Boys soccer: Fine home finale for Niedzwicki, Lake Zurich

Dylan Niedzwicki's soccer career ends when Lake Zurich's season ends.

So as the Bears celebrated Senior Night on Wednesday, Niedzwicki made sure his final home game was memorable.

He scored twice as Lake Zurich shut out Cary-Grove 5-0 in a nonconference match.

"Considering I'm not playing soccer beyond high school, it's very important," Niedzwicki said. "It's my last home game, and it's the last time I'm playing in front of my friends. ... Getting the goals made it that much better. I'm definitely not going to forget this night. I haven't had a game like this since freshman year."

Barrett Hindman, Brandon Wohler and Andrew Kelly also scored in Lake Zurich's season finale. The Bears, who led just 1-0 at halftime, count 17 seniors on their roster.

"We have the most seniors in the program that I've ever had," Bears coach Mike Schmitz said. "It's cool if you can keep that many around for four years."

Lake Zurich enters the state tournament with just a 6-10-2 record, but 8 of the Bears' losses have been by one goal. Against Cary-Grove (3-10), LZ had no problem finishing chances.

"We played this way against Warren and got one of them in," Schmitz said. "We played this way against Stevenson, they finished and we didn't. It's kind of those things. It's a good way to end the season."

The Bears defeated Class 3A state champion Libertyville 2-1 in North Suburban Conference action. The two teams meet up in the Warren regional semifinals next Tuesday in Gurnee.

"I hope it helps for next week," Schmitz said. "Who knows which way it goes. I expect it to be a good game. Both teams are motivated. It's nice to have confidence going in."

Hindman opened the scoring in the final minute of the first half off a pass from Brandon Klett. Niedzwicki finished a pass from Klett in the 56th minute for a 2-0 advantage. Wolhler connected on a kick that was set up by Andrew Kelly's corner kick in the 64th minute.

Kelly made it 4-0 two minutes later, and Niedzwicki finished the scoring in the 75th minute off a touch pass from Daniel Sotomayer.

Cary-Grove had beaten Crystal Lake South 1-0 on Tuesday night and was resting several of its starters for its regional semifinal against Grant on Friday.

"Lake Zurich played a very good game," said Cary-Grove assistant coach Stephanie Saxsma, who took over the team for coach Mark Olson, who was attending the sectional meeting. "We did have several JV players that played in the game. We have some injuries on the varsity that we're healing up from. With what we had on the field, we played as hard as we could."