Boys soccer: Northwest Class AA sectional preview
Boys soccer: Class AA sectional preview
Lake Zurich sectional
When and where: Sectional final (6 p.m., Oct. 25) and semifinals (5 p.m. and 7 p.m., Oct. 23) at Lake Zurich; regional semifinals Oct. 17 and finals Oct. 20 at Hersey, Buffalo Grove, Jacobs and Palatine.
Advancement: Sectional champion advances to play winner of Libertyville sectional at Benedictine University supersectional in Lisle on Oct. 29.
Teams to watch: No. 1 Barrington (17-1-0), No. 2 St. Viator (13-0-3), No. 3 Lake Zurich (16-3-2), No. 4 Stevenson (10-4-1) and No. 6 Palatine (12-8-0). Top 3 seeds enter tourney with a mind-boggling 41-game unbeaten streak as they all are currently ranked in the top 10 in the state.
Keep an eye on: No. 9 Wheeling and No. 15 Hersey, each could make case for a higher seed after Huskies advanced into MSL Cup while its division rival just missed out on overtaking Huskies for that honor.
Palatine regional is toughest of the bunch with opening match between Lake Zurich and Fremd easily one of the best first-round matches around. Bears have 11-game winning streak, highlighted by impressive 3-0 win at state power New Trier, against Vikings with all their post-season history and tactical creativity to be wary of.
Players to watch: Francesco Furio, Ata Ozbay, Brian Bernal and Matt Beightol (Barrington), Jonathan Harris, Victor Mendoza, Matt Riggio (St. Viator), Taao Scarnato, Tim Kreutz, Nick Janus and Reid Bergstrom (Lake Zurich), Colin Pekovitch, Ross Dickson, Ian Soos (Stevenson), Rich Podjasek and Matt Leonard (Fremd), Sean McLoraine, Haris Haskovic and Matt Marturano (Palatine), Joel DelToro, Leo Elizalde and Trevor Rubin (Wheeling), Alex Gardasevic (Hersey), Christian Meza (Dundee-Crown).
Tactical talk:
"I believe there are a lot of good clubs in our sectional and if you don't play well, you could well be watching from home. Barrington and Lake Zurich are on a roll now, but Fremd has shown of late that they'll be a force to watch out for." -- St Viator coach Mike Taylor
"You've got to be focused, play your best game and have a little bit of luck on your side." -- Lake Zurich coach Mike Schmitz
"This is the time of the season that you can make your own future happen." -- Barrington coach Scott Steib
Streamwood sectional
When and where: Sectional final (6 p.m. Oct. 25) and semifinals (4:30 p.m. and 6:30 p.m. Oct. 23) at Streamwood's Millennium Field. Regional finals Oct. 19 and 20 and semifinals Oct. 17 at Conant, Lake Park, Elk Grove and Streamwood.
Advancement: Sectional champion advances to play winner of Rockford Boylan sectional at Northern Illinois supersectional Oct. 29.
Teams to watch: Diverse group which includes Conant (11-6-0), Maine South (10-4-5), Larkin (11-4-3) and Lake Park (11-4-5) all deserving of top four ratings.
Keep an eye on: Larkin defeated a very good side in St. Charles North 2-1 on Tuesday, and No. 2 Maine South, and has drawn with both Neuqua Valley and Waubonsie Valley as well.
Regional openers No. 7 Maine West vs. No. 10 Prospect in rematch of earlier championship match of Warriors tourney which saw West win 5-3. No. 8 Schaumburg faces No. 10 Sycamore, which features All-State, ODP (Olympic Development Player) striker Brad Horton.
Players to watch: Potential all-state strikers Eric Marofske and teammate Zach Raetzman are headline acts here, as are the Schaumburg trio of Josh Beard, Tim Piotrowski and Wesley Hollis from the MSL. Nick Kulas (Maine South) and Tom Kujawa (Prospect) are double-digit goal scorers. MW/MF David Puka recently set all-time assists record.
Tactical talk:
"Outside of Conant, our group is probably one of the most underrated regionals around. Anytime you get to that point (sectional qualifier) you're going to be playing a potential state champion caliber team." -- Schaumburg coach Hamid Mehreioskouei
"It's interesting that Fremd beat both us and Conant, and then went to OT with Barrington before losing. Look for them to surprise early on in the postseason. Things can change on a different pitch, and we look to last year's playoff experience to help in our regional." -- Maine South coach and former Fremd star Tim Spiegel
-- Mike Garofola