Schaumburg slides past Elk Grove
Schaumburg booked its spot in Friday's regional final in Franklin Park in a hard-fought 3-1 victory Tuesday evening against Mid-Suburban League rival Elk Grove.
The No. 12-seeded Saxons (10-5-1) will meet regional host Leyden, which eliminated Glenbard East 3-1 in an earlier game.
"In a match like this, where the field conditions are poor and the track is slow, the team which would win all the 50-50s and play with a great work rate, heart and energy would come out ahead. Tonight that was Schaumburg," said Elk Grove coach Joe Bush, whose club ends its season 7-8-3. "Declan (Geraghty) was a monster out there tonight winning every ball all over the place, and Erhan Caglayan somehow scored a world-class goal with just an inch of space. And between those two guys, and everything else, we just came up short."
Though both Bush and counterpart Hamid Mehreioskouei would have preferred this regional match to be played on the field turf many MSL schools now have, neither coach used the conditions as an excuse for less-than-precise play for the 80 minutes.
"That (was) a pretty ugly second-half of soccer, but we accomplished what we set out to do in the first half, and that was, more or less the outcome as we saw it," said Mehreioskouei.
The Saxons' coach began the match with three up top, and the tactical move seemed to be the inspiration the attack needed as several chances were created around Grens keeper Mike Monegato.
"We knew that Elk Grove plays a deep sweeper, and in our previous match that sweeper would just come up and take everything away from us - so we thought an extra striker could help break them down in the back," offered Mehreioskouei.
The two sides traded goals just three minutes apart, with the Saxons striking first when sophomore Jake Savino followed the flight of a Geraghty ball to the back post before slotting just inside the frame.
Irving Cruz evened things with a blast from the left side off of keeper Jason Wojcik.
Caglayan's goal at 28 minutes was truly spectacular as the senior unloaded in tight space and past Monegato, who had virtually no chance.
Three minutes later, Geraghty made it 3-1 with a neat finish.
The Grens had an opportunity to cut into the lead in the 40th minute, if not for a save by Wojcik on a well-struck blast from Ernesto Rodriguez.
"Getting that 3-1 lead before the break was so big for us, and you could tell how much that deflated the hopes of Elk Grove," said Schaumburg co-captain Blake Nelson.