Blackhawks blank Bolingbrook in early morning match

By Curt Herron

It's understandable if a soccer team is not really that sharp if it has to hit the road for a 9 a.m. match.

And they'd figure to be even rustier after only getting to play a little over half of a match two days earlier due to bad weather.

But that's just the situation that West Aurora found itself in on Saturday when it traveled to Bolingbrook for an early morning match.

Although it's certainly not going to down as one of the Blackhawks' best-played matches of the season, West played well enough to take care of business.

The visitors scored a goal within the first 10 minutes to set the early tone and then added a score right before the halftime break.

Those two goals proved to be sufficient as the Blackhawks managed to capture a 2-0 nonconference victory over the Raiders.

It was the ninth shutout of the year for keeper Abel Diaz and it was the first since a 6-0 win over Rochester on September 19 at Morton.

On Thursday, West beat Glenbard North 2-1 in a DuPage Valley Conference match that was halted after just 43 minutes due to inclement weather.

"It was a challenge trying to get here for a nine o'clock game on a Saturday morning, especially since the varsity is usually accustomed to playing at 11 or 12 o'clock," West coach Joe Sustersic said.

"But my kids were ready to play from the first moment and we controlled the possession during the game. They had some shots but most of those came from 50 yards away.

"Kudos to the Raiders since they did a good job of not allowing us to get the third goal to break it open. At the same we did what we needed to do to get the victory."

The Blackhawks (13-2-2) showed that they were up to the challenge when picked up the only goal that they would need just 8:16 into the match.

Humberto Laguna made hist first start of the season and picked up his initial assist when he sent in a pass went to Jesse Ortiz, who connected.

West kept the pressure up as Jomar Mendoza had a shot stopped and later Ben Ness hit the post on a shot before Irvin Bernal's rebound was deflected.

With 8:14 left in the opening half, Diaz came out of the net to try to stop a short attempt but he got injured on the play.

That forced defensive leader Henrry Perez to temporarily leave his spot and put on the goalkeeper's jersey for the rest of the half.

The Blackhawks threatened again with just a little over a minute left in the first half when Adrian Aceves was just wide on a header.

Aceves made sure to capitalize the next time that he got the ball, which came with 25 seconds to go on a shot that hit the post and stayed in the net.

"I think this was the earliest game that we've played all season," said Ortiz, who was a standout performer at East Aurora last season.

"We've been doing pretty good this season. We've been coming together as a team and now we're starting to move the ball pretty well.

"Every game has been a good game and we haven't had many games where we haven't scored. I like our mentality as a team and how we motivate each other."

While both squads had more good opportunities during the second half, but neither was able to find the net, resulting in a 2-0 final score.

Mario Alvarez was stopped on what proved to be the only good shot attempt for either squad during the first part of the second half.

Down the stretch, Mendoza had another attempt halted, Alvarez bounce a shot off the crossbar and Aceves was just wide of he net.

Bolingbrook may have had about half a dozen shots on goal during the match but the vast majority of those came on long free kicks.

The Blackhawks have a busy week ahead, playing at Streamwood on Monday, hosting Glenbard East on Thursday and playing at Plainfield South on Saturday.

Man of the match: Humberto Laguna

After seeing time as a reserve player throughout the season, West Aurora's Humberto Laguna got his first starting assignment of this year.

And the senior defender made the most of his opportunity Saturday by not only doing the job in the back but also by helping out on offense.

Laguna had an assist on his team's first score just 8:16 into the match and that helped set the tone for West in its 2-0 win at Bolingbrook.

Jesse Ortiz was the recipient of the pass from Laguna on the first score for the Blackhawks, who got their other goal shortly before halftime.

Thanks in part to the efforts of players like Henrry Perez, Loren Galloway and Laguna, keeper Abel Diaz was able to record his ninth shutout.

"Humberto has been a team player for us the entire year," West coach Joe Sustersic said. "For a kid that's like 5-4 and 110 pounds, he's earned earned his time by doing a lot of right things.

"He shut down his responsibility and he also had an assist during the first eight to 10 minutes by just listening. He's a hard-working kid and he was rewarded for that today."

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