Josh Johansen, DKCU end 5th season with record-setting offensive perfomance

DeKALB – DeKalb County United striker Josh Johansen said Saturday’s 5-0 win over Rockford FC was the best possible way to end the season.

And that was before he even knew how he and his team rewrote a handful of scoring records.

[ Photos: DeKalb County United hosts Rockford FC on the pitch at NIU ]

“We had a really good showing today,” said Johansen, who had a first-half hat trick. “It’s great to see as many people come out to the games as possible. I think the team really showed up, too, made sure that we took care of what we needed to early on, and we were able to just finish it in the best way possible.”

“We all knew what we had to do coming out here just to finish off as strong as it could. We really wanted to push to try and get top four and I think it came down to goal differential. So we were just trying to get as many goals as possible, and breaking some records along the way was pretty cool.”

—  Josh Johansen, DeKalb County United striker

DKCU (5-4-1) set four scoring records in the season-ending win at NIU’s soccer field. Johansen became the first player in the six-year history of the club to notch a hat trick in a single half – scoring all three of his goals in the first 39 minutes.

The team also set team records for fastest two goals (two minutes apart) and three goals (13 minutes apart). The five goals also were a home scoring record in beating Rockford FC (0-8-2) for the second time this season, having claimed the 815 Cup earlier this season with a win at Rockford.

“I didn’t know any of those things, to be honest with you, but it is an awesome feeling,” Johansen said. “We all knew what we had to do coming out here just to finish off as strong as it could. We really wanted to push to try and get top four, and I think it came down to goal differential. So we were just trying to get as many goals as possible, and breaking some records along the way was pretty cool.”

After the game, DKCU could have finished anywhere between fourth and sixth in the Midwest Premier League’s Heartland Conference, depending on other results from the weekend. The team ended up fifth, one goal in the tiebreaker out of fourth place.

Coach Patrick Hamilton said even though taking fourth in the 11-team conference was out of his players’ control, he was pleased to see them take care of things on their end.

“I think we played well tonight and thought we knew what we had to come out to do,” Hamilton said. “Our goal is to be top four of the table. So we had to put some goals in the back of the net, but most importantly keep it clean sheet, so they see the five on the scoreboard and see that zero was huge for us.”

Oscar Montejano and Johansen connected on goals in the seventh and eighth minutes, staking DKCU to a 2-0 lead early. That was more than enough Matt Marchiori and the DKCU defense, which ended up with the shutout.

DKCU led 4-0 at the half, and Jaeden Aguilera came out with the team’s fifth goal about four minutes into the second half. The team seem poised to at least tie the franchise record of six goals in a game but didn’t score the rest of the way.

Johansen is in his second year with DKCU and will be returning to Wisconsin-Green Bay this fall for his senior season.

“When he gets in behind it’s hard for other teams to be able to handle his speed,” Hamilton said. “And so when we can recognize that quality matchup that we had, and just guys trying to find him in his space led to quite a few goals in the first half.”

Johansen said he’s not sure if he’ll return for a third year with DKCU. A lot of that depends on whether he exercises his extra year of NCAA eligibility. All NCAA athletes from the 2020-2021 season [Johansen’s freshman year] have an extra year because of COVID-19.

Whether he returns or not, the Huntley native and St. Edward graduate said he’s been impressed with the operation the club runs.

“It’s honestly a really great culture,” Johansen said. “Just going around to other teams in the Midwest Premier League, there’s no other club that has the same culture as this. I think it’s awesome, just everything that [team president] John Hall does, all the things that PJ [Hamilton] puts into it. All the guys that are part of this club do such an amazing job putting on the best possible time for us and just really giving us everything they have so we can go out here and play and just have a fun summer. So it’s awesome.”