Boys soccer: Upsets abound in regional semifinals
The 2024 fall soccer season has produced several stunning results. Tuesday night proved to be more of the same.
Top seed and NLCC champion Grayslake Central was stunned by No. 16 seed Cary-Grove Tuesday afternoon in its regional opener at venue host Harvard.
The Rams (12-4-1) came into this contest with seven victories in their last eight games before the Trojans (4-10-2) dashed their hopes of a long run in the 2A state playoffs.
Next up for Cary-Grove will be No. 8 Harvard (17-4-3) this Saturday in a regional final.
Elsewhere in 2A action: No. 9 Vernon Hills beat No. 7 Crystal Lake South 2-1 at its own regional Tuesday night — ending the hopes of the reigning 2A state champs of continuing on.
The Cougars (6-12-10) will face No. 2 Prairie Ridge (15-4-1) Friday night.
No. 4 Wauconda won easily over Woodstock North, 3-0, and will wait for the winner of the Grayslake North (11-4-3) vs. St. Viator (3-17-0) semifinal.
MSL champion Hersey (13-3-5) continued its winning way, albeit not in easy fashion with a 2-1 hard-fought win over No. 14 Buffalo Grove.
Kacper Lechowicz scored the opener for the No. 3 seed Huskies, with Ray Reyes adding the second for Mike Rusniak’s club.
“We just refocused our efforts, and won our 50-50 challenges, both on the ground and in the air against a very good Buffalo Grove (6-8-4) team,” said Rusniak, whose club faces No. 6 Libertyville (11-2-5) who beat No. 11 seed and regional host Barrington 2-0.
The Barrington final will be this Friday at 6 p.m, as will the Conant final which features the host Cougars (11-8-2) who defeated No. 10 Addison Trail (9-8-1) 3-0 to advance against MSL rival Schaumburg.
The No. 14 Saxons upended No. 3 Elk Grove (11-6-1) 2-1.
“We survived one injury to a key player, but we were unable to do so with a second key injury. But give Schaumburg all the credit in the world for its victory,” said Gens coach Dan Klaus.
No. 13 Fremd (6-11-1) played a man down for the entire second half and would push No. 4 Glenbrook North (13-3-4) to the brink before North eased past the Vikings 1-0 in Northbrook.
The Spartans will host No. 12 Mundelein (11-9-2) who avenged an early season loss to No. 5 Lake Zurich (10-4-6) with two first-half goals to defeat the Bears 2-1.
“Those two early goals got us off on the right foot, but in the second half we (maybe) packed it in a little too much. But our keeper Wyatt Griffin was the hero for us tonight,” said Mustangs senior Lukas McCaulou after this late night thriller.
Chris Martinez and teammate Max Zinchuk (PK) scored for the Mustangs who will play the host Spartans this Friday at 6 p.m.
The Spartans would use a 27th minute goal from Jackson Lee to hold onto its one-goal advantage against a Vikings club who played without its starting keeper Konrad Olech who was shown a straight red card when his tackle of Lee just moments before the intermission ended his night.
“Our second half effort with just 10 players said a lot about the character, energy and desire tonight, and it was something that I was very proud of, and one in which the players should be proud of also,” said Vikings coach Steve Keller.
Over at Rolling Meadows, the host Mustangs (14-4-3) and No. 2 seed used a double from Eltayeb Mahmoud and an own goal to defeat No. 18 Highland Park by the score of 3-0.
Next up for Brett Olson’s club will be No. 7 Stevenson (11-4-5) who would end the season of No. 10 Warren (7-8-4) with a 1-0 victory.
“Ethan (Cole) made some incredible saves for us tonight to help keep us in this game,” said Warren coach Jason Ahonen.
Over in Franklin Park, regional host and No. 2 seed Leyden (17-2-2) moved into its own final this Friday afternoon after overwhelming No. 18 Von Steuben 8-2 with Jesus Ramos netting three goals.
Next up for the Eagles will be ESCC co-champion, and No. 7 seed Notre Dame, who is now 14-3-1 after its 2-1 triumph over Maine West.