Junior midfielder Mauricio Ruiz and the Dundee-Crown offense were on point early in their Fox Valley Conference match against Jacobs on Tuesday night.

Playing with aggression and using quick one-two passes, Dundee-Crown found gaps in the Jacobs defense and scored twice in the first 10 minutes of the match. Both goals came from Ruiz, who was one of three Chargers to find the net during their 4-0 shutout victory over the Golden Eagles. The Chargers (12-4-3, 4-2-1 FVC) moved into third place in the conference with the win.

“That’s how we like to play,” Ruiz said. “We play quick and look for those gaps. We pressured them and keeping them under pressure helped us get that first goal. We always want to get the first goal to set the tempo for the team.”

Dundee-Crown converted each of its first two shots on goal, both by Ruiz. The Chargers gained the lead in the fourth minute, when Ruiz fired a left-footed shot from outside the box that rolled into the bottom right corner of the net. Ruiz earned his brace in the ninth minute, sending a ball from junior midfielder Arturo Flores into the net to give the Chargers a 2-0 advantage.

“We were just playing to our ability,” Dundee-Crown coach Rey Vargas said. “One of the things we said before the game was to play our game, connect the ball, break them down and things will start falling into place. That’s what we’ve been working toward all season. We’ve had a lot of injuries so we’ve had to move some players around, but they seem to be figuring things out.”

The Chargers nearly took a three-goal lead in the 33rd minute, when a close-range shot from midfielder Moises Rodriguez soared just over the crossbar and out of play. Dundee-Crown capitalized on its next chance, surging ahead after senior Antony Rodriguez booted a left-footed shot that rolled just beyond the outstretched hand of goalkeeper JuanDiego Vargas in the 37th minute.

Leading 3-0, Dundee-Crown added to its lead just seconds before the first half expired. With the clock winding down, midfielder Jorge Pacheco bombed a long-range shot from near the midfield line that soared through the air and above the head of the freshman keeper Vargas. The goal marked the end of a disappointing start for the Golden Eagles (3-11-2, 2-4-1 FVC), who didn’t earn their first shot on goal until the middle portion of the second half.

“We had a very lethargic and poor warmup, which translated to that first half,” Jacobs head coach Colin Brice said. “Going into halftime down four goals, it’s tough to dig ourselves out of that hole, but I thought that we responded fairly well in the second half and we had a few chances.”

Both teams had promising chances midway through the second half. Dundee-Crown midfielder Ryland Venezia headed a ball on goal in the 64th minute, but Jacobs goalkeeper Oskar Nowikowski, who took over for Vargas, made a key save to stymie the threat. Jacobs midfielder Jackson Foley fed teammate Ethan Aldrete on a through ball in the 68th minute, but Aldrete’s shot went wide right of target. Foley led the Golden Eagles with three shots on goal.

“We have to be locked in and ready to go,” Brice said. “We cannot have a warm-up like that, especially for a conference match against our rival Dundee-Crown. They’re going to put us away if we come out flat like that. In the second half, we had better energy and we wanted to compete a little more.”

With two conference matches remaining in the regular season, Dundee-Crown will face Prairie Ridge on the road Thursday before hosting Burlington Central early next week. The Golden Eagles, who’ve now lost five straight matches after the defeat Tuesday evening, will host Crystal Lake South later this week and conclude FVC play with a road match against Cary-Grove next Tuesday.