Aceves stays hot, leads W. Aurora over Batavia

The West Aurora soccer team knew it would be difficult to replace injured all-state goalie Stephen Walan this season.

What the Blackhawks didn't know was how much of a weapon often-injured midfielder Adrian Aceves would be.

Aceves scored a pair of goals on Wednesday night to extend his scoring streak to six games as host West Aurora edged Batavia 2-1.

"Here's a sophomore who 10 days ago was being questioned if he should be a varsity player," West Aurora coach Joe Sustersic said. "Here he is with a six-game scoring streak with a double against Batavia and double against Plainfield North so it's not like he's scoring doubles against weaklings."

West Aurora (6-0) jumped ahead to a 1-0 advantage at 27:23 in the first half when midfielder Victor Alfaro found Aceves, who blasted a shot past Batavia goalie Ty Witkowski.

"The first half they (West Aurora) played outstanding. Playing those balls through, they really put us under pressure," Batavia coach Mark Gianfrancesco said. "We're weren't really communicating well in the back there and stopping the service of those balls so our mids weren't really doing what they were needing to do at the beginning there. I'm surprised we didn't give up more goals."

Batavia (2-2) did give up another goal, but it didn't come until 31:33 of the second half when Mario Alvarez battled for control of the ball and sent it toward Aceves who finished it.

"They just passed the ball and I ran and placed it on the right side of the net," Aceves said. "We're doing good and coach is helping us a lot."

The Bulldogs responded though, ending West Aurora's scoreless streak when Ty McCoy scored his fifth goal of the young season at 22:56 in the second half. Goalie Abel Diaz and the Blackhawks had shut out opponents for 457 consecutive minutes to begin the season. So much for missing finding a first-rate new goalie.

"Abel is doing pretty good," Aceves said. "We just have to support him better with the defense and Wally (Walan) helps him out a lot."

While the 6-0 start is unprecedented in Sustersic's tenure, he stills sees a lot of room for improvement.

"The only thing that counts is up on the scoreboard and we've got learn how to finish better because when we get gifts we've got to be able to take a man in and when we don't get gifts we've got to play good 'D' (defense). We did enough today to win but not enough to make me or many of the teammates satisfied."