Boys soccer: After slow start to season, Streamwood keeps battling, caps surge by beating Grayslake Central to reach state tournament
Streamwood was 4-9 through its first 13 games of the season, but the Sabres never quit.
Their perseverance was rewarded during Monday’s Class 2A Streamwood super-sectional as the Sabres blanked Grayslake Central, 2-0, winning their eighth straight game to advance to state for the first time since taking fourth in Class 3A in 2014.
“The second half of the season we kept getting stronger and stronger,” Streamwood coach Matt Polovin said. “And to beat the teams to get to this point (82-25-7 record combined).
“Crystal Lake Central and then Geneva, Rockford Boylan and Wheaton Academy. And we played Grayslake Central earlier in the season here and lost 4-2. I was missing half my starters and (senior defender Chris Cardenas) who was man marking (Ivan Sereno, 33 goals) tonight, he was still on the JV team.”
The Rams (15-6) created some scoring chances, but their most dangerous ones were denied by goalkeeper Alex J. Garcia.
“With the season we’ve had up to this point really with injury after injury after injury, a guy comes back, injury, guy comes back, injury,” Polovin said. “That’s how our season has been up until the last 10 games now and Alex by far has kept us in every single game. He’s been unbelievable, and in the payoffs he’s almost like a man possessed. It’s so fun to watch these guys.”
Streamwood (13-10) took a 1-0 lead just before the half after Max Galvan sent home a pass from sophomore Jovanni Garcia-Rubio with 4:18 remaining.
“We had to look for that spot,” Galvan said. “I saw the little slot, the space, and no one was there. Jovanni was coming in there with the ball and I knew there was an opportunity to get the ball in. He was going to whip it in and I have been good with my headers.”
Surrendering the goal so late in the half was a rough enough blow for the Rams, but yielding a second goal 19 seconds into the second half was absolutely devastating.
“That kind of deflates everything out of everyone’s sail, and that’s the hard part about that,” Grayslake Central coach Keith Andersson said. “They still chugged away. We told them flat out what we had to watch out for and they were the better team tonight. They deserved to win. They wanted it more than we did and that’s the gut punch that unfortunately the seniors are going to feel the worst.”
Streamwood’s Josue Lopez gained possession, made eye contact with fellow senior Andy Benitez and sent the ball his way for the quick goal that set the tone for the final 39:41.
“I knew I had one-touch into space and if I touched into space I was going to be gone and that’s what I did,” Benitez said. “I saw the goalie was positioned weird so I blasted the ball and luckily it went in.”
The Sabres will play De LaSalle at 3:30 p.m. Friday in the state semifinals at Hoffman Estates.