Vikings drop UEC opener to Streamwood

By Kevin Chroust

That whole bit about this being a rebuilding year for a youthful Streamwood boys' soccer team?

That notion might need to be re-examined or at least put on hold for the time being after the Sabres handed Upstate Eight Conference newcomer Geneva a 2-1 defeat Monday, as an unfriendly welcome to the conference.

“If it’s not [a confidence-booster] something’s wrong,” Streamwood coach Matt Polovin said.

“Anytime you beat a team like Geneva the way we did, it’s got to be, especially with all the young guys I have. Geneva’s got some D-I players out there and I’ve got freshmen out there that are running with them and doing everything I tell them to do.”

The Sabres (1-4, 1-0 UEC) got the Vikings’ attention early when Ivan Arce gathered a through ball on the right side of the penalty area, moved toward goal and buried a low shot to the far post that beat Geneva goalkeeper Steven Soderstrom.

The 15th-minute tally certainly took Geneva by surprise, especially considering just how much the Vikings dominated possession leading up to the goal.

“Once they got that first goal on us, it kind of was a wake-up call,” Geneva defender Robbie Johnson said. “We started to pick it up and move it around even more and create chances.”

Geneva’s control of the game in the midfield only grew from there, but scoring chances ended everywhere but in the back of the net.

A minute before Streamwood opened the scoring, playmaker Brady Wahl beat a defender to the left end line, centered the ball into the box for an open Craig Hancock, but his fellow center midfielder put the ball wide right.

Three and a half minutes before halftime, Wahl hit a left-footed blast from the top of the box that seemed destined for the right side-netting, but Streamwood keeper Jose Resendiz made a sprawling save.

Resendiz notched eight saves to keep Streamwood in front for most of the match.

Two and a half minutes into the second half, Wahl took a set piece from near the right corner flag and put it on Kevin Higgins’ head at the far post, but the junior’s effort sailed narrowly wide.

“I think it was our lack of focus on finishing,” said Geneva assistant coach Joe Krachala, who was filling in for the day for Geneva head coach Ryan Estabrook. “We had a lot of opportunities that we should have capitalized on but didn’t. That’s something we need to work on, especially at the beginning of the year here.”

The Vikings (1-1-1, 0-1 UEC) continued to stretch the Sabres’ back line until the 71st minute when the Sabres fouled Geneva forward Carlos Gonzalez in the penalty area.

Wahl buried the penalty kick to the right corner to even the match.

The flow of the game pointed at anything but Streamwood retaking the lead, and when Vikings forward Seamus Kaminski rung a header off the crossbar, the opposite seemed quite likely. But in the 89th minute, Sabres freshman Christian Vences played a corner into the box and senior Victor Aguilar headed it home for the win.

“There was a couple people in front of me who tried to head it,” Aguilar said. “They missed, and I saw it right in front of me, and I just headered it and saw it go toward the goal and in.”

Aguilar said the sun, not the presence of anyone on Geneva marking him, was the only thing interfering with his game-winning look on goal.

“We had a brief moment of a lack of focus, which gave them another goal,” Johnson said of the goal from the Vikings’ perspective. “That was the killer.”