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Blackhawks roll to shutout win over Streamwood
By Curt Herron West Aurora coach Joe Sustersic had a couple of good reasons to be excited after watching his squad play against Streamwood on Monday. First of all, seven different players got into the scoring mix and that resulted in six goals scored in the nonconference match. And secondly, the Blackhawks posted their second-straight shutout and 11th of the year after limiting the Sabres to one shot on goal. West improved to 14-2-2 on the season after dominating play throughout during its 6-0 victory at Streamwood's Millennium Field. Jesse Ortiz scored two goals and had an assist, Ben Ness added two scores and Victor Alfaro contributed a pair of assists for West. Abel Diaz got the shutout in goal behind defenders Henrry Perez, Loren Galloway, Rodolfo Jimenez, Humberto Laguna and Josue Martinez. Although the Blackhawks' scoring attack was wide and varied, Susteric was most impressed by his team's strong defensive showing. "I know that we scored six goals but the thing that I was happier about was that you could count on one hand how many shots were on frame," Sustersic said. "We've been giving up just a few shots in our last few games and we know that our offense should be able to score a goal. "Henrry was an attacking midfielder and when I asked him to play sweeper last year he looked at me like what are you talking about? But in the last two years he's been the field general who has helped generate 20 shutouts in our last 40 games, so he's a real force back there. "We've only had nine goals scored against us in our 18 games and two were on penalty kicks and another was in a shootout. To only give up six games while playing is impressive. I know the scoreboard got lit up a lot today but our defense has given our offense that opportunity. "Henrry and Loren are our only returnees and have done a really good job. Humberto comes from the j-v level, Rodolfo from the offensive side and Matt Koth was on the freshman level last year. And it also helps when the offense doesn't let the ball go on our side of the field." The Blackhawks put plenty of pressure on the Sabres in the opening half but only connected twice to settle for a 2-0 lead at the break. Things clicked much better during the final 40 minutes as they found the net four times during a span of just over 18 minutes. Adrian Aceves and Christian Breimann also scored goals while Mario Alvarez and Mike Vazquez added assists during that stretch. "It was nice to the hustling goals that we had today," Sustersic said. "We had two goals that were rebounds off of shots and we had another one came when Christian crashed the net and then got an easy tap in when the goalie dropped the ball. "It doesn't matter whether the shot goes five yards or was like Jesse's second goal that was a nice, soft precision shot. It was nice to see four people score and four get assists. It's not about who scores goals but that we're scoring goals. "In the first half I thought we had a few guys who were looking to pad our own stats. But my halftime talk was to just let the ball do the moving and that if someone made a good pass then they'd get the assist or maybe get a goal opportunity." West received shots on goal from Jomar Mendoza and Josue Martinez and had an attempt by Alvarez hit the crossbar in the first five minutes. Shortly after Ness came up empty on a shot, the Blackhawks found the net for the first time with 12:13 elapsed off of the clock. That's when Ortiz took a pass from Alfaro and got past defenders to put in a short shot that gave the visitors their first score. With just under 12 minutes left in the initial half, Ortiz was stopped on a free kick and then hit the post on a short attempt. West got back on the scoreboard with 1:38 left in the half when a ball deflected off Alfaro and went to Ness, who lined in a shot. "Today was a good game for us since we had a lot of people who scored," Ness said. "That shows that we have a pretty strong offense and that everyone can score. "Everyone connected really good on offense and our defense had another shutout which shows how strong they are this season. "We have a really strong team and we're going to keep pushing through and hopefully see how well we can do during the tournament." In the second half, Ortiz bounced an attempt off of the post about six minutes in before having a hand in a goal about a minute later. The Blackhawks went up 3-0 with 32:47 left when Aceves put in a rebound of his own blocked shot try, following an assist from Ortiz. A short time later Mendoza was stopped on another attempt and then about two minutes after that West had several other good chances. With just over 28 minutes to go, Alvarez had a shot blocked, Alfaro saw a rebound halted and Alvarez' follow-up was cleared by a defender. West increased its lead to 4-0 with 24:16 remaining when Ortiz had a shot blocked but Ness was there to put in the short rebound effort. Then with 20:23 left in the match, Ortiz sent in a grounder that fooled the goalkeeper as it found the lower corner to make it a 5-0 game. Just after the midway point of the second half, Diaz faced what was arguably the Sabres' only legitimate shot on goal during the match. The visitors concluded the scoring with 14:25 to go when Vazquez sent a cross to Breimann, who knocked in a loose ball in front of the net. West had a few other good chances after that but Cesar Garcia and Irvin Bernal were both stopped on scoring opportunities down the stretch. The Blackhawks now prepare for a home game with Glenbard East on Thursday and a match at Plainfield South on Saturday to wrap up this week. Then they end the regular season with the other top two teams in the DuPage Valley Conference, Naperville North and Wheaton Warrenville South.
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Men of the match:
Ben Ness and Jesse Ortiz were all over the final scoresheet as the pair helped the Blackhawks to a 6-0 nonconference win at Streamwood on Monday. Both players scored a pair of goals while Ortiz also handed out an assist to help the Blackhawks improve to 14-2-2 on the season. Ortiz scored his team's first goal while Ness added another tally shortly before halftime to make it 2-0. Victor Alfaro assisted on both goals. After Ortiz handed out an assist on a score by Adrian Aceves, Ness made it a 4-0 game and Ortiz later scored off of an assist from Mario Alvarez. Christian Breimann added the final goal, off an assist from Mike Vazquez, to cap an effort where West put pressure on the Sabres' goal throughout.
Blackhawks starters vs. Streamwood
Blackhawks Schedule
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