South Elgin rallies to take Central Rocket title

By Curt Herron
Photos courtesy of Judy Piszczek

There were plenty of frustrating moments for South Elgin throughout much of Saturday's championship match in the Burlington Central Rocket Invite.

Despite controlling the play and dominating in scoring chances, the Storm found themselves down 1-0 to the hosts shortly before the midpoint of the second half.

But South Elgin capitalized on a penalty kick and used the momentum from the equalizer to help it record a 3-1 victory over the Rockets in Burlington.

Kevin McElwain converted the penalty kick with 22:05 remaining and then scored the game-winner wwith 3:30 left to help the Storm (2-1-1) to repeat as champions.

"We out shot them by a pretty good margin and had some pretty good and dangerous possession so it was finally nice to see us score," Storm coach Mark Neville said. "I told the guys that we had to watch giving up free kicks and corners today.

"But through the course of play I thought the defense supported each other and we were getting back and things were okay. That was was a far cry from when we tied Yorkville earlier in the week. Our guys showed what they can do in training.

"I expect to see this kind of play if not better when we play St. Charles East on Tuesday. We have to go out and play 80 minutes and we can't afford to have any lapses."

Although it owned a 7-2 advantage in shots on goal at the break, the Storm trailed at halftime after Central made good one one of its attempts.

With 1:43 remaining in the opening half, Stephen Hall sent a header past keeper Gustavo Salas following a corner kick to give the hosts a 1-0 lead.

The Storm kept the pressure up at the start of the second half as Onyx Gonzalez, McElwain and Bart Mazurek all sent headers to Rocket keeper Alex Peiper.

But South Elgin finally caught the break that it needed with 22:05 left when a penalty kick was awarded after Dan Bohlin got knocked down in the box.

McElwain lined up for the PK and placed his attempt in the opposite side of the net as the keeper to knot up the score.

A flurry of activity happened with about 18 minutes to go when South Elgin's Nick Pawlowski got off a short shot that was stopped.

Bohlin tried to put in the rebound but it was deflected away. The Rockets collected their lone second half shot on goal on the subsequent counterattack.

Matt Shipon had a line drive and corner kick halted during the next few minutes. Bryan Irwin and McElwain also were stopped during that span.

The Storm moved in front on their next shot on goal as McElwain came up with a loose ball behind the defense and promptly knocked in a short attempt.

South Elgin scored another goal as time was winding down when Bohlin got free and fired in a shot that bounced off the post and went in with 43 seconds left.

For the match, the Storm held a decisive 18-3 advantage in shots on goal, which included an 11-1 advantage following the break.

After allowing a lot of chances in a 1-1 tie with Yorkville on Tuesday, the Storm was obviously pleased by their defensive effort.

South Elgin relied on players like Edwin Jaramillo, Devin Crockett and Ryan Piszczek in the back to prevent the Rockets from doing much.

"Our shape was great on defense," Crockett said. "A few times we were a little lost but our speed was great and we we communicated well and kept our minds on the game. That was hard work out there.

"We felt unlucky since we had all of those chances that weren't going in and then they get one chance and it went in. We focused on practice this week on our defense and there was great improvement.

"I'm definitely happy with our progress since we started off a little shaky in our first few games. This is a great group of players and we have great chemistry since everyone's friends on the team."

In the opening half, the Storm got its attack started with threatening attempts from Anthony Giammanco, Mazurek and McElwain within the first 11 minutes.

Bret Hilderbrandt, Shipon and Mazurek got off subsequent attempts while the Rockets went 22 minutes before putting their initial shot on goal.

"We have probably five new players in different positions, whether they've played in the past or it's their first taste of varsity soccer," Neville said. "The ones who are brand new to this are getting better on almost a day-to-day basis.

"It's been slow progress but it's becoming more visible as we get into these games. The guys work well with each other in tight spaces and they move the ball around when they're on and I like that about this group."

Man of the match: Kevin McElwain

By Curt Herron

Kevin McElwain and his South Elgin teammates weren't pleased about dominating play yet finding themselves behind Burlington Central on Saturday.

Facing the host school in the Central Rocket Invite championship match, McElwain and the rest of the Storm owned a big advantage in shots but still trailed by a 1-0 score.

So when the senior co-captain got a few opportunities to do something about the score, he made some big plays that turned around the momentum.

The first came with 22:05 remaining when he converted a penalty kick that was awarded after teammate Dan Bohlin got knocked down in the box.

Then with just 3:30 left in regulation play, McElwain was at the right place at the right time and his actions put the Storm up for good.

As Central moved forward following a Storm attack, a loose ball got behind the defense and McElwain faced no challenge on a short shot try.

South Elgin added one more goal during the final minute to improve to 2-1-1 on the season and win its second straight title in the event.

"We caught some unlucky breaks but kept working hard and in the end it paid off," McElwain said. "Our schedule picks up so we need to keep working hard.

"The penalty kick gave us sme energy throughout the second half and we were able to convert that into chances and some of those chances became goals.

"We had a couple of bad outings before this so hopefully this is a fresh start. We all work hard and we're together and that's a good base for success."

South Elgin starters vs. Burlington Central