Strong regular-season finish for Schaumburg
Schaumburg's boys soccer team ended a nearly perfect regular season with an impressive 80-minute effort Friday in a 4-1 victory at Hoffman Estates.
The Saxons (16-2-0 overall, 10-1-0 in the Mid-Suburban League) will host Buffalo Grove on Thursday night in the 39th annual MSL Cup, with an eye on lifting the first overall league trophy for the program since 1996.
"We came here tonight hoping to finish the regular season with a win and on top of the table, and we did both while playing some pretty good soccer throughout this match," said senior and three-year veteran Andrew Ralston. Alongside Andrew Bird and Niko Davis, they've been a steady defensive unit in front of keeper Edgar Avila, who missed out on a chance to register his 11th shutout on the season when Luis Gurrola struck in the 78th minute.
"It was a good night all the way around," said Saxons coach Hamid Mehreioskouei. "We got the result we wanted - rested a lot of guys, and when we played simple, with plenty of possession and quick passes, it was the type of soccer that shows we can be dangerous and difficult to play."
The Hawks (3-11-1, 3-7-1), coming off a disappointing 1-0 loss to Rolling Meadows earlier in the week, stayed even with their guests for nearly 20 minutes, thanks in part to consecutive point-blank saves by keeper Christian Peralta against Jason Schoo, who was put through by Edward Gomez. But shortly after that, a low drive from Alexis Flores found the net at 22 minutes.
"That was one that we expect Christian to save, so it was tough to see their first one go in on that shot, especially when we had a few chances to put one in just before that," said Hawks coach Matt Sriver.
The hosts struggled to deal with the creativity of all-state candidate Jessie Lopez and his sidekick Schoo at midfield. The pace up top from Flores and Freddy Arreola also posed problems.
Noah Kostkiewicz, brought on by Mehreioskouei on the outside, made his mark in the match just before the half-hour. Gomez made a run up the right side and delivered a superb cross to Kostkiewicz, who was able to finish for the Saxons' second goal.
The Hawks showed signs of life after intermission with some quality play from both Noe Padilla and Konrad Kieruzal, who once again was a box-to-box warrior for Sriver all night.
A superb free kick from Gomez found the net at 59 minutes, and it was followed by another from Kostkiewicz about a minute later.
"I thought we actually played very well for most of the game, and did some really good things," Sriver said. "But Schaumburg is a very good team - clearly the best we've seen all year, and they will be a terrific representative for the MSL West next week."
For Schaumburg, it's finally time to start thinking about soccer's second season.
"This was a tough last game of the year because it's against a division rival who played with a lot of heart and energy, so it felt good to come out of here with the win to help us get ready for the Cup with Buffalo Grove," said Mehreioskouei.