportunities either hit the crossbar or sail high.

Tovar extended the Kaneland lead to 2-0 when he converted a penalty shot late in the first half, and the Knights' lead at the break swelled to 3-nil when Nick Williams' connection to Mike Giese produced another goal.

Kaneland had 22 of its 34 shot attempts in the first half.

"I thought we dominated from the get-go," Kaneland coach Scott Parillo said.

"We should have had 7 or 8 goals in the first half."

Kaneland maintained its unrelenting assault in the second half, and Williams scored on an indirect free kick with 19:24 to play.

Tovar then fed Chris Ott with a perfect pass to increase the lead seven minutes later, and Trevor Wolf concluded the Knights' outburst with 10:24 left.

"They just shut us down," Yorkville coach Mike Jacobs said.