From his spot in the center of the midfield, West Aurora junior Pacifique Ndayishimiye has the perfect view of what senior forward Shauri Mateso is capable of doing.

Ndayishimiye knows whenever he gains control of the ball, if he takes a quick glance up top, Mateso will be in the correct position to make an difference for the Blackhawks.

“It’s just his IQ,” Ndayishimiye said. “He knows where to be at the right time. You know anywhere you look up, you’ll see him in open spaces. It’s nice to have him up there.

“It’s very reassuring. You know once you get him the ball, something is going to happen.”

Mateso made things happen early and often Thursday for host West Aurora, finishing with his first hat trick of the season in a 3-0 Southwest Prairie West victory over Oswego.

A magnificent Mateso scored two goals in the first 14 minutes of the game for the Blackhawks (14-2, 6-2) and then added an insurance goal in the second half.

Emiliano Lopez produced two assists and Power Selemani had the other for West Aurora. Guadalupe Gonzalez recorded the shutout.

Miscommunication on defense by Oswego (12-6-1, 5-3) allowed Mateso to slide in for the first goal with 36:34 left in the first half. Ten minutes later, he capped off another run with a nifty one-on-one move on the goalkeeper to make it 2-0.

“I knew where to be because of the tactics we do here at school,” Mateso said through his translator, Selemani. “I knew the team would pass me the ball, so I just ran in and shot it to the corner.”

Mateso displays quick bursts of speed, even when it appears he may just be gliding around. That comes by design.

He plays defense and pretty much everywhere else in club soccer, and uses that experience to help him play forward for the Blackhawks.

“I play every position,” Mateso said. “I can also score, so I play up top. I try to slow down the defender and then speed him up.”

West Aurora coach Joe Sustersic said Mateso, one of eight African refugees on the Blackhawks’ roster, brings a ton to the team despite the fact he’s extremely soft-spoken.

“Shauri is just a quiet person,” Sustersic said. “He’s a very humble individual. He’s a defender in club, so that’s why he’s so laid back, because that’s how he plays.”

Ndayishimiye wonders how much longer Mateso can fly under the radar. A hat trick will certainly open up more eyes as the postseason approaches.

“Teams are starting to notice,” Ndayishimiye said. “Just his presence leaves other people open, too.”

Oswego had a hard time bouncing back from the early deficit, which left coach Gaspar Arias disappointed.

“We talk about how they play, their counters,” Arias said. “They have their fastest players up top. We were supposed to be ready but we were not.

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“Unfortunately, we started putting our heads down instead of controlling the game, playing our game. We tried to rush things and play quick and get back into the game. There’s a lot we need to work on when something like that happens.”

Arias lamented how Mateso and the rest of the speedy Blackhawks got to their spots.

“They are pretty quick,” Arias said. “We have pretty fast defenders, but they beat us, especially getting behind our back line, sending those through balls. We didn’t track our players down.”

It’s a big part of West Aurora’s overall offensive attack. The Blackhawks have scored 43 goals this season.

“That’s our main thing,” Ndayishimiye said. “We like to press hard. We know we have the endurance. We just try to wear them down because we know we’re in shape.

“We can just keep running and running.”

Paul Johnson is a freelance reporter for The Beacon-News.