Boys soccer: Crystal Lake South powers past Dundee-Crown to win Fox Valley Conference opener

CRYSTAL LAKE – Crystal Lake South has had the difficult task of trying to keep up its dreams of repeating as state champions with a mostly young lineup this season.

On Tuesday afternoon, South showed it was up to the job.

[ Photos: Dundee-Crown vs. Crystal Lake South boys soccer ]

The two-time defending FVC champion Gators opened conference play against Dundee-Crown with its strongest performance thus far this season. South turned away numerous scoring chances and capitalized on its own to win 2-0.

“We knew going into conference that it was going to be a harder intensity,” South senior Nicholas Prus said. “Everyone’s coming for our back, they know we won last year, won state, everything like that, so everyone wants to go out and kill us. But we definitely held our ground.”

South (5-2, 1-0) held its ground for much of the first half while the Chargers controlled the pace of the match. D-C had three free kicks and one corner kick in the 20 minutes of the match, some shots on net.

But Prus stole the match’s momentum when he noticed a gap between the Chargers’ midfield and defense. He took advantage by taking the ball by himself and shooting a shot that went in to give South a 1-0 lead with 8:23 left in the first half.

D-C kept up the pressure in the second half but couldn’t find a way to score. South senior Mason Ross gave the Gators an insurance goal off of a corner kick with 7:32 left in the match.

“That’s what we preach: We don’t need many chances, but if we can get a couple and make them count, then just be frustrating defensively,” South coach Brian Allen said. “Today you saw that we kept grinding.”

South earned its third shutout of the season after an impressive performance from sophomore goalkeeper Noah Dunteman and the Gators defense. Dunteman turned away all 16 shots that he faced.

Dunteman and Allen commended the defense for forcing the Chargers into tough shots and not allowing D-C to cross the ball as well as it would’ve liked.

“I’m extremely grateful for my backline,” Dunteman said. “They force them into the wrong angles, give them a hard time crossing the ball, a hard time getting shots off even. My team is there to clean up every single time. I have full confidence in my backline, and I hope they have full confidence in me.”

D-C (1-4, 0-1) has struggled to get it footing early this season after having some of its key playmakers out with injury. Junior midfielder Sebastian Sanchez is out for the season with a shoulder injury, while junior starting goalkeeper Manny Hernandez (thigh) and senior defender Adriano Trejo (groin) are also out for an indefinite amount of time.

“We knew going into conference that it was going to be a harder intensity. Everyone’s coming for our back, they know we won last year, won state, everything like that, so everyone wants to go out and kill us. But we definitely held our ground.”

—  Nicholas Prus, Crystal Lake South senior

Although the Chargers finished with 16 shots on goal, coach Rey Vargas didn’t think they were great shots for finishing. D-C couldn’t find a way to get strong looks despite some strong runs.

“We did it to ourselves, quite honestly,” Vargas said. “I thought we had a good run right at the beginning of the game, middle of the game, and then we gave up that goal and that kind of brought us down a little bit.”

The Chargers will jump right back into FVC play Thursday when they travel to Burlington Central while South will host Grayslake Central on Thursday.

Although the Gators liked the way they started FVC play, they know there’s still more work to be done this season. South knows if they continue to progress and hopefully return senior forward Ali Ahmed to the lineup, it can achieve that goal of repeating as state champions.

“We know we need to grow from here,” Prus said. “We know if we grow, we win. If we win overall we’ll be happy and hopefully have a championship.”