Youthful Sabres are playing better than their record

By Dan Santaromita

Streamwood returned only two starters from a year ago so the Sabres' 1-9 record may not be a surprise to some, but that is until you watch the team play.

The Sabres 2-0 loss to St. Charles East in Streamwood Wednesday night was a perfect example of how the team has quality on the field, but can't find wins.

"It's amazing, our record doesn't indicate the team we are," Streamwood coach Matt Polovin said. "We're still a very young team, but they listen to me in practice. We do everything we possibly can."

Shots on goal were even and possession might have even favored Streamwood, but the Sabres couldn't quite break through the Saints' defense.

"We did good. The only thing that wasn't was in the two goals we just didn't mark up good," Streamwood goalkeeper Jose Resendiz said.

"That's what caused the two goals. We're getting a lot better through the days in everything."

Streamwood's struggles near goal could be due to the loss of senior forward Ivan Arce, who suffered a lacerated kidney against Geneva.

"With Ivan gone for possibly the season, we're missing that real aggressive goal scoring go-to guy and now I have four or five guys trying to make up the difference of one guy," Polovin said.

"We played Libertyville last night and they're undefeated and ranked and we were the better team (in a 2-1 loss). The inexperience is starting to turn into experience with a lot of these new guys.

'I had two returning starters from last year's team, now I'm down to one because Ivan is out."

The young Sabres (1-9, 1-1) got off to a sluggish start and St. Charles East (4-3, 1-0) made them pay for it in the Upstate Eight Conference River Division match.

The Saints held the early run of play and Jonny Bren scored in the 11th minute following a give-and-go.

"(Bren) was the guy I told my team before the game to watch," Polovin said. "Number 15 stick on him, stick on him and then of course who scores the goal? Number 15."

Streamwood settled in about twenty minutes into the game and kept the ball in the Saints' zone for almost the rest of the half, but the possession resulted in few chances near goal.

The absence of Arce, combined with a well-executed offside trap from St. Charles East, made it too difficult for Streamwood to score.

"We need to take more shots," Resendiz said. "We don't really take shots at all."

Resendiz (8 saves) showed excellent composure and confidence between the posts for the Sabres.

"Last year I brought him up at the end of the year as a sophomore right before regionals, he looked very nervous," Polovin said. "He got on the Chicago Fire Academy team and he's one of the top keepers for that age group, now going to be U-17s.

'It's night and day. He's improved; he's probably one of the better keepers in the area. I just wish he had more help, too."

The second half was back and forth and the last twenty minutes featured some exciting end-to-end open play.

St. Charles East finally struck the finishing blow when Jesse Nagelberg hit a fantastic long shot that fell just under the crossbar and dropped into the corner of the back netting.

"The second goal was just the shot of his career I'm sure when you're 40 yards out and he hits a laser just under the crossbar," Polovin said. "I don't think any goalie would have saved that."

The loss was the fifth in a row for the Sabres, who started three freshmen, Brandon Malpartida, Nestor Ascencio and Christian Vences.

"Brandon up top, I think he's a little nervous sometimes which is expected but he gives a good effort when he's out there," Polovin said. “Nestor and Christian, those two played together in the same club team.

"They're very used to each other; they communicate well together. They're both natural lefties. They'll definitely be special players in the next couple years. Especially Christian, the kid can just move with and without the ball."

The freshmen along with five sophomores on the varsity roster give Polovin hope for the future.

"I see good things happening throughout the season one way or another," he said.

"Even if we don't win a game like tonight, there's still obviously things we can work on in practice and learn from, but there's no way I would ever say anything negative about these guys. It may not be this year, but this group is going to be a pretty good group for the next couple years."

Streamwood will play its third game in three days when it visits Oak Park and River Forest this evening as part of the Pepsi Showdown.