Dundee-Crown upsets Crystal Lake South
Christian Martinez certainly didn’t let the high winds and the consistent rain hinder his performance.
The Dundee-Crown goalkeeper was simply spectacular in the nets despite the miserable conditions. Turning back 7 Crystal Lake South shots including 3 by standout Charlie Oliver, Martinez was a key reason the fourth-seeded Chargers were able to upset the top-seeded Gators 3-2 in first round action of the Class 3A Jacobs boys soccer regional Wednesday night in Algonquin.
The Chargers (9-9-3) will play host and District 300 rival Jacobs for the regional title Saturday at 7 p.m. Jacobs defeated Huntley 3-1 in Wednesday’s second semifinal.
Martinez set the tone early with 2 remarkable saves on breakaway shots by Oliver during the first 8 minutes of the game.
With the score tied at 2, Oliver rifled a penalty kick at Martinez with 25:52 left in the contest. The Charger keeper was able to push the ball over the net to keep the score tied.
“Christian was amazing tonight,” said Dundee-Crown coach Rey Vargas. “He made great saves on a great player. He kept us in the game when South could have had a big lead. It was a great effort by Christian and our entire team in horrible conditions. We played hard and physical. It was a great win against a very good team.”
D-C scored the game winner on Kyle Hagan’s second goal of the night with 2:45 remaining in the game. Hagan’s shot deflected off the fingertips of South goalie Steven Follmer into the net.
“We thought we played them tough in the regular season, but lost in overtime,” said Hagan. “The loss really hurt. This win feels great. We played very physical and Christian was great in the goal.”
South (13-9), which got goals from Roberto Albuquerque and Sam Murdock, outshot the Chargers 12-7.
“Goal keeping was the reason D-C won and the goal keeping was the reason we lost,” said Gator coach Brian Allen. “Their goalie was tremendous. He had two breakaway stops on arguably the best player in the state (Oliver). Our goalie was uncharacteristically shaky on the last goal by D-C. They capitalized on our mistakes and we didn’t capitalize on their mistakes. It is that simple.”