The Somonauk/Leland/Newark boys soccer team had a couple of achievements they were hoping to accomplish in Monday’s Little Ten Conference finale against host Serena.

The Bobcats were able to claim all three of their objectives.

S/L/N (10-4-2, 5-0-1) scored three times in each half to post a 6-0 victory over the Huskers (6-10-3, 2-4), which clinched the league’s regular-season championship, and with the shutout, finished off the LTC six-match slate without allowing a goal.

“Our 2023 team gave up only one goal in conference play and this year’s team wanted to do them one better. That was their goal,” Bobcats coach Jonathan Liechty said. “This team from the forwards on back prides itself on its defense. They don’t want to give up chances of any kind from our opponents. Our midfielders, Brady Andrews, Karter Nelson, Cole Gudmunson, Jackson Brockway and Nolan Kerley really had the middle of the field locked up today.

“On the offensive side, in year’s past we’ve had guys who were going to score 40 or 50 goals in a season. This year we have a group where the scoring is spread out pretty evenly between a lot of guys. That’s what we had again today.

“It was really just a great all-around team effort from the guys today.”

S/L/N opened the scoring just over three minutes in when Carson Harper slipped behind the Serena defense and put a 25-yard shot into the top right corner of the net.

The visitors then added two goals in the final 10 minutes of the half. First, Landon Johnson ran down a shot that deflected off Serena keeper Troy Seiberlich (four saves) and found Lane Rohrer wide open at the goal mouth for a tap-in. Then with just under seven minutes left, Cole Gudmunson netted a shot from close range to make it 3-0 at halftime.

“We opened conference with a (2-0) win over IMSA, then after playing Hinckley-Big Rock to a scoreless tie we started talking about how cool it would be if we could go the entire conference season without allowing a goal,” Bobcats senior defensive center back Patrick Short said. “Then coach Liechty told us our team from a couple of years ago had only allowed one, and the goal to not allow a goal was one we were really wanting to reach. We did it and it feels great.

“Our midfield was really good today, very active and controlling things. They really made the job for us defenders pretty easy.”

Johnson scored off a rebound of his initial shot that hit the post nine minutes into the second half, and 120 seconds later, Brockway scored on a header off a crossing pass by Brady Andrews to make it 5-0.

Brockway finished the day’s scoring with a close-range tally off an assist by Rohrer with five minutes remaining.

Somonauk keeper Tristan Reed made his lone save of the match with six minutes left. The Bobcats held a 15-5 overall advantage in total shots.

“We talked before the match about how Somonauk has a ton of speed up front. We just don’t have the collective speed in our backline to counter that,” Serena coach Jeremy Foreman said. “They did a nice job of finding the gaps in our defense and used their speed to create chances, then finished them.

“We also didn’t get much going offensively, but credit to their defense as well. They do a great job of shutting the door on plays before they can become chances. For them not to give up even one single goal in six conference matches this season is very impressive.

“We knew today would be a tough challenge and it was. But credit to my guys for playing hard from start to finish.

Both squads are back in action on Tuesday at home, Somonauk/Leland/Newark against Stillman Valley and Serena taking on Byron.