Boys soccer: Warren downs Wauconda for 5th straight win
Warren fought off a pair of deficits in the first half and scored a couple of goals in the second half over stingy Wauconda, as the Blue Devils earned a 4-2 victory in a nonconference boys soccer match in Gurnee on Saturday afternoon.
"It was a fun day for us and a learning experience every day," Warren coach Jason Ahonen said. "We had valuable, valuable minutes with these guys through the first eight games of the year. Obviously, losing as many guys as we did we didn't know where we would be or what we would look like."
The Blue Devils (7-1) have won five straight after a tough 1-0 loss to Prairie Ridge that was the third match in three days in the Grayslake North Invitational.
On Saturday, Warren saw Wauconda score goals but then recovered quickly to tie and was even 2-2 at the break. Emilio Mancera scored on a rebound in the 61st minute and Ryan Stanciak had the other goal in the 71st minute,
"It's the way these guys play for each other and everyone gets some minutes," Ahonen said. "It's been a total team effort with a great group of guys. Today was a cumulation of that. We were rough in the first half, but the team picked things up in the second half. It doesn't have to be pretty all the time, but a result is a result."
The other Blue Devils' goals were from Miguel Rodriguez and Cael Harris off an assist from Braden Lechner in the first half.
Wauconda (1-3-1) has played a rugged schedule but has been playing with its competition. However, the Bulldogs were without a couple of starters and lost a few others to injury in the match.
"(Warren) has a tremendous amount of history and tradition," Wauconda coach Tim Miller said. "They have good players that have been around good players all in the last 3 to 4 years. Definitely, a commitment to winning. We were up by a goal twice in this game and they just came right back at us. That's a mark of good coaching and players. They didn't give up and they knew how to respond. It's something to take out of this game to do better."
The Bulldogs got their goals from Jacob Kotapka and an Eddie Gonzalez header off a Lucas DosSantos service.
"We were down four players, we brought up players that stepped up from JV, " Miller said. "They stepped into new roles. I was happy with the run of play we didn't give up goals. We just gave up goals on set pieces. It's something we need to work on and it's something we pride on scoring on set piece goals. We need to defend them just as hard."