“We knew from the start that this team was going to be a talented one,” boys soccer coach Franz Calixte said at the close of Tuesday night’s home game against Deerfield. 

Following a 5-0 victory over the Warriors, those were the words that Calixte shared regarding boys soccer, a win that pushed Evanston to stay undefeated nine games into the season.

Just an hour and a half earlier, the game on the brisk night was off to an impeccable start, with senior forward Bryan Maldonado scoring in the first 19 seconds of the game to put the Kits (9-0, 1-0 CSLS) up 1-0 over the Warriors (3-6, 0-1). 

His shot was followed up by goals from junior Cristano Hamer, senior Pascal Calonges and junior Johnny Hunwick, with the Wildkits quickly finding themselves up 4-0 at halftime. Junior Zack O’Donovan’s shot from the edge of the box 45 seconds into the second half turned out to be the final goal of the night, ending the Wildkits domination streak, with a final score of 5-0. 

Fast starts have become very important for the Wilkits during their nine-win run. Junior defender Kingston Scrim emphasized the importance of a good start. 

“The most we have to do is get going and then from there we can start piling on goals,” says Scrim. 

This win versus Deerfield Warriors was the Kits first in the conference, pushing them to be first,  along with Maine South and Glenbrook North, who both won their games earlier this week. 

Calixte stressed the importance of rotation and teamwork.

“We want to spread the ball around as much as possible. If we can do that it should open up more goal scoring opportunities,” says Calixte. “We also want to rotate players as much as possible so everybody stays healthy.” 

The Kits are looking forward to their next game against Glenbrook North. 

“It’s going to be a good battle,” Calixte says. “We just have to be aggressive when we attack.” 

The Wildkits will look to keep their streak alive against Glenbrook North on Thursday, Sept. 14 at 7 p.m. at the William Lutz Stadium.