Boys soccer: Lake Zurich blanks Round Lake in regional final

Dealing with gale force winds and trying to control the ball was a set up for a different type of soccer.

Lake Zurich was the one that finally broke through by finding the back of the net one time and it happened against the wind.

Lake Zurich, a 10th seed, got past No. 15 seed Round Lake 1-0 in the Class 3A Highland Park regional final on Saturday afternoon.

The Bears (12-5-3) will next take on No. 3 seed Mundelein (15-4-1) in the Barrington sectional semifinal Wednesday at 7 p.m.

"Everyone had a good season, we just try to win games and come home with a regional title," Lake Zurich coach Mike Schmitz said. "It's a lot of credit to our guys for how hard they work."

It was also a matter of working through the inclement weather and dealing with wet snow at times. There wasn't an easy way to handle the conditions on both sides.

"Fun game, but a tough one with the weather," Schmitz said. "We're not used to seeing snow this early, but the kids battled and gave a lot of effort. We just grinded it out to the end. Give credit to Round Lake with how well they played."

Lake Zurich had the big task of going against the strong gusts of wind that were over 50 mph at times in the first half. The Bears were able to keep Round Lake (11-10-2) away from the goal.

But Lake Zurich put together a combination that led the Bears to the only goal in the 27th minute when Aiman Naqvi took a short pass from David Zaccarine up top and put the ball past the keeper for his 13th goal this season.

"As a team, you have to work together," Naqvi said. "If things aren't working well like today with the weather and sometimes it's other things. We did have a good team goal that started with good pressure from the defense, great work in the midfield and a build up from the front three. I was happy to finish it off. There wasn't much space in the middle. (Round Lake) was really good with their intensity. We played quick in that one move and it opened up for me."

Bears' keeper Matt Volmer earned the clean sheet by making four stops and dealing with the wind.

Round Lake did a good job of keeping Lake Zurich without a goal in the second half as the Panthers had the benefit of the strong wind on their backs.

The Panthers closed out a good season that saw them beat second-seeded Buffalo Grove in the regional finals, and they shared the Northern Lake County Conference title with Grayslake North.

"It's all the luck with the wind," Round Lake coach Hugo Tellez said. "It was a great game. The one mistake we made, (Lake Zurich) countered on us. Our schedule really prepared us for the playoffs. Usually our record is a great record, but this year we were over .500 and carried it over into the postseason. It was all a plus for us."