Girls soccer: Dundee-Crown blanks Huntley

Solid goalkeeping and enough offense.

That recipe for success produced a 2-0 victory for host Dundee-Crown over Huntley in Fox Valley Conference action in Carpentersville Tuesday afternoon.

"We did a great job of playing as a unit," said Dundee-Crown coach Sebastian Falinski. "It was a great win against a great Huntley program. It was a good conference win."

The match was a defensive standstill for a little over 36 minutes before the Chargers got on the scoreboard with 3:43 remaining in the first half on a goal by Della Griffin off a feed from Rylee Quillen.

D-C scored an important insurance goal with 11 seconds left before intermission on an unassisted tally by Katelynn Skibinski.

"I was able to find an open space near the net and was able to get the loose ball," said Skibinski. "Their center backed off and I was able to get an open shot. I took my time and pushed the ball in the net."

Falinski stated the insurance goal was crucial.

"The goal by Katelynn at the end of the half was huge," said the D-C coach. "It gave us a two-goal cushion going into the second half. Katelynn did a great job of being in the right place."

Dundee-Crown goalie Diana Santillan-Ceja was outstanding in the nets with 10 saves, 8 in the second half.

The Red Raiders' (1-3-1, 0-2) best chance to score came with 15:12 left in the contest when Brenna Keegan broke through the Charger defense and blasted a shot on goal from 15 yards out. Santillan-Ceja dove to the left and made a sliding diving save to preserve the shutout.

"Huntley really upped their offensive attack in the second half," said Santillan-Ceja. "They had some great shots on goal. I just had to concentrate and make the saves. Today was a great team effort. Huntley has a great team. One of our main goals is to win conference. It is nice to start conference 2-0. "

Falinski was impressed with Santillan-Ceja's effort in goal.

"Huntley really did a great job of creating more scoring opportunities in the second half," said Falinski. "Diana did a great job in goal. She made every save and did a great job of putting us in a good chance to win."

First-year Huntley coach Matt Lewandowski is staying positive despite his team's early-season struggles.

"We are doing everything right on offense but putting the ball in the net," said Lewandowski. "We are doing a great job of creating scoring opportunities we are just not finishing. I know we have a lot of girls capable of scoring goals. It will come. I am confident of that."