Girls soccer: Scouting the postseason in Fox and DuPage County

The IHSA girls soccer postseason has arrived. A week from now, the Class 2A and 3A teams that are still winning will be coming off regional titles, while the rest will reflect on the season they had while beginning to look ahead.

Regional rematches

St. Charles North (12-2-5) could be looking to beat Batavia for a second time this season in the Class 3A Batavia regional final. The North Stars beat the Bulldogs 2-1 on April 11. The Bulldogs (6-8-2) will need to beat West Chicago (11-6-2) and the North Stars are first taking on Willowbrook (2-10-3).

Naperville North (11-5- 4) needed a victory over Waubonsie Valley (10-7-2) to secure the DuPage Valley Conference title last Tuesday and the Huskies got it in a big way, 5-1. The Warriors dropped five of their last six games, but also played strong competition. If the Huskies beat Bolingbrook (7-12) and the Warriors handle Plainfield East (8-10-1), the DVC foes will squad off again just eight days later in the Class 3A East Aurora regional championship.

Wheaton North (15-2-2) is the favorite to get a rematch against Glenbard West (9-7-3) or Bartlett, a team it hasn’t seen this spring, in the Class 3A Elgin regional title game. The Hawks (11-4-4) came up short against the Hilltoppers, 1-0, on April 10. The Falcons open up against the host Maroons (7-10-2).

Wheaton Warrenville South (11-5-3) likely will have to beat Geneva a second time this spring if the Vikings first get past Glenbard East in the Class 3A Glenbard East regional. The Rams (8-5-6) and Vikings (11-7-2) didn’t play this season, but a year ago Geneva cruised, 6-1.

Metea Valley (13-3-1) became the answer to a future trivia question last week when the Mustangs dropped a 3-2 game in what proved to be Naperville Central’s 600th win in program history. The teams look destined for a rematch, but first the Redhawks I10-5-1) will have to fend off a feisty DVC foe in Neuqua Valley (6-10-1). The Mustangs open against Plainfield South (6-9-2). Action will take place in Naperville again in the Class 3A Naperville Central regional.

Hinsdale Central (13-7) beat OPRF (6-10-1) on April 16, doubling the Huskies up, 4-2. The teams could be reacquainted in the Class 3A Reavis regional title game.

York (15-1-1) already has accomplished something that the program hadn’t done in nearly 15 years by winning the West Suburban Silver. The Dukes hadn’t done that since 2011. They’ll get either Downers Grove South or the hosts in the Class 3A Morton regional. York beat Downers Grove South, 3-0, on March 21 but did not play Morton (15-6, 6-0) which wrapped up the West Suburban Gold Conference title, finishing off a perfect 6-0 season with a 3-2 win against Hinsdale South (12-6-2) on Saturday.

Looming potentially in the Class 2A Hinsdale South regional final is a rematch between the Hornets and Glenbard South (11-7-1). The Hornets prevailed 2-1 on April 11.

Dundee-Crown (10-7-3) opened the season with a 4-0 victory over Round Lake (11-6-1). Guess who is playing each other in the Class 3A Dundee-Crown regional semifinals? The winner is posted to get top-seeded Barrington (15-1-2).

Kaneland (12-7) lost to Sycamore (16-8) a little more than a week ago and in doing so lost out on winning the Interstate Eight conference outright. If the higher seeds are victorious in their semifinals, the Knights would play Sycamore in the Class 2A Kaneland regional final.

New opponents in do-or-die

Just a little over six miles separates the campuses of St. Charles East (14-4-6) and South Elgin (15-6-2) but the teams didn’t have the opportunity to go head-to-head yet this season. That could change in the St. Charles East regional title game. During a postseason full of rematches, if the Saints and Storm square off it’ll be for the first time since 2018 when Ashley DiOrio and Rose Stackhouse scored to lead the Saints to a 2-1 victory.

Having won its third straight undefeated East Suburban Catholic Conference season and a runner-up finish in the Ed Watson Naperville Invitational, Benet (15-3-1) has proven to be among the state’s top teams. Still, the Redwings would find themselves as the lower seed in the West Aurora title game if they beat Plainfield Central (10-10-2) and and Plainfield North (18-2-1) first beats the host Blackhawks (9-9-1).

Downers Grove North (9-11-2) will get to know the Argonauts from Argo pretty well when they square off in the Class 3A Fenwick regional semifinals this week. With a victory the Trojans would then try to pull to .500 while winning a regional title game likely against Fenwick (10-6-3).

Jacobs (7-8-1) hasn’t seen Rockton Hononegah (7-8) since a season-ending loss in 2018. They meet in Algonquin in the Class 3A Jacobs regional this week. With a victory, the Golden Eagles would likely have a date against Lake Zurich (14-2-3).

Huntley (13-4-4) hasn’t played Grant this spring and it would likely get Mundelein in the Class 3A Harlem regional title game. Huntley heads into the postseason full steam ahead, unbeaten in its last eight games (6-0-2).

Dundee-Crown (10-7-3) opened the season with a 4-0 victory over Round Lake (11-6-1). Guess who is playing each other in the Class 3A Dundee-Crown regional semifinals? The winner is posted to get Barrington (15-1-2)

Undefeated in regular season

Wheaton Academy (14-0-3) is in select company as the Warriors and Lockport (22-0) are the lone teams to go undefeated during the regular season.

The Warriors open with Trinity (4-9-2) and would then get either Solorio Academy (12-5-2) or Chicago Noble/Mansueto (13-5) in the regional title game.

Lemont (16-4), Hinsdale South (12-6-2), Elmwood Park (11-2-1) and Nazareth Academy (8-8-3) round out the top five seeds following the Warriors in the Class 2A Lemont sectional.

The Warriors earned a third place trophy most recently in 2021. They are in pursuit of the fourth state title in program history, the last being in 2016. If the Warriors were to meet Lemont in the sectional final it would be a rematch of the 2009 state title game, although the venue would be on Lemont’s home turf.

Lemont has to travel to Wheaton for the Class 2A St. Francis regional. Barring an upset from Chicago Steinmetz, Lemont would face Montini (7-7) or St. Francis (4-6-2) in the final.

Peeking ahead

It’s going to be a chore to get to the Plainfield North sectional, but if Benet can survive the West Aurora regional, the Redwings would get undefeated Lockport if the Porters continue their perfect season through regional action.

On the other side of that sectional, look for a DuPage Valley Conference team to still be alive, with Naperville Central, Naperville North, Neuqua Valley and Metea Valley in the hunt.

As deserving as the first match between Lyons and York just was, a rematch with the season on the line would be difficult to top and it could happen in the Hinsdale Central sectional final on May 24.

All three levels of the state finals will be at North Central in Naperville. Class 1A begins on May 30. Class 2A and 3A begin on May 31. The finals for all three will be played on June 1.