Glenbard South continues fast start

Glenbard South is off to its best start in years, and Wednesday was no different.

The Raiders scored in the very first minute and went on to take a 5-0 nonconference victory at St. Francis.

"Right from the beginning they were ready to play," said acting St. Francis coach Chris Payton of the Raiders. "They had a great game, and we just came out flat those first two minutes. They took it right to us and we were playing catchup the rest of the game."

First it was Jeff Djoum, who found himself all alone with the ball just a few yards from the net and with time to pick a spot. In the fifth minute Evan Johnson's long free kick out of the back found Dan O'Brien on the run, and O'Brien slipped the ball inside the near post.

"Our strength so far has been our midfield play," Raiders coach Bob Blecher said. "We've been working hard on the midfield, but we've got some talented kids this year in the midfield. We have some experience."

The Raiders (7-0-1) are making the most of that experience and team chemistry, using it to combine well out of the midfield.

"This is the year where they have experience, they understand the system, they have played a lot together, they know me and what I expect," Blecher said. "Luckily for me they've stayed together, they've worked hard and it's starting to pay off for them."

Glenbard South still has to head into Western Sun Conference play, however, and the Raiders know they will be tested by their league rivals.

"We've got the tough part of the season coming up now," senior Charlie Adams said. "We've got Sycamore and Batavia coming up next week."

The Raiders pounded St. Francis goalkeeper Ryan Suerte with 31 shots, forcing the sophomore to make 13 saves to keep his team in the game, including stopping a penalty kick just before halftime.

"All season long he's been real solid for us," Payton said. "Today ... he kept us alive in the game, at least gave us a chance. At the end of the first half, it was only 2-0. It could have been a lot worse. Ryan, he makes key saves, makes big saves for us."

Eventually the Raiders found a way to score again, with Kevin Miller scoring in the 55th minute, Charlie Adams in the 59th and David Shapiro scoring in the 74th off an O'Brien assist.

It's been a rough season for the Spartans (1-6), who are without coach Tim Dailey due to health concerns.

"We're a real young team, we've had some injuries," Payton said. "We have three seniors and out of those three seniors two of them are injured."