Boys soccer: West Aurora blanks Glenbard East in opener

Matthew Lopez-Martinez and Omari Rashidi wasted few seconds in solidifying their new roles for the West Aurora boys soccer team.

In their season opener against Glenbard East on Monday in Aurora, Lopez-Martinez, transitioning from defense to striker this fall, and new varsity starter Rashidi scored 17 seconds apart in the first two minutes of the nonconference match.

Each player assisted off the respective scores as the opening goals proved to be the only scoring in the Blackhawks' 2-0 victory.

West Aurora (1-0) extended its two-season winning streak to 19 matches as the last time the Blackhawks tasted defeat was to eventual 2019 Class 3A state champion Naperville North in the sectional final.

Lopez-Martinez took a feed from Rashidi, darted past a Glenbard East defender and rifled a 12-yard shot to its desired location 78 seconds after the match started.

"We have been talking about making plays together," Lopez-Martinez said of his chemistry with Rashidi. "I ran to the middle as there was more space and asked for the ball. I saw the goalkeeper open too much and put it to the (lower-left) side."

Glenbard East (0-1) was evidently stunned by the Blackhawks' goal on their opening shot, and its deficit was doubled seconds later when Rashidi was inexplicably left with too much room in the Rams' end.

Rashidi moved in for the kill and doubled the Blackhawks' lead with the awkward-angle score from point-blank range.

Rashidi was as surprised as anyone by how much space he had to operate deep in Glenbard East territory.

"Nobody was there, and Matt passed me the ball," Rashidi said. "The way we started we thought we were going to score a lot more."

West Aurora coach Joe Sustersic echoed the thoughts of his varsity newcomer - with some reservations.

"If anything, I wish we didn't score as quickly, because I think we became complacent and thought we were going to score just by showing up," Sustersic said. "It was a traditional first game: we were kicking the tires and seeing what we had."

Once the shock of the initial blows were absorbed, Glenbard East settled down admirably for the remainder of the match.

Tackling much better and more than matching the Blackhawks' collective ball-possession time, Glenbard East, spurred by a brilliant Ryan Heatley maneuver to avert a sure West Aurora goal, stabilized its precarious situation.

"I think it's not knowing what to expect at the varsity level," Glenbard East coach Josh Adler said of the Rams' costly start. "We have a lot of youth. I thought for the next 78 minutes of soccer it was a pretty even match."

West Aurora keeper Carlos Garcia, who had 6 shutouts last year, was greatly aided in a seventh shutout since transferring from archrival East Aurora by back-line defenders Blake Studdard, Pas Ndayishimiye and Mufariji Yuha.