Streamwood uses speed to its advantage vs. Elgin

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STREAMWOOD -- Speed kills, especially on a soccer field. And Streamwood has plenty of it this season.

The Sabres' high-octane offense was on display again Tuesday night at Millennium Field in a 5-2 Upstate Eight Conference win over Elgin High.

The Sabres improved to 9-2-2 overall and 2-0 in UEC play. The nine wins are already just two short of last year's season total. Lenin Beltran had a big night for the Sabres with three goals.

"We just keep on trucking," Streamwood coach Matt Polovin said. "We are blessed to have speed at every spot from sweeper right up to the front line. It's hard to keep up with us, especially on this (artificial) turf."

In less than a 20-minute span in the first half, the Sabres exploded for four goals. Matt Rasinski opened the scoring on an assist from Alex Aranda at the 28:14 mark.

Elgin tied the game less than four minutes later, but that's when Beltran got to work for Streamwood. The senior midfielder scored his first goal on a header off a long downfield pass from Rasinski with 23:16 left in the first half to put Streamwood back on top 2-1.

At 14:29 in the first half, Beltran added another goal off a corner kick from Roma Patino. Beltran wasn't done yet. He finished off the hat trick on a penalty kick with 8:48 left in the half.

"We have a lot of different players who can score," Polovin said. "With our quickness, it's hard for another team to stay with all of our guys. Somebody is always coming open and once we get a step, we have a chance to score. Lenin is not one of the guys we count on to score, but tonight was his night. Once he got the first two goals, I had to give him a shot at the third one on the penalty kick."

The Sabres kept up the pressure in the second half with a 9-2 shot advantage. Ulises Manjarez added a late goal for the Sabres on a crossing pass from Oscar Campos.

"This is a hard-working group of kids," Polovin said. "They work hard in practice, we do a lot of speed drills, and then they play hard for 80 minutes in the games."

Christian Pereda had Elgin's goal in the first half. Raul Hernandez added a goal for the Maroons late in the second half.

"Streamwood is a real good team," Elgin coach Dave Borg said. "They play quick, one-touch soccer. That's what we are trying to do, but we're just not quite at their level.

"We're still kind of searching for our identity. I don't think the score tells the whole story. I saw some good things out there. I was happy with the way we played in the second half, it was a strong finish, and that's what you like to see."

Elgin fell to 2-9 overall and 0-1 in conference play.