Boys soccer: Huntley regroups, best Dundee-Crown 4-1
Huntley wanted to break out of an offensive rut after creating plenty of opportunities during its last couple matches but failing to score.
The Red Raiders found the perfect fix against Dundee-Crown on Thursday, scoring three goals within four minutes at the end of the first half in their 4-1 victory. Huntley remained tied at the top of the Fox Valley Conference standings with the win.
The Red Raiders scored two goals in an overtime win over Crystal Lake Central on Saturday before being shut out by Cary-Grove, 1-0, on Tuesday. Huntley was happy to get back to scoring in bunches again.
"We just needed to bounce back," Huntley defender Kyle Paler said. "It feels good. We were locked in and focused at practice, we knew what we needed to get done on the day. We needed to get a bounce-back game today."
Both teams spent much of the first half sizing each other up, trying to figure out ways to create scoring chances. Huntley (12-5-1, 7-1) recorded its first shot on goal with 24 minutes left in the first half while D-C tallied its first shot a couple minutes later.
Once the Red Raiders started to build their possessions, they gained more rhythm. Huntley finally broke through on a corner kick when Paler went off instinct and put his foot out on a shot that deflected the ball into the goal with 6:03 left in the first half.
"It's just instinct," Paler said. "Just to see what happens."
The Red Raiders didn't stop applying pressure. They earned another corner kick opportunity and scored when Aidan Herrera knocked it in to make it 2-0 with 3:27 left in the half. Max Connell added the third goal with 2:03 left when he got past the Chargers defense.
"To see three in four minutes is pretty incredible," Lewandowski said. "It's kind of the way we started the season out, everything was all at once. We've been struggling to score lately, so to have three that quick, especially at the end of the half where it means a lot, is awesome."
The Red Raiders' Anthony Aweve added his team's fourth goal with 1:36 left in the match after Huntley limited the Chargers' opportunities for much of the second half. Goalkeeper Jack Bakey made three saves in net.
Lewandowski felt like Paler's opening goal was a perfect example of how his team approaches goals.
"It doesn't matter how it gets in the goal, it just needs to get there," Lewandowski said. "It doesn't matter if it hits five guys and hits the back of the net or they hit it in, a goal on the board can really demoralize a group. They all look the same in the newspaper."
D-C (11-6-1, 3-5-1) got on the board when Hugo Arista scored with 38:00 left. But the Chargers couldn't overcome the end of the first half and Huntley's speed.
"We started off OK and then we just kind of went downhill," D-C coach Rey Vargas said. "We just never really recovered from that."
Huntley will travel to Barrington on Saturday before ending FVC play hosting Burlington Central on Tuesday. The Chargers will travel to Round Lake on Saturday before playing at Cary-Grove on Tuesday.
The Red Raiders and Crystal Lake South remained tied at the top of the FVC standings after South's 6-0 win over Cary-Grove on Thursday. South plays Jacobs on Tuesday to end FVC play.
Lewandowski is looking for his team to battle. With a conference crown on the line just before the playoffs start, the Red Raiders are in prime position to build off Thursday's win.
"The message is we need to win out if we want to keep our piece of the conference championship," Lewandowski said.