Dundee-Crown blanks Kaneland

Early in the second half, Kaneland trailed Dundee-Crown, 1-0. Felippe Speraggi had a wide-open shot that would have tied the game, but hit the crossbar. A couple minutes later, Julian Ajroja scored at the other end, giving the Chargers a 2-0 lead.

D-C made it stand up for the nonconference boys soccer victory in Carpentersville Tuesday.

Freddy Martinez scored midway through the first half to put the Chargers ahead.

"I thought we did a pretty good job controlling the game," said Chargers' coach Rey Vargas. "We just had a few breakdowns and (Speraggi's shot) was one of them. We were able to recover on most of them. We were lucky that (it) hit the crossbar."

It was one of the few close calls for the Chargers (3-2), who spent most of the game in the Kaneland end.

However, Martinez's shot with 19:18 left in the half, a low shot from about 30 yards out, was the only one to find the back of the goal.

Kaneland came out aggressive in the second half. Drew Franklin had a shot from point-blank range, but Charger keeper Jose Gonzalez cradled it. Minutes later, Speraggi almost knocked the goal off its supports with a bullet from right in front, but it clanged harmlessly off the crossbar.

Then, after a short corner kick by Kaneland, the Chargers went on the attack. Martinez ran up the left side and fired a beautiful cross to Ajroja, who was waiting on the other side. Ajroja fired it in to give the Chargers a critical insurance goal.

Kaneland's young team (1-3) hung in with the Chargers for most of the game. The Knights lost 16 seniors to graduation last year and have just 6 players remaining from last year's varsity.

"I think the things that hurt us today were we just didn't communicate enough," said Knights' coach Scott Parillo. "We weren't aggressive enough. they won just about every 50-50 ball. If those things are compounded, you're going to give up a couple of goals and we did."

After an early feeling-out period, the Chargers began to assert themselves. Ajroja had a couple of solid shots early. Right after Martinez's goal, he sliced through the defense on a breakaway, but Kaneland keeper Andrew Mathys came out to break up the shot attempt. William Campos also got loose on a breakaway, but Mathys was again equal to the task.