Maroons shoot past Rockets

BURLINGTON -- One word summed up Elgin's effort against host Burlington Central on Tuesday in the season opener for both teams at the Rockets' own tournament.

Relentless.

Playing in uncomfortably humid temperatures, the Maroons outlasted the Rockets 4-2 to kick-start the season with a bang. Elgin scored the match's final three goals, including an important insurance tally in the 74th minute when senior Joel Perez lofted a pass into the middle of the box to a waiting Lucas Valencia. Valencia, the Maroons' leading scorer last season (18 goals), headed the ball out of the air past Rockets goalkeeper Kyle DeRaedt (6 saves).

"We were aggressive and fiery today and that's good," Elgin coach Dave Borg said. "It was hot, but we didn't let up. For the most part that's what we want. Sometimes we show a little bit too much emotion and we have to learn to contain that, but I was encouraged by what I saw."

Perez, an undersized but highly skilled midfielder, earlier broke a 2-all tie with under two minutes left in the first half with a right-footed rocket shot across his body into the upper-left corner of the net.

"We just wanted to control the ball and keep things calm," Perez said. "We have some new players on defense and I think they were kind of nervous. As long as we can keep everything under control we can stay on top of our game."

Elgin, which beat Central 5-2 last season in a non-conference match, opened the scoring on Tuesday with a goal by senior Omar Dina after an assist by senior Hugo Aranda.

"Our midfielders, Hugo and Joel, can control the game when they want to," Borg said. "And we have some good options with Omar and Lucas up top."

Dina's goal, however, only seemed to light a fire under Central. The Rockets immediately countered with two goals -- one each by senior Nate Parks and junior Charles Schmidlin -- to take a 2-1 lead in the 23rd minute. In hindsight, according to Rockets coach Michael Gecan, his team's quick response on the scoreboard might have led to its downfall.

"It was nice to hold a lead there for a little bit, but I think we were looking for that third goal instead of being happy and playing smart with a lead," Gecan said. "We were attacking and that allowed Elgin to get some good pressure on our defense. We had some great moments on defense, but it was spotty and they were able to break us down a couple times."

Parks tied the match at 1-all in the 18th minute after working a give-and-go with senior Enrique Alvarado. Parks squeezed past two defenders and then flicked a shot over the head of Elgin goalkeeper Nikil Satish (5 saves). Less than five minutes later, Alvarado, who lead the Rockets with nine goals last year, fired in a low, line drive corner kick that was drilled by Schmidlin past Satish.

"We had some moments of really good offense but we have to be more consistent," said Gecan, whose team will open the Big Northern Conference season Thursday versus Harvard. "Things are just going to take time. We will get better from this. To open the season with a team like Elgin was a good challenge for us."

Elgin, which begins play in the St. Edward Tournament this weekend, will next play in the six-team, Burlington Central Tournament next Wednesday against Kaneland. The Rockets will play Kaneland next Thursday in tourney play. Other teams in the tournament include Yorkville, South Elgin and Genoa-Kingston. High School Soccer: Elgin 4, Burlington Central 2