Wheaton North denies Streamwood

As soon as Rob Wertke got a chance to score, he took it.

The Wheaton North senior also took a few other liberties to put points on the board in the Class 3A Streamwood regional boys soccer championship match at Millennium Field Saturday night.

Wertke scored another goal and tallied an assist as the Falcons notched a 4-0 victory over host Streamwood.

The regional title is the first for the Flacons since 2005 and they will face St. Charles North on Tuesday in their own sectional.

"We worked to defend against the wind," Wertke said. "Once we got our first opportunity, we kept finishing it."

Streamwood (17-5-4) was the one with the opportunities early on. The Sabres took 6 shots on goal in the first 20 minutes of the game, with Alex Lopez nearly scoring twice.

The Falcons (11-5-6) then made some defensive adjustments and Streamwood did not attempt another shot in the first half. This was the third time in 4 years that the Sabres fell in the regional title game.

"We put Brennan Meyer on (Streamwood forward Roma) Pitino," Falcons' coach Bryce Cann said. "(Pitino) can get loose. We did a great job of containing him."

In the meantime, Wertke (unassisted) scored with 12:05 remaining in the first half to put the Falcons up 1-0. He added another goal off an assist from Mike Fernald to put Wheaton North ahead 2-0 with 6:10 to go in the first half.

The senior then assisted Trevor Bushhouse off a corner kick in the final minute of the first half to put Streamwood down 3-0 going into half time. This was the first time all season Streamwood faced a 3-0 halftime deficit.

"That's what killed us," Sabres' coach Matt Polovin said. "We had so many chances in the first 20 minutes and we didn't put them in. They finished their chances and we didn't."

Michael Lenzi (Bushhouse) added the final goal for Wheaton North in the second half. Mat Bauer finished with 9 saves for the Falcons, while Streamwood got 1 from Alex Perez and 6 from Edgar Leyva.