Boys soccer: Wilson Love’s goal lifts Kaneland past Sycamore in regional semi

ROCHELLE – Kaneland soccer coach Scott Parillo laughed as he described what led to the 1-0 win for the Knights against Sycamore in a Class 3A Rochelle Regional semifinal.

“One good shot,” Parillo said.

“That’s probably the best goal I’ve ever scored. At least the most meaningful. In what was potentially our last game, I was very happy to score.”

—  Wilson Love, Kaneland soccer

Wilson Love’s attack in the ninth minute was the only scoring either team would do.

The ball popped out of the right corner and found its way to Love’s foot. He wasted no time in turning it and firing to the top left of the goal, where goalie Ryan Guzinski couldn’t reach it.

“That’s probably the best goal I’ve ever scored,” Love said. “At least the most meaningful. In what was potentially our last game, I was very happy to score.”

The game was the third meeting between the Spartans (12-11-1) and Knights (11-9-2) this year. Kaneland won on PKs in the first meeting in Maple Park, then the Spartans won 2-0 in Sycamore as the teams shared the Interstate 8 title.

Both teams benefited from the wind at their backs, with the Knights going with the wind in the first half and the Spartans in the second. But after Love’s quick goal, neither team would find the back of the net despite both dominating the half they had the wind advantage.

“By the time we’d get a touch, they’re on us quickly or it didn’t bounce right,” Sycamore coach Kevin Bickley said. “Several balls played across the middle, looks like we could get there, but it just wasn’t our day for whatever reason.”

In the 75th minute, Sycamore seemingly had the equalizer when Gavin Crouch connected from the left side. But the refs called a foul away from the action, and Kaneland cleared the threat.

About a minute later Crouch got free on the left side, but Kaneland defender Izack Patino made a play to get the ball and cleared it. The Spartans had another chance in the 78th minute when Jameson Carl passed the ball off to Javier Lopez, but the shot was right at goalie Quinn Schulz.

“They got off a couple shots, but like we did. They were shots, but they weren’t really shots,” Parillo said. “Our goalkeeper had to make a couple of saves. But they’re a good team. Every time we can beat them, it’s a good game for us.”

Love had a shot at another goal late in the first half, bulldozing his way down the center of the field on track for an apparent one-on-one chance with Guzinski. But Carson Matthews came from nowhere to clear the ball away and end the threat.

“These are our biggest rivals,” Love said. “Every time we get a win, it feels amazing.”

The Knights will face Boylan at 10 a.m. Saturday for the regional crown. The winner heads to the St. Francis Sectional on Tuesday.

Bickley said the Spartans had a loaded early-season schedule but really started to put things together as the year went along. He said they are a young team this year that didn’t have a lot of experience and will lose five seniors.

A four-game winning streak in the middle of the year that included wins over Kaneland and Hononegah showed him what the team is capable of.

“That kind of got us turned around in the right direction,” Bickley said. “I thought we really kind of figured some things out, and the season really progressed from there.”