Maine South make the most of it against Maine W.

The Maine West boys soccer team was unable to take advantage of its opportunities to score Tuesday night and provided a few too many of the same to its opponent in falling 3-0 to rival Maine South in a Class 3A sectional semifinal in Evanston.

The second-seeded Warriors (17-5-2) put up a strong defensive front in a scoreless first half, but less than 10 minutes into the second half Hawks midfielder Tomasz Kaczowka put sixth-seeded Maine South up 1-0 when he found the ball right in front of the net and poked it in.

Little more than two minutes had gone by before Kaczowka found the Maine West goal again, this time booting the ball in from 20 yards out.

"That was just us failing to clear the ball," West coach Mike Divincenzo said. "We cleared both balls to the middle and they cashed in both times. It was just a poor job of clearance on our half and a great job by Maine South to capitalize on them."

Taking advantage of exactly those opportunities is what Maine South coach Dan States had emphasized to his team at halftime.

"We made sure we had quick transitions from the midfield to get into the forward third because we knew we could take advantage if we had some space up top," he said. "And that's exactly what happened."

The Hawks will face the top seed and defending state champion New Trier on Friday in the sectional final.

Divincenzo still had plenty to be proud of from a West team that won its first Central Suburban North title since 1978 and won more games than in any previous season. The Warriors also won their third regional title last Saturday in Skokie.

"It's a great group of kids," Divincenzo said. "I cannot speak highly enough of them. We're just going to keep challenging ourselves and try to make another footprint."