Crystal Lake South showed that it has the goal scorers to replace talent that graduated last season when it defeated Woodstock North to start the season.

Five different Gators scored against the Thunder on Aug. 22 as South adjusted and moved the ball around to create different opportunities.

“We replaced some studs from last year’s team, but I think we added a different facet to our game this year because we are going to be much more multi-faceted where it’s not just going to be one or two people that are carrying the load,” South coach Brian Allen said. “Different people in different games can put people on their shoulders.”

South entered the season with the need to replace talent and leadership, including 2022 Northwest Herald Boys Soccer Player of the Year Tom Coughlin, who graduated after he scored 13 goals and had 10 assists.

Nolan Getzinger scored two goals while Nick Prus, Branden Lewis, Mason Ross and Ali Ahmed each added a score against Woodstock North.

The Gators failed to score in their 2-0 loss against Hersey on Thursday and they know they need to work on their physicality to get ready for Fox Valley Conference and postseason action.

“Physicality is a big one,” Getzinger said. “Especially during conference games, we’re going to have to get up, start bodying some more people. If we do that, I think we can have a great run.”

Crystal Lake Central wins Rockford Auburn Tournament

Coach Jay Schwarzrock didn’t think his team had a chance to win the Rockford Auburn Tournament after Crystal Lake Central struggled in the first half of its opening game against Grant.

But the Tigers came back from three different halftime deficits to win the tournament title Saturday.

“To do that three games in a row and play the fourth game right after that too in less than two days is pretty impressive,” Schwarzrock said. “Especially when you get down two goals, it’s easy for kids to get tired and quit, it’s over. They didn’t.”

The Tigers came back to tie their opening match against Grant on Friday thanks to a goal from Jefferson Garcia, who also scored a key third goal against Rockford Auburn later in the night to help advance Central out of group play into the semifinals.

In Saturday’s semifinal against Rockford East, Central came back down, 1-0, at the half to win, 3-2, in penalty kicks before taking down Jefferson, 2-0, in the title match. Aidan Andrews and Owen Kaiser each scored to help the Tigers take the crown.

“To have that success and seeing that they can have that success if they keep things up is huge,” Schwarzrock said. “We didn’t play our best soccer, I don’t think we’ve played our best soccer, but we played well enough and we stayed cohesive enough to pull it off.”

Building momentum for Johnsburg

Adam Bronars didn’t want dive too deep into a win in the second week of the season, but the Johnsburg coach couldn’t help but realize the importance of his team’s 5-1 win over Woodstock on Monday.

“Woodstock is always competitive in our conference, always looking for a conference title, so to be able to go into a game like that, go toe-to-toe with them, it shows how far our guys have progressed and worked really hard for a couple years now to be able to challenge them like that,” Bronars said. “I was really proud of our team for competing (Monday). I think that’s the biggest thing that we did.”

Johnsburg was competitive from the first minute and found different scoring opportunities throughout the match while the defense managed to stave off many Blue Streaks chances to limit Woodstock to one goal.

The Skyhawks managed to score one goal in a tie against Marian Central to open the season and scored three goals against Marengo in their first win of the year. Johnsburg wants to build off its momentum and apply it to the rest of the season.

“It’s just important to set up the rest of our games,” forward Connor Benz said. “To look back on what’s good and what we need to keep doing.”

Frustrations for Woodstock

Woodstock coach Matt Warmbier was frustrated after his team couldn’t score more against Johnsburg.

“I think they started to get frustrated as well because they see it too,” Warmbier said of his team. “They do everything right except the final product. It just isn’t there.”

Warmbier thought his players did a good job of creating opportunities, getting the ball into the box and finding teammates for scoring chances, but nothing seemed to work. Woodstock also started to play wider in the second half and that didn’t work either.

The Blue Streaks have scored six or more goals in a match three times already this season but have also not scored more than a goal in each of their four losses.

“Unfortunately we’re eight games in, so we’re not really early in the season at this point,” Warmbier said. “It’s frustrating at any point to know that you’re working as hard as the other team but you’re not able to finish your opportunities to get yourself back in the game.”

Woodstock North’s learning moments

Woodstock North coach John Sullivan saw progress despite his team falling to South to open the season.

The Thunder had lost, 7-0, last season with returning varsity talent while this season’s team handled this season’s 6-0 loss better.

Woodstock North faced a tough three-match opening stretch with South, Harvard and Jacobs, losing all three matches, ending the stretch being outscored 18-1.

“They see what it takes now,” Sullivan said. “The boys see that it’s a different level than JV, it’s a different game. You have to be ready when your time comes.”