Gators get a signature win over Neuqua Valley
By Gary Larsen

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Crystal Lake South played poorly on Thursday in a heated rivalry game and then played well on Saturday, while Neuqua Valley did the exact reverse.

So Saturday belonged to the Gators.

Crystal Lake South (5-4-0) won 1-0 over visiting Neuqua Valley (3-5-0) on a Michael Conley goal scored in the game’s 12th minute.  The Gators came out playing hard and fast and the Wildcats struggled to match them.

“If we work hard like that we’ll be in every game,” South coach Brian Allen said. “We have to grind it out and take that workman’s approach, every time we step on the field.”

Conley’s goal came on the heels of a strong attacking push to start the game from Crystal Lake South. After senior Jack Carlson sent a prime chance wide on a head shot at the post just two minutes in, the Gators kept the pressure on until Conley found space to turn and let fly from roughly 18 yards out.

“I got it played into me, it was right at my feet, so I cut, cut again and tried to curl it over the goalie,” said Conley, whose left-footed beauty of a shot nicked the underside of the crossbar on its way to the back netting, and stood up as the game’s lone goal.

“Michael’s got that ability,” Allen said. “He laid it off, got it back, made a nice run and we got it to him, and he didn’t hesitate. When he doesn’t hesitate, that’s what we’re looking for from him.”

It’s a 43.9-mile, one hour, 18-minute trip from Neuqua Valley to Crystal Lake South – per Google Maps – and the bus ride back probably seemed even farther and longer for the Wildcats.

“We just weren’t ready today,” Neuqua goalkeeper Zack Goldstein said. “We can’t blame it on the bus ride. We weren’t mentally prepared quick enough and they came out hard. We embarrassed them last year (a 3-1 Neuqua win), they wanted to come out and get us back, and they did this year. They played the better first half and they snuck a goal in.”

After watching his team post a fine 3-1 win against rival Waubonsie Valley on Thursday, Neuqua coach Skip Begley was disappointed to see his boys lack energy on Saturday.

“One step forward and two steps back,” Begley said. “We were missing a few starters today but no excuses. Other people have to step up.

“They just came off of a great win. They worked hard and got a great result (vs. Waubonsie). Then they checked up and relaxed today. I hope it shows us that you only get out what you put into it, and it happens as a team.  It doesn’t happen as individuals. Hopefully we can learn some things from this moving forward.”

At the opposite end of the spectrum, the Gators won 3-2 over rival Crystal Lake Central on Thursday, but weren’t happy with their play in the “ugly” win. But the Gators brought the heat on Saturday from the outset, and Gators defender Matt Alford was asked afterwards if earning a signature win against a perennial power program like Neuqua Valley will give his side confidence moving forward.

“It does and we need to carry this mentality through every game,” Alford said. “We just can’t get too full of ourselves because we went into Thursday’s game against (Crystal Lake) Central too confident, and we just weren’t there. Today we got back to it.”

With Orlando Tapia already on the shelf with a collarbone injury, Crystal Lake South had to hold its breath late in the first half when center midfielder Sam Murdock injured an ankle and left the game. Murdock returned at less than full strength in the second half.

The Gators faced a Neuqua team chasing a goal with strong wind at its back in the second half, but keeper Gus Alvarez and his backline met the challenge, holding the Wildcats to shots from distance throughout the second 40 minutes.

Since the Gators went 1-3 in the season-opening Barrington tournament, central defender Alford has seen improvement during a subsequent three-game win streak.

“We had to keep talking and covering for one another today,” Alford said. “They were playing two forwards and they were interchanging. I would step and Jack would come and cover my back, or C.J. (Prell) would cover. At the start of the season we would push up too far, I’d push up too far, and we weren’t covering as much as we should. Now we’ve learned to play like the rope effect, where we’re all tied together and we’re covering for each other.”

Allen cited Alford’s increasing comfort level at center back, and applauded the day’s work Carlson put in on the outside.

“We moved Jack back today. He’s been playing forward since (Tapia’s) injury. I can’t say enough about him today – every fifty-fifty, every tackle, every clearance, he was in the right spot. And C.J. (Prell) has been an unsung hero on the outside for us, winning the ball, distributing, not making mistakes, and playing just nice and clean.”

Midfielders Angel Cardoso, Andrew Perrine, and David Tagatz were also workhorses for the Gators on Saturday.

“I have to single out my outside mids,” Allen said. “They were struggling early in the season. We were giving up goals mainly because they weren’t getting back, but today they took on those defensive responsibilities that we need from them.”

Neuqua’s Alex Liu, Ryan Ross, Xavier Ortiz, and Jake Fritz all sent balls in on Alvarez in the second half, and the Wildcats earned a bevy of late corner kicks that went for naught, before Kyle Carson sent one final chance on net in the 80th minute that Alvarez handled cleanly.

But nobody on the Neuqua side was pleased with the effort.

“The lesson learned? Focus and teamwork are everything,” Goldstein said. “We win and lose together as a team and we just have to keep our minds in it. And we played a good second half today, we just weren’t lucky to get a shot that found the net.

“Looking at the bright side, we’re still 2-0 in conference and we have a big game against Batavia on Wednesday. We’ve got a couple days to prepare and hopefully we got the bad soccer out of our system today.”

Begley hopes so, too.

“I thought we played a very nice, Saturday afternoon match, and thought the ball would somehow get thrown in the goal for us,” Begley said. “After doing such a nice job scoring three (vs. Waubonsie), I don’t think we had any real quality chances here today.  But we’ll keep moving forward.“