Tri-Cities teams prepare for postseason push
There shouldn't be any unfamiliarity at Plainfield North on Tuesday night when No. 5 seed West Aurora faces No. 12 Batavia.
The Blackhawks bested the Bulldogs 2-1 in an early-season match on Sept. 2 and both teams had opportunities to see each other play during the Morton tournament in the middle of September.
"From now on, it's all straightforward," West Aurora coach Joe Sustersic said. "You win or your season is over. There are a bunch of seniors. This is the last time they'll play together like this. Some will play in college. For others, this is their last hurrah. This is their 'Rudy' situation right now. They've got to realize that this is their one opportunity."
Batavia coach Mark Gianfrancesco wanted to see the Blackhawks one more time in preparation for their postseason meeting so he was in attendance when West Aurora defeated Wheaton Warrenville South 3-1 last Thursday.
"If you give (Victor Alfaro, Adrian Aceves and Jesse Ortiz) space they can make a lot happen," Gianfrancesco said. "Tonight Wheaton Warrenville South did a nice job in the second half of closing those guys up so we'll need to take care of that."
Batavia (9-7-4) finished its conference campaign in strong fashion, netting a pair of shutouts over DeKalb and Yorkville.
"We'll see what happens but I like our chances," Gianfrancesco said. "We've got enough motivation after getting beat in the first match."
West Aurora (17-3-2) enters the postseason after recording the most wins in school history. Still, they want to have an unforgettable second season and they'll need to get past Batavia first and then likely a very dangerous and extremely talented Naperville Central squad.
"When you play a team a second time they know you and you know them so it's who does their job and executes," Sustersic said. "You have to be ready no matter what and it doesn't make a difference. To win state you have to play seven and get through all seven."
Led by captain Henry Perez, the Blackhawks have been stingy on defense with Loren Galloway, Rodolfo Jimenez, Humberto Laguna and midfielder Josue Martinez hoping to continue to make things difficult for the Bulldogs and any other potential postseason opponent.
Batavia has only been beaten twice in its last seven matches but has only produced a 2-1-4 mark. Seniors Hyrum DaSilva, Mitch Albrecht and Ty McCoy will look to extend their high school careers.
Pass it like it's hot: Marmion is as hot of a team as any entering the postseason as the Cadets have won 11 straight matches.
While the Cadets are the heavy favorite to take care of business in the Burlington Central regional, they aren't going to look past anyone.
"I don't think we have a monkey on our back because we take no one for granted," Marmion coach Kevin O'Connor said. "We take no one lightly and respect everybody and we'll do that as far as we go, and that's a sign of the maturity of this group."
It's understandable that the Cadets are eyeing something, namely Wheaton Academy. If Wheaton Academy and Marmion keep winning, the two schools would meet on Halloween for the Hampshire sectional title. The Cadets would be aiming for their 15th straight victory and attempting to beat the Warriors, the last team to defeat them, 5-4, on Sept. 21. (Oswego should give Wheaton Academy a run in the Grayslake Central regional title game.)
"To be honest we're all looking forward to Wheaton Academy," defender Steve Anderson said. "But we can't underestimate anyone because in the past we've done that and we've lost or we've played real close against teams we should've taken care of. We have to play our best because it's win or go home."
The Cadets have a great deal of experience and that bodes well for a lengthy postseason run for a Marmion program that's competing in 2A for the first time. Senior captains Max Rosenfelder (14 goals, 20 assists) and Sam Duffield (18 goals, 8 assists), Tommy Cruger and Anderson lead a team that's playing with the utmost confidence.
"The core guys have stepped up and the younger guys continue to learn from us and that's been huge," Rosenfelder said. "It's really exciting to be playing so well right now and we're going to come out strong in every game in the playoffs."
After starting the season 1-3, the Cadets are certainly on the right track and tough matches against Lake Zurich, Wheaton Warrenville South, Barrington and Morton among others should have the team well-tested.
"I'm just really happy with how we're playing and hope it continues," O'Connor said. "The way we're moving the ball, distributing the ball and the way we're defending. It's made for a very pleasurable season and we hope there's seven more games left."
Close to home and at home: No. 2 seed Geneva (16-4-2) will begin its bid to go downstate for the first time since 2004 when it battles No. 15 Streamwood at 5 p.m. on Tuesday at Norris Stadium in St. Charles.
The Vikings are striving for their eighth regional championship in the past 10 years and with a win over the Sabres would face either No. 11 Glenbard West or No. 8 St. Charles East (10-8-2) on Saturday, Oct. 24 for another title.
"We set our sights on playing the best soccer at the end of the year and we take every opportunity during practices and games to gear ourselves for this," Geneva coach Ryan Estabrook said. "If we then get St. Charles East it'll be tough playing a rivalry game in playoffs with all the emotions. And if it's Glenbard West we'll know that they beat a very good team and that'll be a tough matchup."
With everything on the line in each match, the Vikings will need to overcome the slow starts that have plagued them recently. While they've been able to come back from deficits and pull out victories, they know it'll be difficult to continue that trend in the playoffs.
"Our warmups have been kind of slow so we're going to try to get in good warmups before we get started and then it shouldn't be a problem," Vikings goalkeeper Ryan Ward said. "We're really going to go in looking to get up early and then hopefully with that mentality we'll be able to finish teams off."
Estabrook has addressed the matter.
"We talked about it more in the classroom than the soccer field and hopefully it'll carry over," he said. "It's been a big concern of ours in recent time and we won't know for sure until the whistle sounds and the game starts playing but hopefully this is an aspect of our game we'll improve on."
The Vikings will have to get past the loss of freshman Brandon Sloan who is out for the rest of the season with a broken toe.
The Saints, who have been without injured junior forward Chris Tomek nearly all season, are without sophomore defenseman Austin Jackman (broken foot) and have a handful of other players who will battle injuries to get on the field.
St. Charles East expects a tough match with Glenbard West (9-9), even though the Hilltoppers have backed into the postseason with 3 straight losses. The teams will meet at 7 p.m. Tuesday at Norris Stadium.
"They're dangerous," Saints coach Paul Jennison said. "They've got some impressive wins and were under-ranked. They play the ball well and have some physical guys."
The Saints haven't relied solely on one or two guys to get the ball in the goal nor to create scoring opportunities and they head into the postseason capable of winning some matches.
"We believe that with the guys on this squad that when they put it together they can play with the best teams," Jennison said. "I hope they don't waste their potential and come out fighting and make the most of the opportunity."
Cinderella part deux: St. Charles North (9-10-3) finds itself in a similar position. Last year at this time, the North Stars weren't expected to do much as a No. 9 seed but they went on an incredible run, knocking off No. 8 Glenbard North, No. 1 Larkin, No. 4 Wheaton North and No. 2 Geneva before losing a heartbreaker to Rockford Boylan in triple overtime.
This year the North Stars are a No. 10 seed and will have to upset No. 7 York (10-8-1) to begin another Cinderella run. That match is scheduled for 6:30 p.m. Tuesday at Conant.
"They're a real tough opponent and might be even better than the No. 7 seed given them," North Stars coach Eric Willson said. "They have some big tall, center/mids and dangerous forwards and are pretty good top to bottom so we'll have all we can handle."
The North Stars finished the season strong, winning their final two matches, while the Dukes have floundered. After opening the season with 7 consecutive victories, the Dukes have only won 3 of their last 12 matches. Defending has been troublesome for the North Stars and it has been magnified by their struggles in scoring. In nearly 65 percent of their matches (14 of 22), the North Stars have scored 1 goal or less and went 2-10-2.
"We're feeling as good as we could feel going into this," Willson said. "I think
we're defending better and making less mental mistakes and when you do that it translates into the offensive end."
The North Stars started the season strongly, defeating one of the state's top team's
Lake Zurich and compiling a 3-1 record in the Barrington Classic. It didn't last long though as the team dropped 6 of 7 during a stretch of September, before resurging a bit in October.
"The old saying goes that you win as a team and lose as a team and that's how it is for us," Willson said. "No one's stood out and we've had our ups and downs and it's going to be the same case in the playoffs. If we can put it together as a whole team I think we can do pretty well."
Young Knights: No. 13 seed Kaneland hopes to avenge losing in the Class 2A Kaneland regional championship a year ago, but the Knights will have to play at a completely higher level after struggling to a 7-13-1 record this fall.
"We've got a lot of youth and some various injuries along the way have made it difficult," Kaneland coach Scott Parillo said. "It's another start and the kids are excited. We've got 9 underclassmen going into their first tournament and the nerves will be there and hopefully they get going before it's too late."
The Knights host No. 4 seed Antioch (14-6) at 4 p.m. on Tuesday. The Sequoits have won 5 of their last 6 games.
"We're keeping a positive attitude and looking toward the future," Parillo said. "Hopefully we can win a regional and move on and the kids can play well and learn about life and themselves."