Boys soccer: Second-half goals lift Lake Zurich past Boylan

Second-half goals from Aiman Naqvi and Kamil Becdach helped Lake Zurich (1-3-2) take control of its final contest in group play at the Barrington Classic boys soccer tournament during a 2-1 victory over Rockford Boylan Thursday night.

Boylan (2-2-0), attempting to hold onto its lead over three others in an effort to reach Saturday's final, took a 1-goal advantage into the intermission, but struggled after the break by conceding 2 goals within 14 minutes to fall out of contention.

"We played well in the first half, but it was our inexperience showing in the second half, plus the pressure Lake Zurich put on us that was the difference in this game," said Boylan coach Chris Mera, now in his 12th season in charge.

"With three games in four days, and not having four injured players two of which are starting center-mids our legs were a little heavy toward the end of the first half," said Naqvi, LZ's co-captain along with Eric Bibb.

"But none of us wanted to go without a win in group play, so we came out after the break with plenty of urgency in our game and once we got that first goal it seemed to give us the energy we needed to get one more for the win."

Jack Bonavia put Boylan in front when he slotted past keeper Matt Vollmer two minutes in but minutes later Bibb sent Naqvi through and the junior nearly struck the equalizer.

The Bears enjoyed most of the play for the next quarter hour, thanks in part to the play of midfielders Quinn Madine, Bibb and Naqvi, but Boylan would get back into the game on a trio of quality chances at Vollmer.

The best came at 20 minutes when Victor Ibarra, on the turn, smashed his attempt off the post.

Vollmer was called into action once again, this time against sophomore Taylor Sowell but it was a sharp and timely clearing effort by Joey Schlender on Jose Lopez's close-range attempt that kept the Bears within a goal at the break.

Nate Wenzel, who was strong all throughout the second half, provided the inspiration when Naqvi brought the Bears back level at 45 minutes, with Bibb helping in between his two teammates.

When Becdach was allowed time to tee up his 25-yard strike the senior would then unload a left-footed blast through a crowd to give the Bears the lead for good at 59 minutes.

"We've got eight sophomores and four freshmen and most of them are playing, but at times that youth and inexperience will show up and today it did," said Mera.

"This was a great win for us today, and one that we really needed, and I was really proud of the effort from everyone," said Naqvi.