Flexibly, Round Lake prevails

Jose Sedano, normally a defender for Round Lake’s boys soccer team, made the most of his opportunity.

As a result, both he and the Panthers are moving up.

Sedano stepped up and scored his first goal of the season, and just the second in his varsity career, Thursday.

It was good time to do it — Senior Night and already the final home game for the Panthers, who got past visiting Antioch 3-1 in a North Suburban Prairie Division match on Thursday night.

Mauricio Salgado added a goal and an assist, and Mariano Narvaez knocked in the Panthers’ other goal. Edgar Rodriguez and Eddie Ramirez both had assists.

“I got a chance to move to the middle of the field,” said Sedano, a four-year starter who scored his other goal as a sophomore on a penalty kick. “We just have fun and play soccer — it doesn’t really matter where you play.

“We play like a team, just like we’ve played over the last few years. It was a team goal that I got.”

The Panthers (13-2-1, 4-0) extended their school record of unbeaten games to 11 (they’ve gone 10-0-1 in that span). Round Lake needs a victory in its two remaining division games — at North Chicago and Grant — to win the Prairie Division title outright.

“It was important for these guys to play their last home game,” said Round Lake coach Hugo Tellez.

Round Lake has lost since Highland Park beat them 2-1 on Aug. 28.

“We’re just focusing one what we do in practice and what I preach in games,” Tellez said. “These guys, I know their potential and I know how they play. Other teams try to adjust to certain players, and I know how to move players around. These guys have a way of playing to the max.”

The Panthers did lose starting keeper Jose Martinez to a foot injury in the fourth minute. Adis Sator took his place and made 7 saves.

Antioch (9-6-2, 2-1-1) got its goal in the final minute of play when Thomas Furlong poked in a header off a Jon Bohmann assist.

The Sequoits played with heart, and that kept them in the match the entire way. The Panthers scored twice late in the first half and added another early in the second half.

“I thought we could’ve won the game,” Antioch coach Marni Polakow said. “I thought we had as many opportunities at the goal as they did, if not more. We just couldn’t finish.

“I thought we weren’t outplayed in this game. What I saw was that my boys played like warriors. They got just as many opportunities as (Round Lake) did out there.”