Chargers hold off Hampshire

Updated: March 22, 2011 4:30PM

HAMPSHIRE -- It's still another year before Hampshire officially joins the Fox Valley Conference, but the Whip-Purs spent Monday night getting acquainted with one of their future rivals by hosting Dundee-Crown in the season opener for both teams.

It was the first time ever the two District 300 schools met on the soccer field, and while the Class 2A Whip-Purs did their best to hold their own against their Class 3A counterparts, in the end the Chargers prevailed 2-1.

"It's a good chance to see what we'll be up against," said Hampshire coach John Gosling, who spent three years as an assistant at D-C. "This will probably be a big rivalry in a few years."

Hampshire controlled play early on, but D-C goalie Scott Nowicke stopped the Whip-Purs on five scoring opportunities in the first half.

The Chargers eventually turned things in their favor and took a 1-0 lead with 28 seconds left in the first half when senior Mauricio Areliano scored on a penalty kick.

"We were doing some nice passing early on, but we weren't able to get anything close to the net," D-C coach Rey Vargas said. "We just kept plugging away and eventually got some scoring opportunities."

D-C wasted no time adding to its lead. Kyle Hagan scored on a pass from Malik Washington just four minutes into the second half.

"Malik set me up with a real nice pass," Hagan said. "It was real simple for me. Just one touch and put it into the back of the net. That PK at the end of the first half really gave us the momentum and we just carried it into the second half."

The Chargers dominated the first 15 minutes of the second half, holding the Whip-Purs without a shot on goal. D-C had a third goal waved off by a debatable offside call with just over 27 minutes to play.

Hampshire made things interesting with 20:07 left to play when Fransisco Solis scored on a pass from Noel Sosa to cut the deficit in half. However, that was all the offense the Whips could muster.

"It wasn't the PK that hurt us so much," said Gosling. "It was giving up that goal early in the second half. Chasing two goals is tough. Still, our captains did a great job of showing leadership and keeping us in it. Once we settled down we started putting more pressure forward."

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