Senior forward Christos Dalmares is on such a hot streak for Sandburg, when he only scores one goal in a game, it drops his average and does not quite meet his standards.
“I 100% come to every game expecting to score,” Dalmares said. “I expect to score more than one at this point.
“It helps when I have guys like Keith (Monteclar) and ‘Sebi’ (Sebastian Burzynski), all those guys around me, to help me out. I put in a lot of work over the summer and I’ve focused on getting to those areas where I can score.”
Dalmares’ one goal was good enough Tuesday night to give the host Eagles a 1-0 victory over rival Andrew in a SouthWest Suburban Conference crossover.
Dalmares now has 14 goals for Sandburg (6-3-1), including 12 in the Eagles’ last six games.
He already has doubled his goal total from the spring, when he scored seven in a junior season that was slowed by injuries.
“I had two ankle injuries back-to-back,” he said. “They impacted my playing time, my practice time. I wasn’t really game fit. It gave me a lot of motivation to come back strong this year.”
Andrew (2-3-2) did a good job limiting Dalmares’ looks, but he broke through in the 34th minute.
Burzynski carried the ball down the left side of the field and sent a pass across the box to Dalmares, who hammered it home for the only score of the game.
“Me and ‘Sebi’ have been playing together a long time,” Dalmares said. “He knows where I’m going to be and I know where he wants to play the ball. I just found a little open space there and he found me, like usual.”
Sandburg coach Desi Vuillaume has watched Dalmares blossom into a star.
“He’s a super dynamic player,” Vuillaume said. “It’s good to see him grow. He’s been on varsity 3 1/2 years and he’s matured so much, even from last season to now. The patience he has when he’s on the ball is unbelievable.
“Even when we can’t get him the ball, teams have to be aware of him. Andrew had two to three guys in his area sometimes, and that helps other guys lose their marks and get into the attack.”
Brayden Rice made six saves to record the shutout for Sandburg, while Vasilis Eliadis, Luke Lyons, Luke Doll and Sebastian Rak led the defense.
The Eagles’ back line was determined to shut down the Thunderbolts after allowing some goals in recent games, including a 6-2 loss Saturday to East Aurora.
“It’s definitely motivation,” Lyons said. “After that performance, we want to improve ourselves. We see what we did wrong, we improve on that and we build as a team.”
Andrew put on some pressure in the second half. Johnny Arvanetes had a good look off a nice pass from Stevie Granat, but Rice dove to knock the shot wide.
Armani Vazquez and Mason Donovan also put shots on goal, but Rice was up to the test.
“We all knew they had the wind in the second half and they’d probably start playing some balls long,” Lyons said. “We just had to keep working together. We were all in unison on defense and that helped win us this game.”
The Thunderbolts’ momentum was squashed as they had to play the final 6:34 a man down after a red card.
Sandburg also was playing its fifth game in six days.
“It’s been a tough stretch,” Vuillaume said. “We’re missing some starters with injuries. I’m happy with the outcome. We had a lot of tired legs.”
Steve Millar is a freelance reporter for the Daily Southtown.