Pretty goals, ugly win

Crystal Lake South senior Roberto Albuquerque controls the ball in front of Jacobs junior Blake Micel on Tuesday at South. South won, 3-1. (Jenny Kane – jkane@shawmedia.com)

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CRYSTAL LAKE – Brian Allen didn’t think his Crystal Lake South boys soccer team had turned in its best performance against Jacobs on Tuesday.

It was sloppy in spots. There were haphazard offensive routes and miscommunications early. The defense broke down on a set piece. Every game is important now, and Tuesday’s Fox Valley Conference Valley Division match against Jacobs was paramount in the Gators’ ongoing quest to defend their division title.

The good thing for South is that ugly wins still count. Offensively, the Gators produced in their 3-1 victory against the Golden Eagles to remain undefeated in the FVC Valley Division.

But Allen wasn’t particularly impressed with anything except the quality of the goals. The remainder of the season and the team’s aspirations depend on improvement.

“You know you’re going to get games where we’re not at our best and we have to find a way to grind it out,” Allen said. “Credit Jacobs. They brought the intensity and the fire that I thought they were going to, and they made it extremely difficult for us.”

South (12-7 overall, 4-0 FVC Valley) got on the board in the 21st minute of the first half on a pretty goal – underscoring the match’s exceptions – from freshman forward Renato Albuquerque. Sophomore midfielder Sam Murdock’s corner kick found Albuquerque at the far post, and he converted the first header goal of his career for a 1-0 advantage.

“What I found was that I could juke my man out really easily, so I faked back post and went near post, and Murdock saw me,” Albuquerque said. “It was perfect placement, pinpoint.”

Jacobs (8-9, 1-3) responded in the 33rd minute. The Eagles brought the ball into South’s defensive third and put four shots on frame before knocking one in on a set piece. Junior midfielder Mario Rako hooked his free kick inside the left post from about 30 yards out to even the score at 1.

Albuquerque laid in the go-ahead goal in the 57th minute off a pass from senior forward Charlie Oliver. Roberto Albuquerque, Renato’s older brother, scored in the 75th minute for the final margin off a pass from Renato.

“The [Jacobs defender] was bigger than me, and I wasn’t sure if I was going to get my body in front of him,” Renato Albuquerque said of his second goal. “ ... I pushed it and hit it as hard as I could, and luckily the keeper didn’t get a touch on it.”

It was a familiar sort of loss for Jacobs – an inch here or there was the difference.

“I don’t think there has been a game where we’ve walked off the field and felt like we couldn’t have won,” Jacobs coach Anthony Cappello said. “We’re not sharp enough in the final third. To [South’s] credit, they put theirs in and we didn’t take care of ours.”

• Follow Maureen Lynch on Twitter @nwh_molynch.