Dundee-Crown blanks Larkin for first regional title

While there may have been a certain major league baseball team trying to make history on Saturday, the Dundee-Crown boys soccer team was making history of its own.

The Chargers (12-8) captured their first regional title with a 2-0 win over Larkin in the Class 3A Streamwood regional final at Millennium Field.

Julian Ajroja scored both goals for the Chargers. He now has 18 on the season. The No. 7 seed Chargers, who have won 7 of their last 8 games, advance to play Rockford Guilford on Tuesday in the sectional semifinals at Huntley.

"It's an amazing feeling," Ajroja said. "We set out to make history and we did it. We wanted to prove that we were better than the ranking we got and we used that as motivation. We are really playing well right now. Everyone has really come together as a team and it's awesome when we are all working together like that."

Ajroja scored the first goal at the 19:44 mark of the first half on an assist from Jeremy Jareckyj. Just under 5 minutes later he added a second goal on an assist from Ivan Juanchi.

"That first ball I got a nice free ball from Jeremy," Ajroja said. "It was a beautiful pass. I was able to get a touch on it. The goalkeeper came out and I was able to get it past him. The second Ivan put it right over the top in a perfect spot. The communication was great. That's been a big difference for us lately."

The D-C defense did the rest allowing Larkin just one shot in the second half and only 5 in the game. Luis Cruz recorded the shutout at goal keeper for the Chargers.

"This is a great feeling," D-C head coach Rey Vargas said. "I'm really excited for the players. They deserve this. They did a great job executing the game plan. On defense we were able to keep them in front of us and on offense what can I say about Julian. He is a special player. He can find the smallest openings and make something happen."

The Royals finish the season 10-8-3.

"I have to tip my hat to them. They just outplayed us from the beginning," Larkin coach Ken Hall said of D-C. "(Ajroja) is a great player and a lot of times great players step up and win the game for their team. There's not much we could do to stop him today. We played hard, but they were clearly the better team today. I'm still proud of what the kids were able to accomplish this season."