Boys soccer: Nikolov gets Antioch going

To begin the boys soccer postseason, Krystian Nikolov took the reigns with a hat trick in a 5-1 victory for seventh-seeded Antioch against No. 10 Richmond-Burton in a Class 2A Lakes regional quarterfinal in Antioch on Friday afternoon.

The Sequoits (8-11-2) next take on host (2) Lakes (12-6-1) at 4:30 p.m. Tuesday in Lake Villa.

"This is big, since we've had a coming-together year," Antioch coach Marni Polakow said. "We brought on a lot of youngsters, and we've got solid senior leadership this year. This team has just been growing."

Antioch has had its ups and downs, but its full game was on display against Richmond-Burton (3-14).

"We proved it out here, and we had been struggling to put the ball in the back of the net," Polakow added. "We did it with (Nikolov) - he's been our scorer all year and we took care of business. Now we can relax a little bit and get ready for Lakes."

The other goals for the Sequoits came from Alex Keeler and RJ Vasquez, while Keeler and Adam Lynn each picked up assists.

The weather played havoc with the Class 3A regional quarterfinals scheduled for Saturday. No. 19 Grant at No. 14 Deerfield was stopped after five minutes for lightning and was rescheduled for 7 p.m. Monday. Also rescheduled were No. 18 Hersey at No. 15 Lake Forest (moved to 4:30 p.m. Monday) and No. 17 Highland Park at No. 16 Zion-Benton (5:30 p.m. Monday).