Boys soccer: Jacobs handles Hampshire

With the disagreeable weather making outdoor work difficult, Jacobs' soccer team has not worked a great deal on set pieces, although that was not evident against Hampshire on Wednesday.

Golden Eagles midfielder Sam Rainer drilled a free kick inside the far post from 30 yards out on the right side and later played a ball off another free kick to midfielder Shotaro Seto for a goal.

Those two helped start a big night for Jacobs at Canlan Sportsplex's indoor field. Forward Liam Armstrong scored four goals, and the Eagles defeated the Whip-Purs, 8-2, in their Fox Valley Conference boys soccer game.

Rainer saw Hampshire goalkeeper Kyle Schultz edge toward the near post and knew where he wanted to shoot.

"Liam won the foul, and that [right] is my side," said Rainer, who is left-footed. "I knew it was my time to go back post, and I just hit a good shot."

Jacobs coach Colin Brice said Rainer's shot was "pretty incredible."

"It was a great strike," Brice said. "We give our players a lot of creativity around the box because they're good soccer players. If he had a good look, he's given the green light."

Rainer lined up for a free kick from the left side in the 27th minute and found Seto for a 3-1 lead.

"We've only been outside for one practice," Brice said. "It's tough, in the gym, to practice set pieces. In our outside practice, that was something we worked on. For us, we're typically taller than most teams. That's something we feel like we can take advantage of. Sammy played some great balls into the mix and our guys were getting after it and staying hungry in front of the net."

Jacobs (2-0-1, 2-0 FVC) took a 2-0 lead on Armstrong's first goal in the 12th minute. Forward Ruben Zarate helped get the ball loose from a Hampshire player and it bounced right to Armstrong.

"It was right in front of the path I was taking," Armstrong said. "I put my head down and picked a spot and hit the back of the net. I like to think of myself as a pretty quick player and I got on the ball and did my best to create that space."

Hampshire coach Richard Schuster said the last thing the Whip-Purs (1-1, 0-1) needed was to fall behind the defending FVC champs.

"We made two big mistakes in the beginning, and then we were chasing the rest of the game," Schuster said. "They're very good. They have a lot of strength and height and speed. Against a good team, you can't make blunders.

"We had our moments. We have to be more consistent. They're the top of the mountain. They're the best team in the conference. We know what we have to do go get better."

Juan Alva scored both of Hampshire's goals.

Jacobs led, 4-1, at halftime after Seto added another goal. Armstrong then set up Ben Phillips for a goal and finished with the game's last three goals himself.

Armstrong's second goal was highlight-reel worthy as he maneuvered around three defenders then fired a shot into the net.

"This field is big, very wide, and we used it to our strengths," Armstrong said. "We have a lot of good technical players. We utilized them well and got in spaces where we could create good chances.

"Saturday [a 1-1 tied with Mundelein] wasn't our greatest performance. We got out with a tie. We played well as a team [today] and created a lot of chances and put them away. We wanted it a lot more today than Saturday."