Boys soccer: Postseason wins for Grayslake Central, North

Juan Mata and Trevor Veenstra each scored twice, and Grayslake Central's boys soccer team opened the postseason by blanking No. 6 Johnsburg 4-0 in the Class 2 Antioch regional semifinals on Tuesday.

David Young made 8 saves in net for his eighth shutout of the season. Grayslake Central led 1-0 at halftime on a goal by Mata.

The top-seeded Rams (14-6-2) advance to Friday's 4 p.m. regional final against No. 4 Grayslake North.

Grayslake North 3, Antioch 1: At Antioch, all three first-half goals were scored within 90 seconds of each other.

Grayslake North's Tyler Salvador tallied at 37 minutes, Antioch's R.J. Vazquez tied the score 30 second later, and then one minute later Ronaldo Rojas put the Knights in front for good. Brandon LeBaron and Tyler Salvador had assits for the Knights.

"We started slower than we would have liked, and credit goes to Antioch as they came out flying." Grayslake North coach Adam DeCaluwe said. "They had tremendous energy and physicality to their approach, and it took a good amount of the first half for us to get comfortable and play our game. Once we did, we played with good purpose and we started to keep more of the ball, creating more chances as a result."

Jason Rhodes converted a penalty kick late in the game, as No. 4 Grayslake North (9-10-1) earned a berth in Friday's 4 p.m. final agsainst No. 1 Grayslake Central.

Vernon Hills 8, North Chicago 0: At Vernon Hills, Cole Guillaume scored 5 goals for the second-seeded Cougars in the Class 2A regional semifinals.

Chris White, Stephen Auw and Anakin Ruiz scored as well. Brennan Reback and Nick Burrows combined in goal for the shutout.

The Cougars will play No. 7 Wauconda at 7 p.m. Friday for the regional championship.

Wauconda 1, Lakes 0: At Vernon Hills, David Ramirez scored off an assist from his brother Cristian Ramirez, as the seventh-seeded Bulldogs ousted the No. 3 seed in the Class 2A regional semifinals.

Wauconda advances to Friday's 7 p.m. final against No. 2 Vernon Hills.

Waukegan 6, Carmel 3: At Hersey, Eric Ramirez and Osvaldo Zarinara each scored twice for the eighth-seeded Bulldogs in the Class 3A regional semifinal.

David Villanueva and Adrian Moreno also scored for Waukegan, which advances to Friday's 6:30 p.m. final against No. 1 Hersey.

Michael Alemu had 2 goals for No. 9 Carmel, which trailed 5-1 at halftime. Robert Rao had the Corsairs' other goal.