Seniors Reynolds, Leslie lead soccer into second half

HUNTLEY — Huntley senior goal keeper Jeremiah Reynolds at first smiled at the question about his first varsity start.

“I found out with about five minutes before the match I would be starting,” Reynolds said.

It was last season’s sectional after Huntley had won a share of the Fox Valley Conference title, a Class 3A regional championship and faced Elgin at Round Lake. Elgin prevailed 4-1.

Reynolds is now settled in as the Red Raiders’ top goalie.

“I feel a lot more confident now,” Reynolds said.

“Reynolds went out and won the No. 1 goalie job,” Huntley coach Matt Lewaqndowski said. “He has a lot of confidence now, communicating with our back line. We have a good rotation for our back line.”

The Red Raiders’ back line starters, for a match against Geneva, consisted of Finley Williams, Lazar Karanovic and Noah Gomez. Reynolds has 55 saves in 18 matches, with 12 goals allowed. Fellow senior Devin Concha also plays goalie.

Reynolds spoke of the closeness of the senior class, who hope for a push to another high FVC finish.

“I’ll just miss playing soccer with them every day,” Reynolds said.

Leslie, a team captain, leads the offense as Reynolds heads the back line. A midfielder, Leslie had seven goals and three assists for 17 points.

Also leading the offense include Aktai Mametijnov, a junior with five goals for 10 points and senior Anthony Frelas had four goals for eight points.

Huntley topped C-G

The Red Raiders shut out Cary-Grove, 1-0 for an FVC win Oct. 8. Leslie scored his seventh goal and Reynolds made five saves. HHS improved to 9-6-3 overall, 5-2 FVC.

Win over South

Huntley scored two second half goals for a 2-1 win over Crystal Lake South at Red Raider Stadium Oct. 3.

Mametijnov scored the first goal for a 1-0 lead. CLS tied it three minutes later followed by Leslie’s sixth goal of the season.  Reynolds made six saves.

“We started to take control in the second half. The match with South is always competitive, it’s the one I look forward to the most. I think this was our best match of the season,” Leslie said.

Leslie described that he was able to get past a Gators player, then put a shot that hit off the South goalie.

“Leslie put a laser shot past the goalie,” Lewandowski said.

Huntley hosts Dundee-Crown at 6:30 p.m. Oct. 10 in FVC play.