Boys soccer: Bahwell, Huntley shut out Crystal Lake Central
Huntley senior goalkeeper Tyler Bahwell got his first full varsity start of the boys soccer season Tuesday morning and didn't disappoint.
Bahwell, who has split time in goal this season with returning junior starter Ethan Kornas, showed off his big-play capability, making consecutive diving stops against Crystal Lake Central in the game's opening minutes.
Huntley senior midfielder Bradley Pratt scored the go-ahead goal late in the first half, Bahwell kept a clean sheet for a full 80 minutes, and the Red Raiders defeated the Tigers, 1-0, in a Fox Valley Conference game.
In a conference battle without a lot of offense, Bahwell's early stops in gusty winds at Central proved crucial in securing the Raiders' fifth win of the season.
About seven minutes into the game, Tigers sophomore Owen Dayon fired in a free-kick shot from just outside the penalty box, and Bahwell laid out and dived to his left for the first of back-to-back stops. The Tigers had a rebound opportunity after the initial save, this time with Bahwell jumping back to his feet, diving to his right and punching the ball out to keep the game scoreless.
"I knew the wind was going strong [the other way], so I put my four [defenders] on the wall on the right side," said Bahwell, who finished with 5 saves. "I saw [the second shot] coming across, and I tried to scramble to get there. I just tried to get enough strength on the punch to clear it out."
Huntley coach Matt Lewandowski said he is lucky to have multiple keepers capable of making big plays.
"I know we will always have a guy back there capable of making a big save for us and keeping us in the game," Lewandowski said. "[Bahwell] has had some issues with hamstrings and hip flexors so he hasn't really had his true chance yet. But he's 100% healthy now. I told everybody that they owe Tyler a No. 5 from McDonald's for keeping us in the game."
The Raiders (5-2, 4-2), who were coming off a 3-0 loss to Jacobs, again had trouble generating offense but took advantage of their few opportunities.
Huntley took the lead for good as Pratt fired a low shot past Central goalkeeper Joey Moore (seven saves) with about six minutes remaining in the first half. Pratt's second goal of the season came on a header flick from Bryce Dalton and initial cross from Chris Czyz.
"We were both looking up at the sun and it was super bright," Pratt said. "Bryce sort of missed it because he couldn't see, and [the ball] was just on the ground and I had to put it away. It felt kind of good to hit that one."
Central was missing three starters and seven players overall, Tigers coach Jay Schwarzrock said. Most were gone because of spring break.
Joey Moore had 6 saves for Central, which fell to 0-5 and 0-5 in the FVC.
"We didn't change our formation but we changed some personnel inside the formation," Schwarzrock said. "We've had some trouble scoring lately. We made these changes with the idea we were going to take away from our defense a little bit and get more offense, but our defense did a good job of holding the line.
"Of the kids that were here, I was very proud of the effort today. ... We're learning on the fly. When we gave up that goal, we weren't all back [on defense]. And we left some backdoor stuff open. But we're young and we're dumb sometimes, and we're going to make mistakes. That's OK."