Gators provide repeat performance against CL Central
By David Kuechle
Photos courtesy of Keith Allmandinger
For the second straight game, Crystal Lake South emerged with a 4-0 victory, this time against rival Crystal Lake Central.
If the score wasn't any indication, South's defense effectively countered all of Central's attacks, while Charlie Oliver and Alex Tapia owned the offense.
Tapia finished the game with two goals and one assist. Oliver's play was consistent as well, gaining an assist and frequently drawing multiple defenders towards him.
"This was a terrific effort", Crystal Lake South coach Brian Allen commented. "It's a great stepping stone, best game we've played so far". At times, CLC's forwards came extremely close to spoiling yet another Gator shutout, but could not prevail.
Even with a 4-0 win, the 3-1-1 Gators are not satisfied. "We are still missing chances," Allen says.
With Tapia and Oliver trading off tremendous chances in front of Central's goalie, they often found their attempts going wide.
The Gators will certainly address these problems but with the chemistry Tapia and Oliver appear to have, it may not be an issue going forward.
Just minutes into the game, Tapia opened the scoring off of a set piece. Crystal Lake Central responded by putting more pressure on South's end, but the Gators’ defense had an answer for everything.
In the first 15 minutes of the match, CLS had already tallied four shots, while Central had none. This pace continued throughout the rest of the game. Adam Gatza shined on defense, breaking up two chances with perfectly-timed slide tackles.
With 8:02 remaining in the first half, Tapia scored his second goal, which appeared to cause Central's players to become frustrated. A short time later, there was a huge collision on the field that involved Gatza, but he continued to play.
Turnover's plagued both teams in the first half, although Crystal Lake South's offensive attacks were too much for Central to handle.
In the opening minutes of the second half, a fallen CLC defender allowed Tapia to set up Oliver for his goal, making it 3-0. Immediately after, Central bounced back with a big scoring chance, but the ball sailed wide of the net.
Oliver and Tapia almost put the game further out of reach with 24:57 remaining, with each player attempting head shots that flew over the crossbar.
Crystal Lake Central's best opportunity of the match came in a near-breakaway situation directly in front of the Gators goal, but an incredible effort by South's defense stopped the play.
The fourth goal of the game came with 5:15 left on the clock, in which Trevor Bittenbender stuffed a rebound in off the crossbar.
In regards to the offensive explosion, Allen says that it has been fueled by the fact that "guys took the first few games personally". The Gators started the season off with a 1-1-1 record, notching only five goals in that span. 
Crystal Lake South will head out to Cary on September 7 to face the Trojans, another rivalry match.
Gators defender Jacob Stock said that in preparation of the upcoming match, "we need to keep working hard to take it to them. It's about who wants it more".
The Gators opened the season with a 2-0 win over Rolling Meadows before suffering their lone defeat, 1-0 to Round Lake.
Since a 2-2 tie with Hampshire, Crystal Lake South has won 4-0 over Grayslake North and Crystal Lake Central.
The Gators are on the road next week against Cary-Grove, Huntley and Belvidere.
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