Rolling Meadows revels in regional achievement

Rolling Meadows' dream of a long postseason run continued on Saturday.

David Zarate's sensational 2-goal effort and a last-gasp second strike from Kou Glaser guided the No. 5 seed Mustangs to a 4-2 victory over No. 4 St. Charles North in the Classs 3A Elk Grove boys soccer regional championship.

It's Meadows' first regional title since 1999.

Next up for coach Peter Mikulak's side will be a trip to the Bartlett sectional semifinals on Tuesday.

The Mustangs will face upstart West Chicago, which stunned No. 1 St. Charles East 1-0 in its regional final on Friday.

"It's nice to finally be able to breathe normally and restore my blood pressure after watching that second half," said Mikulak, whose club took the lead at 22 minutes against the North Stars (11-6-4).

"Chasing 2 goals against a team like Rolling Meadows which is talented, experienced, and solid all the way around is not exactly a recipe for success," said Northstars coach Eric Willson. "The goals we gave up were both physical and mental errors on our part. But you also have to give them a lot of credit for their creativity and relentless work in our end."

When Zarate scored the opener for the Mustangs (11-7-2), it culminated a wonderful quarter-hour of play. The highlight was an exquisite finish from the senior, whose superb shot achieved just enough height, leaving keeper Kevin Sabres with no chance of stopping it.

"The coaching staff has been encouraging me to take people on out on the wing, beating people, and getting some shots on frame," said Zarate, a veteran midfielder. "And today I did."

"Our energy was great right from the start," Glaser added. "And David's shot was amazing, and scoring that first goal was so big for all of us."

The North Stars were forced into clearing two attempts off the line during the first period. But more bad news for St. Charles North arrived when Glaser somehow found enough space to elevate himself above the rest of the North Stars defenders to redirect Brett Gibson's corner at 40 minutes.

"That second goal allowed us a little room and sent us into the break feeling a little better about things," Mikulak said. "But we knew (St. Charles North) was going to come at us and when they pulled one back almost right away, we all got a little nervous."

North Stars dynamo Chris Watson was at the center of his team's rally.

The talented striker immediately seized the initiative when the second period began.

Paced by Alex Amro, David Gorniak, Lorenzo Estrada and Ryan Olson, Willson's club began to burst forward with confidence and pace.

"We opened up so much better in the second half and fought hard to get one back," Willson said. "And we really leaned on Watson, who was a force all throughout the half. But they responded really well, too. And when they put their third one in, we kind of took a step back afterward."

Amro fired one at the back post in the 45th minute.

But Zarate responded three minutes later, thanks to some gritty work from D'Acquisto.

The North Stars kept coming, and in the 73rd minute, Gorniak lashed a wicked strike from 25 yards.

However, in the waning seconds, Enrique Avellaneda's long serve out of the back caught the North Stars' back line pushing forward. And with a well-timed run from right-to-left, Glaser met the ball from Avellaneda in stride and delivered a perfect shot into the back of an empty goal to end the North Stars' hopes.

"We all know, especially the seniors, that our next game could be our last," Glaser said. "And no one wanted that, so we're all playing and working as hard as we can to make sure it isn't.

"We were very strong along the back, and especially in the middle, where Andy Rueger gave us so much for the second straight game, And it's that type of effort that can be the difference for us from here on out."