Boys soccer: Scouting Streamwood vs. Normal Community

Streamwood (17-5-2) vs. Normal Community (22-0-2)

When/Where: Friday at 5 p.m. at Hoffman Estates High School

Advancement: Winner plays in Saturday's 7 p.m. championship game vs. the winner of Friday's 7 p.m. semifinal between Hinsdale Central (17-4-4) vs. Fremd (19-5-1). Losers plays in Saturday's 5 p.m. third place game.

Playoff history: Both Streamwood and Normal Community make their first appearance at the IHSA state tournament. The Sabres ousted Elgin and Larkin by 2-0 scores each in regionals at Millennium Field while in DeKalb they posted wins over Huntley 1-0 and Rockford Boylan 2-1 in overtime to win the first sectional in school history. At the Barrington supersectional, Streamwood defeated Lake Park 2-1. The Ironmen notched a 5-0 win over Minooka and a 1-0 PK win over Bradley-Bourbonnais in regionals before using 2-1 comeback victories over Moline and last year's 3A champion Edwardsville to win sectionals. As hosts in the supersectional, the Ironmen soundly defeated Thornton 4-0.

Outlook: Since winning their second regional in 3 years, the Sabres have been making history with every win since and there aren't any plans to settle for third or fourth place this weekend. They've used the leg of senior forward Alan Camarena (23 goals, 12 assists while the Sabre defense, led by seniors Mike Delaney, Christian Balbino and junior Aaron Villegas, has aided goalkeeper Sergio Blanco to amass 10 shutouts. The 6-foot 4 senior has allowed 21 goals in 24 games for a goal allowed average of .875. Junior Edwin Rueda (6 assists) has done a solid job of pushing the tempo in the midfield, as he leads the Sabres' speedy, possession attack. But the front third could be without junior forward Donnie Sosa (9 goals, 2 assists), who suffered an ankle injury against Lake Park. Coach Matt Polovin says Sosa has been off and on crutches since he went down in the first half and been doing everything in his power to get the ankle ready for the Ironmen, which includes ice baths and fish oil treatments. Sosa's scored 3 goals in the postseason, including clutch scores against Huntley and Boylan. Regardless if Sosa can go or not, confidence has been beaming at Streamwood, as the first boys program at the school to reach state will not change much or anything at all in tactical strategy this weekend.

"We're going to do what we've always done all season, we're just going to have to step it up another level, that's all. It's state finals," said Polovin, whose team sets up in a 4-3-3. "The way we played against Lake Park wasn't good enough for us. It might be good enough to beat Normal Community in our minds but that's not good enough and they want to step it up to another level."

After losing to state power St. Charles East on October 11, in their last 6 games the Sabres have allowed 2 goals, which includes a string of 4-straight shutouts. "Our defense has been solid all season and it seems like in the playoffs with the games getting tougher, their confidence has gotten stronger," Polovin chimed. "Their confidence level is through the roof. It really feels if you're going to beat one of us, you're going to beat all four of us. It's not going to be an easy chance you're going to get on Blanco. And then you still have to get it past Blanco if you get it to that point."

The nationally ranked Ironmen have played like their name all season with state on their minds as well. Nineteen of their 22 victories have come via shutout, including their first 7 games to start the year and have only been scored upon 6 times, a tall-telling sign of their brick-wall defense. Normal's led by leading scorer senior Eddie Plesha with 37 goals and 18 assists, an IHSSCA all-state selection. Seniors Connor Oltman (defender), goalkeeper Josh Millmore and midfielder Mason Maier (11 goals, 5 assists) were also all-state selections. But of the Ironmen's shutouts, 7 of them were by 6 goals or more and win margins have narrowed considerably in the playoffs, especially with 2 wins in their last 3 coming from a goal behind at the half.

"I guarantee they haven't seen a team made up like we are," Polovin exclaimed. "Downstate Illinois, there's no way you'll find a team majority Hispanic, very fast and technical that can go nonstop for 80 minutes at a high speed, I know they haven't seen a team like us. I think it's going to be a wake-up call."

Balbino will once again have the job to mark a top striker in Plesha as he did Lake Park's Oliver Horgan.

"They almost sound like they're a Lake Park," Polovin said of his scouting report. "They rely on Plesha, they try to hit him (on the long ball) all the time that they can. They cover well on defense, have some big kids, bunch of seniors. They're not fast, they try to tend to use their size as much as possible and play a 4-4-2. Their center-mid was good. There defense was organized, not fast."

Millmore has started 24 games in goal and blocked 3 penalty kicks to go with 6 goals allowed. Jake McCaw saw part-time duties in 11 games and made 9 saves without allowing a goal.

A reunion of sorts will be on hand if Streamwood ends up playing Fremd this weekend. The Vikings play the second semifinal against Hinsdale Central. Polovin is a Fremd graduate and during his junior year in 1993 his Vikings, coached by the famed Gerardo Pagnani, lost to Sandburg 1-0 in the state championship game.

"It was my 20 year reunion back in August and now all of sudden here we are, possibly playing my alma mater in a state championship or whatever it could be, that's exciting," Polovin said. "I guess if there's a dream matchup it would be us against Fremd in the state championship game. It would be awesome."