Boys soccer: Inspired Reynoso, Elgin blank Crystal Lake South
If a postseason elimination game wasn't enough pressure on the Elgin boys soccer team, the heavy heart midfielder Tirso Reynoso played with on Wednesday was truly inspiring.
Reynoso was unsure if he was going to suit up and was given the option to sit out the Maroons' regional matchup with host Crystal Lake South after his near-80 year-old grandfather suffered a heart attack earlier in the week.
But convinced to play, Reynoso put on his No. 7 jersey and scored No. 3 seed Elgin's first goal in the 8th minute, the de facto game-winner in a 2-0 semifinal shutout of the No. 6 Gators, which advanced the Maroons to a Class 3A regional final rematch against No. 2 Jacobs Friday at 4 p.m.
Yet all the Elgin senior could think about was his grandfather, who had a good prognosis according to Reynoso and should be released from the hospital soon.
"At first I felt like I wasn't going to play well, I was down and I couldn't focus on the game," Reynoso said. "I just played for him and everything I did ... the goal just motivated me to play harder for him. He's always the one, the only one who's screaming out 'let's go Tirso, let's go Elgin!' He knows a lot of players on the team and is always rooting for them. He makes sure they have their heads up."
Reynoso's grandfather would've been proud of how the Maroons (13-5), who seemed flat at times, were able to capitalize on a defensive miscue in the South backfield with 32 minutes left in the first half.
After a Gator defender muffed on a pass coming to him at the top of the box, Reynoso flared in from the right of the box to make the heads-up play and fired inside the 18 line for a 1-0 lead.
"Obviously around our program it's family first so he's going to take care of business," Maroons coach Dave Borg said. "For getting that goal with all that's on his mind, that's pretty good for the kid to do that."
Ale Serna added an insurance goal in the 55th minute on a shot just to the left of the box that he bent inside the right post. But overall, even with a 18-9 shot advantage on the Gators, Borg knows the Maroons will have to mop up some things before taking on Jacobs, a team that's sparked its rally cry from the beginning of the season after last year's exit in Algonquin.
"When we push and control the tempo - when we push up we're a much better team," Borg said. "We were letting them keep pushing us back and we're quick enough and athletic enough and skilled enough to control the tempo."
South (13-9-1) had the tempo and pressure in its favor at times but just like a Nikolas Getzinger cross in the 24th minute, a Brad Grabowski cross in the 32nd minute or the save made by Elgin keeper Edgar Rodriguez (2 saves) on Getzinger's shot 5 minutes before the half, the Gators simply couldn't finish.
"Me, Omar Gonzalez and Cesar Gomez, we knew we had to come up big and control that middle," Maroons central mid Eric Whiteman said. "I think once we started winning some of the first balls in the air on the restarts, we got a hold of that middle and stopped their attack."
South's best chance came on a sequence during the 47th minute that saw a header from freshman Alex Canfield slightly go above the crossbar. Seconds later on a cross, Getzinger had a goal come back off the sheet thanks to a foul and the Gators saw two more chances go wide of the left post during the final 25 minutes.
"We did everything we could do, the difference was they finished when we made mistakes and we didn't finish when they made mistakes," Gators coach Brian Allen said. "As we started to wear them down a little bit we saw the game open up and the opportunities came to get those looks in there so I was pleased with that but we still have to find a way to get the ball into the net and (Rodriguez) made a couple of good saves and we missed a couple. That's why they're moving on and we're not."