Boys soccer: Quick goal lifts St. Charles North over Huntley
Score early and play with the lead.
That tactic certainly worked for the St. Charles North North Stars Wednesday night in a nonconference match in Huntley.
With only 42 seconds elapsed, Luke Persenico scored off an assist from Nolan Sinnaeve for the only goal North needed in a 2-0 win over the host Red Raiders.
"Luke's goal was fantastic and got us off to a great start," said St. Charles North coach Eric Wilson. "We were really fired up for our first game of the year against Kaneland (Monday). Sometimes you don't have the intensity in the second match of the year. We came out very energetic and our team met the challenge. It is always nice to play with the lead early."
Persenico was happy his team scored early.
"Playing on the road scoring early gave us great momentum," said Persenico. "Nolan gave me a great pass. We have great team chemistry and we came ready to play with energy and intensity."
The North Stars scored an insurance goal with 18:38 left in the first half as Gabe D'Amico found the net off Sinnaeve's second assist of the night.
Huntley coach Matt Lewandowski wasn't happy with the early goal by the visitors.
"We weren't warmed up and ready to play and that cost us with their early goal," said the Huntley coach. "It is hard to play from behind that early in the game. We didn't play a good first half. We addressed that at halftime. We need to play with more pride in the second half and we did. I liked that we played physical. We matched them body for body."
St. Charles North (2-0) outshot Huntley 10-6 in the match.
North Stars goalie Bob Curran turned back all 6 of the Red Raider shots.
Huntley had 3 solid opportunities to score in the match. With 25:30 left in the first half, Austin Killen blasted a 30-yard indirect kick but Curran made the diving save to preserve the shutout.
With only 46 seconds elapsed in the second half, Logan Conary bombed a 20-yard indirect on goal but Curran was up to the task making the save.
Killen had a rebound shot with 3:28 left in the game but Curran made the save.
Lewandowski utilized both Tyler Barnwell and Ethan Kornas in the nets. Barnwell registered 7 saves in 67 minutes of work while Kornas had a save in 13 minutes.
"We start the season with 2 tough nonconference tests," said Lewandowski. "These matches will certainly get us ready for a tough conference (Fox Valley) season."
Wilson would have liked to have seen a better second half effort.
"We didn't come out with the energy and intensity we had in the first half," said Wilson. "But at the end of the day we are 2-0 with 2 wins against quality opponents."