Fenton strikes 3 times at Glenbard South

Fenton coach David Alvarez didn’t want to win his team’s Metro Suburban Conference opener because of the weather.

Holding a 1-0 halftime lead at Glenbard South, lightning was spotted just north of the stadium as the second half was about to begin, causing a 70-minute delay. Had the game not finished, the Bison would have been declared the winner.

However, the lightning cleared and both teams took to the field for the second half. A pair of insurance goals in the final 40 minutes secured a 3-0 shutout, giving Fenton the win in regulation.

“I didn’t want to win it that way,” Alvarez said of the delay. “I didn’t want to leave any doubt, and when you look at the final score, we didn’t leave any doubt.”

Fenton’s first goal came just six minutes into the contest when David Ortega put the ball in front of the Glenbard South net where it bounced around and eventually found the leg of Juan Ayala. Ayala shot it into the upper right corner of the net for a 1-0 lead.

Glenbard South (2-2-1, 0-1-0) appeared to have tied the game with 10 seconds left in the half, but a header goal was waved off by the referee, who called a foul on the play.

The Raiders were held without a shot for the first 11 minutes of the game.

“The goal being taken away made it a totally different game,” Glenbard South coach Melissa Pero said. “Unfortunately, what happens here at Glenbard South is that when we get scored on, we get down and then we give up. And then when we get a goal taken away, it just puts a cloud over us. It’s a mentality, and we have to get past it.”

After the lightning delay, Fenton (2-4-2, 1-0-0) came out quickly a put some distance between itself and the Raiders. Ortega again put the ball in play, taking it from the corner and sending it toward the net where Michael Hriso scored on a redirect kick to put his team up 2-0 with 34:01 left.

Paul Plizga’s free-kick goal with 6:42 left finished the scoring.

Fenton goalkeeper David Sanchez made 8 saves while preserving the shutout.

“David has been playing well,” Alvarez said. “He’s a senior now and he’s taken a leadership role, he’s been more vocal and he keeps the team organized. He’s not just making the consistent saves, he’s making great saves.”