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Blackhawks capture own tournament title
Members of West Aurora's soccer team held up a trophy after claiming their own tournament championship on Saturday afternoon. While going 4-0 in the competition after blanking four opponents was something to be excited about, it's clear that the Blackhawks have bigger goals in mind. West Aurora was on the attack throughout and scored on three of its 20 shots on goal as it claimed a 3-0 victory over Plainfield North. The Blackhawks (4-0) scored all of their goals in the first 10 minutes after the break after not being able to capitalize on numerous chances in the first half. "In the first half, Plainfield North used some of its athleticism to stop some of our shots," Blackhawks coach Joe Sustersic said. "We weren't able to finish on some chances so I told the kids at half that they knew what they had to do. "I told them to just do what comes naturally and we came out and scored three goals in a 10-minute spurt and it changed the whole rhythm. I was real happy since that gave some of our substitutes a chance to get some varsity experience." Despite getting off 13 of their shots on goal during the first 40 minutes, the Blackhawks had very little to show for it. It was a different story after halftime, however, as West came out fast and scored on three of its first five shots on goal. All of that scoring came within an 8:43-span during which a scoreless tie turned into a 3-0 lead for the hosts with 30:02 left. Ben Ness got things started just 1:17 after the intermission when he got free down the left side and moved downfield before putting a shot in the opposite corner. It was the third goal of the season for the junior and it definitely lit a spark that led to two more Blackhawk goals in the first 10 minutes of the new half. "Going into the second half, I was really determined and I really wanted to score right off the bat, like I did," Ness said. "After that, everybody was pumped and everyone just kept yelling. "If our defense keeps everything up and we keep getting shutouts, then our offense just has to score one goal, even though we'll try for more. If that happens, we're good and we'll be set. "I like that we have the age differences of the players on our team. Everyone just connects with each other, whether they're a senior, junior or sophomore. We're basically like a big family." A few minutes later, Josue Martinez was stopped on a shot and then on a rebound before the Tigers got off one of their few shots on goal. But with 30:55 remaining, West was back at it as Adrian Aceves took advantage of the keeper coming out to stop him by placing a shot into an open net. Aceves closed out the scoring with 30:02 left when he connected from close range, giving the sophomore his fifth goal in four varsity games. Rodolfo Jimenez and Cesar Garcia later added shots on goal while Mario Alvarez and Ness both bounced attempts off of the post. The Tigers only had three shots on goal, with two of those coming in the second half, as keeper Abel Diaz recorded his fourth shutout. There was plenty of excitement for West in the first half but they were unable to get the ball past the Tiger keeper. Loren Galloway, Irvin Bernal and Aceves all had threatening shots during the initial 10 minutes of the match. It was more of the same over the next 10 minutes as Jesse Ortiz, Henrry Perez, Alvarez, Ness and Aceves all put pressure on North's net. On one sequence, Ortiz fired a short shot the was stopped and Ness tried to put in the rebound but it was cleared by a defender. The Tigers wound up making three defensive saves during the first half with another coming with 10:30 left on an attempt by Ness. That shot on goal began another West flurry in which Ness had two more attempts halted while Ortiz and Galloway also had tries stopped. "I told the team that our defense can't just keep getting shutouts since we're going to have a lot of teams score on us," Sustersic said. "We needed guys to get the job done up front and Ben Ness and Adrian Aceves both played good games. "We're still in August even though the weather feels like October. We've got 18 more games in the regular season and hopefully some more in the postseason. Hopefully when we get Victor Alfaro back we may be at a second or third cylinder."
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West Aurora player of the match: Adrian Aceves West Aurora sophomore Adrian Aceves has only played four games at the varsity level. But you wouldn't know that after seeing how he performed for the Blackhawks in their own tournament this week. All Aceves did was score five goals in four games to help West to a perfect 4-0 start to the season. Two of those scores came on Saturday when the Blackhawks captured a 3-0 victory over Plainfield North. After teammate Ben Ness broke a scoreless tie in the first two minutes of the second half, Aceves scored twice within 53 seconds. But he put regular pressure on the net to help West collect 20 shots on goal to support a defense that posted its fourth shutout. "It's a pleasant delight to see a guy up front with no varsity experience until Monday to have five goals after one week," West coach Joe Sustersic said. Aceves is not only pleased by his own start with the Blackhawks but also with how well his team has performed so far. "In the second half we started putting more shots on net and that's how our first goal came," Aceves said. "Our second goal came on a mess up by the defense while I was counter attacking. "This is my first year playing varsity and I'm only a sophomore so I'm starting to like it since we're doing pretty good. Now we're 4-0 and doing well so we just have to try to keep it up." |