Boys soccer: Kaneland ends Glenbard South's season

Last year long-range shooting wasn't really a part of Tucker Jahns' repertoire.

This year it definitely is, and the Kaneland junior used it to help the Knights escape the Class 2A St. Francis regional semifinal on Tuesday with a 3-2 victory over Glenbard South.

"I'd say it's definitely opened me up to be a more dynamic player on the field," he said. "If I get to shoot anywhere on the field, that's more chances and more goals so I'm going to take them."

Opponents haven't figured out a way to consistently stop Jahns and Glenbard South's inability to do so ended its season.

Jahns blasted a shot from long range with 23:08 left in the game to break a 2-2 tie.

"A bender, upper 90," Jahns said. "That's the best goal I've scored all season."

He called it better than the previous 30, including his with 13:59 left in the first half, which tied the game at 1-1.

Jahns shattered the school record of 28 goals in a season last Thursday. The previous record had lasted 14 years. Now he has 31 and an opportunity for more in the regional final Saturday against Marmion, which beat St. Francis, 6-1, in an earlier semifinal.

Last year the Knights beat the Cadets 2-1 in a regional semifinal and Jahns scored the game-winner.

"They're good, they're legitimate, it'll be a fun game," Kaneland coach Scott Parillo said. "But we can't give up a goal in the first 10 minutes again."

That's something the Knights (12-8-1) did in both halves.

"It's one and done so you either step up to the plate or you go home," Parillo said. "We were fortunate enough to give up two goals in the first 10 minutes of each half which is not cool. It's not how you want to be dealing with stuff, but we were able to bounce back."

Spencer Pyle got the Raiders started early in the first half for a 1-0 advantage.

Alec Steiger did pretty much the same thing for the Raiders, scoring just five minutes into the second half to pull them back even at 2-2 after they had trailed 2-1 on Alex Dhom's goal with 10 minutes left before halftime.

Dhom's goal wasn't the prettiest thing as he pounced on a cross from Alex Bass that rattled off a couple of players before Dhom was there to clean it up and deposit it for the lead.

"All season long we've preached that the team that makes the most plays wins," Glenbard South coach Adam Szyszko said. "They made a couple more plays than we did and put it in the back of the net, and that was all she wrote."

The Raiders (8-11-2) didn't quit. They may have had a legitimate gripe on a handball no-call in the box with four minutes left and then narrowly tied the game with two minutes remaining on Enright's shot but neither ended up going their way.

"Our record is an illusion because we play in the Upstate Eight," Szyszko said. "And Kaneland does a good job of playing a very difficult schedule as well, so we knew this regional was going to be very good and would come down to something like this."