Cary-Grove claims FVC Valley crown

There’s a new Fox Valley Conference Valley Division champion in boys soccer, and they had to defeat the 2-time defending champs to win it.

The Cary-Grove Trojans (16-2, 6-0) blanked the Crystal Lake South Gators by a score of 4-0 Tuesday to secure an undefeated conference record and the top place in the FVC Valley. All four of the Trojans’ goals came in the first half, from Mike McKune or Drew Conner. The Trojans looked sharp the entire game, which was no surprise to Conner.

“That’s definitely the style we like to play,” said Conner. “Nice and quick, with crisp passes. We’re definitely a possession-oriented team; we like attacking more than we like defending, so we just try and keep the ball. I’m happy with the way the guys played today. It was pretty sharp, there was a lot of energy, and we were good on both sides of the ball.”

McKune opened the game with a goal in the first minute of play, on a pass from Mike Loke. Conner put in his first goal of the game about 13 minutes later to give the Trojans the 2-0 lead. He would score again on a pass from Loke to put them up 3-0. McKune sealed the deal with 5 minutes left in the half, scoring his second goal on a pass from Zack Solarte to give the Trojans the 4-0 victory.

“It’s huge,” said McKune of being the division champs. “From the start of the season, one of our goals was to win the Fox Valley Conference. I think it’s great momentum going into the playoffs.”

The Gators (13-8, 5-1) regrouped in the second half, but it was their initial reaction to the early goal in the first half that made them fall behind so quickly.

“There’s a little disappointment in terms of how we responded after giving up an early goal,” said Gators head coach Brian Allen. “We didn’t put enough ball pressure on it, it’s a save our keeper should make, and I think our guys’ heads went down. (Cary-Grove) smelled blood in the water and for the next 15 minutes, they put on a barrage. Our mental awareness of the situation and how we responded to that was definitely an area that we need to work on.”