Boys soccer: Jacobs blanks Elgin to win regional crown
Elgin and Jacobs high schools are separated by 16 miles. Their soccer teams could have easily driven to one school or the other to play for a Class 3A regional title Saturday, or met somewhere in the middle.
Of course that's not how the postseason in the IHSA works, and instead both teams and their fans got in their buses and cars and headed west on I-90 to meet in the Machesney Park Harlem regional final, a combined 106 miles and over two hours away.
That drive, and the steady rain the game was played in, was made much more bearable for No. 1 seed Jacobs, who scored a goal in each half to win 2-0.
"It feels amazing," said Liam Armstrong, who scored the first goal. "Last year was painful. Winning it this year feels sweet."
The victory gave Jacobs its fourth regional championship in the last five years. The only season in that stretch that didn't end in a regional title came last year in a loss to Dundee-Crown - and the Golden Eagles returned 10 starters from that team.
Goalkeeper Preston Krahl, who made a couple key saves early in the second half when the Maroons tried for the game-tying goal, missed last year's regional final with a PCL tear. He was out five months but is glad to be back and still alive in the postseason.
"I was really nervous coming in," Krahl said. "When Liam scored that took so much pressure off my shoulders. I'm so glad I made those two saves. I knew I just had to stay set and I'd save the ball."
The Golden Eagles (14-4-3) will play DeKalb, a 1-0 winner over Rockton Hononegah, at 4 p.m. Wednesday in the Class 4A DeKalb sectional semifinal.
Coach Colin Brice also credited PJ Hopkins' play in the back for the shutout along with Alex Nicastro who came out of the midfield and composed the back line, according to Brice.
"They are hungry," Brice said. "They want more. I'm excited to coach this group of guys. Excited to play next week."
Armstrong scored 12 minutes into the game on an assist by Nicastro to put Jacobs up 1-0. It was Armstrong's 16th goal this year.
The score stayed that way until 16:50 remained in the game when Tarek Shah headed in a corner kick by Sam Rainer to make it 2-0.
"It was huge. You saw Elgin deflate after that goal," said Brice, who also praised Krahl for his saves early in the second half.
"We knew they were going to come out flying. They are a great attacking-minded team. We knew we had to ride their wave and hopefully we could survive that first 10 or 15 minutes and hopefully our guys could settle down."
Elgin finished the season at 12-6-3. Coach David Borg declined to comment afterward.