Boys soccer: Libertyville pulls away from Highland Park

Opening games in the postseason can be a tough challenge for a team when it is a prohibitive favorite.

Top-seeded Libertyville was pushed by No. 17 Highland Park for the first 40 minutes Tuesday night. The Wildcats erupted in the second half, however, scoring three times in a six-minute span en route to a 4-0 victory in a Class 3A regional semifinal at Libertyville on Tuesday.

Indiana-bound Ryan Wittenbrink scored his 29th and 30th goals of the season and assisted on another, as Libertyville improved to 15-0-2. The Wildcats will play No. 8 Mundelein in Saturday's 1 p.m. final.

Evan Rasmussen added a goal and assisted on another, and Riley Hoff had the other goal.

"It was good for us. We didn't back down," Libertyville coach Kevin Thunholm said. "Highland Park was talented and well-coached. They had a good plan. In the first half, we didn't finish. Our script goes, 'Once we get rolling, we get rolling.' It took us a while to get going. Some of our guys are new to the playoffs so they were a little overwhelmed at first. But they settled down in the second half. We weren't playing our traditional game."

Wittenbrink got the scoring going in the 43rd minute after taking a pass from Rasmussen. Rasmussen then followed up a shot that went off the keeper, burying the rebound in the 47th minute for a 2-0 advantage.

Wittenbrink knocked in his second of the game less than a minute later, firing in a shot under the crossbar after taking a pass from Tanner Kelly.

"It's nice to hit that (30-goal) mark, but I don't think about that," Wittenbrink said. "It's more about wins at this point. (The goals) are a reflection of my teammates' play. They create for me a lot, and I create for them too. I think we've shown that all year that were multidimensional."

Hoff finished the scoring off a cross from Wittenbrink in the 78th minute.

Highland Park (5-15-1) had gotten past Zion-Benton 2-1 in its play-in game.

"We came out and battled. We gave the guys the David and Goliath talk beforehand," Highland Park coach Blake Novotny said. "We had to be patient and smart. The longer we were in it, I thought the better chance we would have at them. Our kryptonite has always been the first ten minutes of the second half. I knew that (Libertyville) would come out strong. Once they started scoring, they showed their class."