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Boys soccer: Herrera, Maine West find success at Prospect

Emerson Herrera's scoring double helped Maine West (1-0-0) get off to flying start to the boys soccer season as he and his teammates defeated host Prospect 3-0 Tuesday night in Mt. Prospect at George Gattas Memorial Stadium.

The sophomore striker opened the scoring when he bagged the first of his two at 12 minutes, and helped add to the Warriors' advantage in the 51st minute to all but secure yet another victory for the Central Suburban League. The CSL, in this ninth annual CSL-MSL Challenge, won six of seven matches on Monday.

"It's always nice to win your opener, especially after going 0-2-1 in the last three seasons, including a 3-2 loss last season to Elk Grove," said Alan Matan, Maine West's coach. "We're a very young team, but there's a nice bunch of players with a lot of technical skill and ability, and it's going to take some time to see what we have. But again, it's great to get off on the right foot with this win tonight."

Jonathan Reynoso and Herrera nearly teamed up to put one in the back of the net, only to have Knights keeper Kevin Shane put an end to this quality chance in the 10th minute. But Maine West's dynamic duo finished off a wonderful bit of combination work two minutes later when Reynoso put his teammate through on the right side.

The hosts struggled to find pace and possession for most of the evening but proved dangerous on most of their dead-ball and set-pieces, beginning with a corner initiated by Nico Mho which gave captains James Estrella and Grant Whitebloom a chance to find the equalizer.

"We had a lot of trouble getting forward and creating in the other end, but one of the few things we did well tonight was on our corners and free kicks - but we just couldn't put one in on them," said Prospect coach Paul Elkins.

Sophomore Joe Boduch enjoyed a nice day in his varsity debut, giving Elkins the type of energy and work rate needed at midfield, while seniors Nick Kosla and Jakub Bochanek did their part in the final third to give Prospect some hope, even after the second goal from Herrera came in the 51st minute on a sublime helper from Alex Marron.

The visitors enjoyed most of the play leading up to the Herrera strike. The Warriors got a wonderful final goal from Geronimo Xolio, who tricked his way in on Shane, only to have his first attempt turned away with a brilliant point-blank stop. But Xolio finished with a nifty touch after a rebound spilled to the energetic junior striker.

"Last year we had a team filled with seniors, and this year it's all sophomores and juniors," said Maine West captain Brant Ibarra. "But the great thing about this group is we all go hard in training, and nobody tries to do the impossible. It's a great bunch of guys to be around."

Sophomore keeper Dean Hernandez recorded the shutout in his first varsity appearance.

"This wasn't the type of result we were looking for, but we had to begin somewhere, and now we know what we've got to get to work on," said Estrella.

The Knights (0-1-0) will play division rival Hersey on Friday afternoon at Celtic Park in Palatine in the first annual MSL College Showcase, while the Warriors begin tournament play at Addison Trail on Thursday against Chicago Curie.

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