Cats made their mark
Libertyville's boys soccer team accomplished plenty just by reaching the Class AA supersectional on Monday night at Benedictine University.
Though the Wildcats saw their season end in a 3-0 loss to Barrington, they can still hold their heads high over what was accomplished to make it to the pitch in Lisle.
"We made it to the supersectional and we we've got something to build on for next year," Libertyville coach Andy Bitta said. "We just came out on a low end to a very, very good team in Barrington."
Libertyville made a big jump from last year, when it finished 3-11-3 under coach Bitta, who was returning to lead the squad after a seven-year absence.
The Wildcats improved to 14-6 this season and missed reaching the Elite Eight by one victory. They were trying to break an 11-year state tournament drought and nearly succeeded.
"We haven't been past a sectional in awhile," Bitta said. "It's like anything else -- you've got to learn to get there. They've made a great push up the ladder. Now that we're here, we've got to make another step up the ladder to reach state."
The Wildcats had a great finishing run. Libertyville won its own sectional as a No. 2 two seed. Their talented players were enough until they ran into an impressive Barrington club.
"I saw a lot of depth and people who can finish with the ball in (Brad) Novak and (Alvaro) Castro," Bitta said. "We just have to work from that and people who can mark up and play defense. Everything worked well, but this game (against Barrington), we just didn't finish."
Castro, one of the seniors, had a couple of chances scoring against Barrington and tried to improve upon his 10 goals on the season. Castro had carried the Wildcats with big goals over the last couple of games.
"This is great and I'm happy that we got here," Castro said. "I would have loved to get to state, but I'm still happy with the results."
Libertyville senior keeper Jim Palac made 4 saves against Barrington. But he knew the team in front of him had the ability for a great run.
"I'm surprised on how far we made it," Palac said. "We worked pretty hard together and came up a little short.
"It all started when we beat Carmel the first game of the season. We knew playing well through our first three games could carry over into the playoffs. We just started believing in each other and that we could do it."
The Wildcats' Ethan Richter, a senior midfielder, knew this team was special and needed an extra ingredient to boost them along.
"Coach Bitta showed us our strengths," Richter said. "We came together as a team. We've been playing together since our youth days. Coach Bitta made us believe in ourselves and that was the turning point."