Elgin ends HHS soccer season
HUNTLEY — Huntley’s boys soccer team’s memorable 2023 season included several achievements, but came to an end with a 4-1 loss to Elgin at the Class 3A Round Lake Sectional Oct. 24.
Huntley senior Hudson Nielsen scored the team’s lone goal, on a second half penalty kick. He finished with 18 goals on the season and 43 total points.
“Every game has been for my teammates,” Nielsen said. “I love every single one of them. It feels good to score a goal for the team in my last game.”
HHS head coach Matt Lewandowski’s squad ended 16-6-1.
“It’s tough any way you go out,” Lewandowski said. “We put it all on the table. They took us out of our game plan, but we had opportunities before it was 3-0 or 4-1.”
Huntley could not stop Elgin’s star, Eduardo Nava, who went over 30 goals and has 79 points after a hat trick. Elgin moved on to the sectional final with a 15-3-3 record.
“He is a true goal scorer, and they are rare,” Lewandowski said.
“He finds a way to score – that was his 11th hat trick this season,” Elgin coach Jim Romano said.
Although hopes of a sectional final were dashed on a warm night at Round Lake, the Red Raiders can look back on a 16-6-1 season. Some of the main highlights included the Huntley tournament crown, a shared Fox Valley Conference championship with Crystal Lake South and that memorable, penalty kick victory over Dundee-Crown 1-0 on penalty kicks for the Huntley Regional Championship.
