STERLING – After Yorkville scored twice in the first half Thursday evening, the Foxes defense did the rest, limiting Sterling’s chances and keeping the Golden Warriors from finishing the chances they did get en route to a 2-0 win over Sterling at Roscoe Eades Stadium in a battle of former NIB-12 teams.
Yorkville had an 11-9 edge in total shots, with an 8-6 edge in shots on goal.
Yorkville’s first goal came on the first shot of the game, as Hudson Fiene blasted a shot into the upper corner to Sergio Garcia’s right, making it 1-0 in the fifth minute. Peyton Huitron made it 2-0 in the 17th minute with a left-footed strike from 30 yards out.
“We wanted to come out that first 10 [minutes] and play with that urgency,” Yorkville coach Chris Palmisano said.
Sterling had chances to equalize in the first half. One of the best came on a free kick just outside the box in the 35th minute, following yellow cards being shown to Lukas Kleronomos and Luis Diaz, but the Daniel Bermudez shot sailed over the crossbar.
“We tried to settle things down, and we did for the most part, and from there we did a pretty good job of controlling the ball, we just didn’t get enough chances for ourselves,” Cebula said. “Those two goals were pretty detrimental to our play.”
Nathan Sanchez and Adrian Gallardo both had chances in the 19th minute, with a shot Sanchez attempted while falling to the ground just feet from the goal going wide of the post.
In the second half, Sterling (4-3-2) had several chances trying to work the ball up the right sideline. Sanchez made a run up that side in the 50th minute and tried to get off a shot from a difficult angle, but it was saved. Moments later Luis Ibarra Rodriguez made a run to the same spot, but no one got on the end of his crossing attempt.
“The second half we talked about how we wanted to spread them out, get them wide,” Cebula said. “We were having some success on that right side, but nothing materialized.”
The Sterling defense was able to turn away a Yorkville free kick attempt just outside the area in the 16th minute, and even got a chance with a counterattack, but that was ruled offside.
Yorkville (1-5-1) got five saves from Aidan Knutson. He denied a Rodriguez chance in the 63rd minute, and stopped a header in the 72nd from Fabricio Peña.
In the 77th minute, with Sterling playing a long ball over the top, Knutson won a footrace for the ball and cleared it away.
“He had a couple saves that were stellar,” Palmisano said. “We’re working with him. He continues to improve. I really like what I see out of him. He’s a class act, and we’re proud to have him back there.”
Yorkville had a flurry of chances in the first 10 minutes of the second half, with one from Bryan Gonzalez pinging off the post, and Garcia stepping in front of several others. Off a 50th-minute free kick just outside the area, the Foxes set things up nicely for Caden Nadler, but Garcia was able to deny his header.
Garcia finished the game with six saves, five of those in the second half.