After eight straight losses to start the year, things are finally starting to break Kaneland’s way.

The Knights survived a relentless early onslaught from Sycamore and got a late goal from Jackson Boryc to beat the Spartans 1-0 on Wednesday and become the last undefeated team in the Interstate 8.

“It’s great. Top of conference now. We control our own destiny,” Boryc said. “We started the season rough, but we’re picking it up now.”

In the 72nd minute, Michael Painer let loose a corner kick from the right side. Boryc came charging in and headed it past Ryan Guzinski for the first and only goal of the game.

Boryc, a senior defender, was given a yellow card for leaving the field for a celebration after scoring his first goal in two years.

“First goal in a long time, since my sophomore year,” Boryc said. “Maybe not the greatest decision to get the yellow out of bounds, but it felt good.”

The Spartans (7-4 overall, 2-1 Interstate 8) let rip a furious attack in the final minute only to be turned away by the Knights (3-9, 3-0) and goalie Aiden Lentz.

Noah Daykin had a shot cleared by a defender with 41 seconds left. With 18 seconds left, Daykin had a direct kick wrapped up by Lentz. Paxton Runkle let fly a long shot that found the back of the net, but was released a second or two after the final buzzer.

“If you were here in the first 10 minutes, you would have thought we were going to win 4- or 5-0,” Sycamore coach Kevin Bickley said. “We’ve talked about finishing our chances, and that’s big. In a game like this, when you don’t finish those early chances, they hang around and they get that late goal.”

Kaneland had an insane sequence in the 68th minute that nearly resulted in a goal. Noah McKittrick launched a shot that bounced first off the crossbar, then the upright on the right side. The ball rolled toward the left side, and Guzinski had to crawl and lunge to wrap it up before the Kaneland offense could knock it home.

The win was the second in a row and third in the last four games for the Knights after an 0-8 start. Coach Scott Parillo said most of the issues to start the year stemmed from having eight new starters.

“It was tough,” Parillo said. “It’s taken awhile, but hopefully we can keep this going. ... We just have to trust ourselves, believe in ourselves and trust the process. It’s eventually going to work. And it’s starting to show.”

Parillo said he liked how the Knights responded at halftime.

“We told them, ‘Hey, you guys have to match their intensity and play their game,’ ” Parillo said. “I also told them they were getting rid of the ball too quickly. We were just passing into space and stuff like that. I think we did a little better job of that in the second half, knocking the ball around and playing Kaneland soccer like it’s supposed to be played.”

Bickley said the team was hoping for an outright I-8 title by going undefeated in league play. He said he hopes Wednesday’s loss serves as a wake-up call.

“When those goals don’t go in, we just start trying to force everything,” Bickley said. “Everybody’s trying to do too much. The next thing you know, we’re playing their game.”