Regional history for Round Lake

The wait is over.

For the first time, Round Lake’s girls soccer team won a regional game.

The fifth-seeded Panthers made school history by getting past host Grant 1-0 in a regional play-in of the Class 3A Crystal Lake South regional in Fox Lake on Saturday morning.

Round Lake (3-16) will next play at top-seeded Crystal Lake South (15-7-2) at 4:30 p.m. Tuesday in a regional semifinal.

“We just made history, and these girls are amazing,” Round Lake coach Andres Orbe said. “They play with a lot of heart. I couldn’t ask for anything more. They came out and gave 110 percent. We have a very young team, but they all played like seniors.”

Round Lake lost twice to Grant (6-11) during the regular season. The Panthers fell to the Bulldogs 3-0 in the Grayslake Central tournament and 3-1 in North Suburban Prairie Division play.

“Our mentality was ‘when’ we were going to win this game,” Orbe said. “It was never ‘if.’ We’ve had confidence in practice and have been dedicated.”

Erika Quevedo scored the only goal, which was the second of the season for the sophomore midfielder. Quevedo received a service off the leg of Bianca Mahoney in the 54th minute and beat the keeper.

“We were able to get the ball switched,” Orbe said. “It was a great shot. Mahoney did a great job to set it up. She’s our playmaker in the middle.”

Round Lake’s defensive effort was led by its back three of Kassey Tellez, Bianca Duna and Katie Trujillo. Cristabel Carrera made 11 saves to earn the shutout.

“We just didn’t want them to score,” Tellez said. “We wanted to hold them off.

“We know it’s history and we made it here today.”

Grant had its chances, once hitting a post.

“It was one mistake, and that’s all it takes,” Grant coach Michael Kennedy said. “Only one team ends its season on a winning note.

“We weren’t able to finish and had a mistake (defensively). You’re just not going to win a lot of ballgames that way.”