Elgin’s Roberto Salinas has a motor that never seems to stop when he’s on the field.
At the beginning of the season, however, the senior midfielder was worried about how he was one of the only ones playing with that sense of urgency for the Maroons.
“I do take pride in that, but I just want to show my team that dedication is pretty much all that it takes,” Salinas said. “Even in the preseason, we didn’t have players that wanted to run.
“They didn’t want the ball. I feel like if I do some type of play or something, I feel like it will help motivate the other people to do it more.”
It seems that the rest of the Maroons have started to follow Salinas, who was an all-state defender last season. Elgin picked up its fourth straight win with a 2-0 victory Monday over Dundee-Crown as part of the Streamwood Classic.
Salinas scored the first goal for Elgin (4-1-2) with 14:42 left in the first half on a free kick. Aaron Saldana put the game away on a sweet 20-yard goal with 10:49 left in the second half.
Imanol Soriano made five saves for Dundee-Crown (2-6).
The play that encapsulated what Salinas was talking about wasn’t a goal, though. With eight minutes left in the first half, Dundee-Crown’s Giovanny Perez broke free from Elgin’s defense and seemingly had a breakaway opportunity to try to tie the game.
Salinas would have none of it. He sprinted down the field, not only stopping Perez but clearing the ball out of the zone.
“His speed is incredible but also his awareness to anticipate things,” Elgin coach Jimmy Romano said. “His speed is deceiving, I think. People don’t expect it. He has that breakaway speed to catch up with guys. He does that a lot.”
He did that a lot last season as a central defender. With several players forced to shoulder more of an offensive load this year, Salinas has moved to what Romano believes may actually be his natural position as a holding midfielder.
Conducting Elgin’s offense like a maestro from the middle of the field allows Salinas to use all of his traits to help the team.
“He moves the ball like a point guard, passes and distributes,” Romano said. “He can cover a lot of ground, so it’s like two players in one. It’s nice.”
Salinas, who welcomed the change, has embraced the position.
“I love playing in the midfield area because I can get the ball a lot more,” Salinas said. “The more that goes on, the better it goes for me, the better I feel. The role I’m playing right now, I love it.”
After starting the season 1-1-2 and scoring only one goal in each game, Elgin had a week off to just practice.
In that time, players like Saldana and Salinas further cemented their new offensive responsibilities, and positive results have begun to flow. Elgin is 3-0 since, outscoring their opponents 13-0.
“It was a rough start, but we had a whole week to train and connect and build the chemistry up with each other,” Saldana said. “It’s showing.”
Romano stressed that more people had to pitch in scoring-wise this season. Salinas was one of those players who took that to heart and chose to lead the rest of the team with that philosophy.
“The past few games, we’ve scored more than one goal, so we’re having some progress,” Salinas said. “I know we can do more of that, but it’s a work in progress.”
Salinas hopes that work leads to the ultimate goal of this experienced team in reaching state.
“That’s what we’ve been focusing on since day one,” Salinas said. “We want to make it all the way and hopefully we can win it.”
Paul Johnson is a freelance reporter for The Beacon-News.
