Boys soccer: Silva's 2 goals send Saxons to top of MSL West
Gabe Silva's double helped lead Schaumburg to a 2-1 victory in the rain Tuesday night at Robert Haskell Stadium.
And in doing so, the Saxons moved past Palatine to go on top of the MSL West.
The win gives the Saxons 15 points after earning three with its win over host Elk Grove, while Palatine stands at 14 points after its 1-1 draw against Hersey.
"One thing that continues to stand out with this team is its senior leadership, effort and work rate. It has been the staple all year, and the reason for our success thus far," said Saxons coach Eric Sorby.
"I think we've surprised a lot of teams this season, but it hasn't been a surprise to all of us," began Silva, now with a team-high 8 goals.
"(This) team has a lot of pride, and we're all willing to work hard, and play for each other, and just like tonight, we've been able to get our opponents to play the way we want to play instead of their game."
A steady downpour would greet both clubs on the Grens Senior Night. But it did not stop either side from playing some attractive and entertaining possession soccer during the opening quarter hour.
Neither side was able to solve the opposing back line to create quality chance on frame until Kacper Knapczyk was allowed to have a go in the 28th minute through his Saxons mates Andrei Rotaru and Ben Lainson, who watched Knapczyk graze the football uprights.
Moments later, Patrick Moskal ran freely onto a long free kick from Knapczyk, and would head his attempt over from the spot.
The Saxons opener came in the 36th minute when an early ball out of the back from Moskal fell to Fabricio Ortiz Quiroa who played a lovely ball across to Silva.
"Fabricio played a great ball across, and ran past their center back to the (spot) to meet the ball," said Silva, whose sublime one-timer beat Grens (3-5-2, 2-4-0) keeper, Daniel Piwowarski from in close.
Silva would double the advantage in the 55th minute when his PK was bravely turned away by Piwowarski. The ball spilled free to an opportunistic Silva who steered in his one-timer.
Grens coach Dan Klaus would switch his formation to a 3-4-3 in order to throw more numbers forward as his men went in search of a goal or two. And if not for some wonderful work from the Saxons back line and keeper Zander Nykiel, who withstood several corners, free kicks and deep long throws, the home side could have bagged more than its goal in the 80th minute.
"We had a very good start to this game. We possessed the ball, switched fields, and played even with Schaumburg," began Klaus.
"(But) we've had problems in the final third. We're not dynamic enough in order to create more and better chances, and you saw that tonight when were all over them in the last 15 minutes, but just could not get anything of quality on their keeper."
Despite the efforts of Aaron Vazquez, Adam Kingery, Armando Limon and Jared Aguirre, the home side was only able to pull one back with Kacper Kubala finally solving the Saxons watertight back line.
Next up for the Saxons (8-3-0, 5-2-0) is division rival Conant on Thursday, while the Grens host Wheeling.