South Elgin's win over Streamwood a program first

By Gary Larsen

When you’re on a soccer team that’s good enough to pull off a season of firsts, you are acutely aware of the teams you’ve never beaten.

For South Elgin, before Monday, Streamwood was one of those teams.

“I was aware of that,” South Elgin senior Devin Crockett said. “I was definitely aware of that. This feels pretty good.”

Two weeks after beating St. Charles East for the program’s first time, South Elgin (6-1-1) won 4-3 over host Streamwood in a barn-burner at Millennium field.

The Storm used a high-energy first half to build a 3-0 lead and then hung on in the face of a spirited Sabres’ comeback.

“It’s nice to finally beat Streamwood but I’d rather have it happen on our own terms,” said South Elgin coach Mark Neville. “But I’ll take whatever scrapfest we can pull a win out of.”

Storm senior Bart Mazurek chipped a shot over Streamwood’s keeper in the 4th minute on a counterattack, and then scored after a Matt Shipon corner kick in the 24th minute.

One minute later, Bryan Irwin dribbled up the gut and fed Mazurek to his right, putting the Storm up 3-0. To that point, everything was going South Elgin’s way.

“Mike Kozielek gets the ball up there and he’s not necessarily looking to shoot, but he combines real well up top whether he’s fighting for a loose ball, or taking a cross, or having an assist,” Neville said. “He was kind of integral in having that play sustained in our offensive third.”

Neville also liked what he got offensively from Shipon, and Kevin McElwain stood out in the attack before leaving the game due to injury.

Storm goalkeeper Ryan Hicks left his line aggressively throughout the first half, taking shots off the feet of a few Sabres frontrunners and keeping the slate clean.

With Streamwood’s dangerous counterattack on the field, however, that slate was marked up when James Rivera poked in a goal with less than a minute to play before the break.

Two minutes into the second half, Miguel Juarez broke into the box on a counter to bring his squad within a goal, but Mazurek struck again soon after to return the Storm’s two-goal cushion.

But Streamwood struck again with 14 minutes left to play when Rivera netted his second goal.

“They play fairly direct and their center back has a 60-yard leg,” Neville said. “Someone makes a good run, and that’s how they scored that third goal.”

“All it takes is that 50-yard pass, and that third goal was a microcosm of some of the goals that we’ve had scored against us. Our transition from offense to defense wasn’t quick enough.”

Streamwood pressured for a tying goal from there, before South Elgin regained some possession to the final buzzer.

It was wild and wooly, but it was a win. And the Storm has now gone 6-0-1 since opening the season with a loss.

Crockett, who cleared a Streamwood shot off the goal line in the second half, was relieved to see the streak stay alive.

“The whole team is pretty excited about it and hopefully we can take it to Bartlett tomorrow,” Crockett said. “That would be another big win for us and keep the momentum going.”

“Our expectations build every game. Even in practice, our momentum keeps building and building, every day.”

Crockett and his defensive mates in back managed to keep Streamwood’s Alex Perez in check on Monday. Perez was prominent throughout the contest, but the Storm kept him out of net.

“I almost put (Crockett) directly on Perez, because you can’t just let him float around,” Neville said. “If he has a clean hit on a ball, it’s going to go.”

“He’s dangerous. We paid attention to him and watched him carefully, but mostly we played the same way we always try to play,” Crockett said. “They had some good forwards, and we definitely had to step our defense up.”

Man of the match: Bart Mazurek

By Gary Larsen

Bart Mazurek can take credit for getting South Elgin coach Mark Neville to give up the game.

“I stopped playing in practice two years ago, because I’d play center back and he was just making me look bad. It was about time to quit, anyway,” Neville said.

Mazurek netted all four goals in Monday’s win over Streamwood, and the big senior has used deceptive speed and solid skills to post 11 goals on the season through 8 games.

“He’s very good on the ball for a larger kid,” Neville said. “You’d think he’d be a post-up striker but he’s really better with a ball at his feet.”

“He kind of flows in and out of the game. He’ll make center backs fall asleep, and then he’ll make a certain run on a certain pass, when the timing’s right. And he’s not quick for his first few steps, but once he gets his momentum going he’s as fast as I’ve ever seen.”

2009 Schedule