Crystal Lake South gets Cary-Grove this time
With severe darkness settling in, Crystal Lake South sophomore phenom Charlie Oliver decided he had played enough soccer for one day.
Oliver's second goal of the game came with 1:48 left in the second overtime and gave the Gators a hard-fought 2-1 win over Cary-Grove in a Fox Valley Conference Valley Division game at South Thursday afternoon.
"The ball deflected off the post and I wanted to make sure I was in the right place to score," said Oliver. "I wanted to make sure I hit the ball right and it didn't go long. "This was a great win. It feels great after they beat us earlier in the year. We trained hard and long so fitness wasn't a problem."
Cary-Grove (12-2 overall), which defeated Crystal Lake South 2-0 earlier in the season, fell to 8-1 in conference play. The Gators, 16-3-2 overall, are now tied with the Trojans.
Both teams played at a high physical level for nearly 99 minutes but couldn't find the net during the first half. The best opportunity of the half came off the leg of South's Carey Bienert with 22:20 left. Bienert skirted through the Trojan defense and blasted a shot on goal from 10 yards out but goalie Will Higgins was able to make the save.
After nearly 59 minutes of scoreless soccer, the Gators got on the scoreboard with a goal from Oliver off an assist from Jon Gutmann with 21:03 left in regulation time.
To its credit, Cary-Grove battled back and tied the game at 1-1 with 9:14 to go on a textbook header from Matt Latawiec that beat Gator goalie David Walsh over the left shoulder.
Both teams had 6 shots on goal while Higgins registered 4 saves and Walsh pushed back 3 shots for the Gators.
"There are no surprises when we play Cary-Grove," said South coach Brian Allen.''We played with more confidence this time and the kids were up to challenge. We beat a heckuva team. This team has a high level of fitness and all the hard work was worth it. This team's work rate and chemistry has never been questioned."
In defeat, Cary-Grove coach Mark Olson praised his Trojans.
"Congratulations to South they played a great match," said Olson. "We didn't do anything different from the last match. It comes down to South playing very well. We had some great opportunities and couldn't put the ball in the net enough."