Wehrli, Naperville C. pressure Marmion

Joe Wehrli didn't score any goals Saturday afternoon, but the Naperville Central senior wreaked enough havoc to create two of them.

After an uninspired first half, the Redhawks outscored Marmion 3-2 in the second half to win the Class AA Naperville Central boys soccer regional championship.

Wehrli started the second half by stealing the ball from a Marmion defender and cutting inside across the penalty area, where he was fouled. Tim Zimmer converted the penalty kick, giving the Redhawks a 1-goal lead after just 29 seconds.

"That's what you've got to do," Wehrli said.

The score went to 2-0 in the 55th when Wehrli brought down a long pass into the Marmion penalty area. The ball rolled to sophomore Colin Rook, who knocked it in from close range.

"He did a nice job of giving us a boost," said Redhawks coach Jay Konrad of Wehrli.

"They created that with their pressure, they created that with their transition," Cadets coach Kevin O'Connor said.

The Cadets (15-8-2) didn't go quietly, however. Beto Del Toro's 60th minute laser beam from 31 yards out cut the lead to 1.

The second-seeded Redhawks (18-3-1) made it 3-1 in the 70th on Byard Ebling's goal off a long Zimmer free kick.

"Our backs were under tremendous pressure the whole game," O'Connor said.

The No. 6 Cadets made it close again a minute later, with Doug Conroy heading home a Luke Friedman free kick in a crowd.

"It was anybody's game right to the end," O'Connor said.

The Redhawks will meet rival Naperville North, the No. 3 seed, in Tuesday's second sectional semifinal at Neuqua Valley. They will try to avenge their regular-season loss to the Huskies, a 6-0 debacle.

"After what they did to us last time, everybody here is looking forward to it," Wehrli said.

-- Orrin Schwarz

Lake Park 3, Elgin 0: It's always nice to know your goalkeeper has your back.

In Saturday's Class AA regional final at Lake Park, the host Lancers struck first against Elgin on a penalty kick, but then the offense seemed to let up a little bit the remainder of the first half. Still, the Lancers never did relinquish their lead thanks to goalie Matt Durbin, who kept the Maroons (11-10-1) off the board with a pair of sparkling saves until the offense sealed the 3-0 win with a pair of second-half goals.

"Durbin kept us in the game when we needed him most," said Lake Park senior Kevin Hughes, whose PK gave the Lancers a 1-0 lead with 23:57 left in the first half. "We got the lead and he took care of things for us."

The Maroons, who tied Lake Park 1-1 two weeks ago, came close to tying the score only to have Durbin make a diving stop to rob Hugo Aranda with 14:09 left in the first half. Durbin, who had 8 saves in the game, then made an acrobatic save on a rocket off the foot of Elgin's Joel Perez late in the half.

The Lancers (14-5-5), who will take on Schaumburg at the Streamwood sectional on Tuesday, were able to breathe easier after Chris Gajda made it a 2-0 contest with 15:30 left to play. A header by Edwin Castro with just more than three minutes remaining ended the scoring and gave the Lancers a 3-0 win and their fifth regional crown in seven years.

"It's for everyone's sake when it's a 1-0 game," Durbin said of his critical stops. "I try to back up my team and keep it clean back there."

Lake Park coach Norm Hillner liked the way his team started, even if a strong first 15 minutes still left the game scoreless. The penalty kick, awarded after Gajda was tripped in the box, got things going for the hosts.

"The first 10-15 minutes we had a lot of opportunities," Hillner said. "The goal helped immensely. After our goal they (Maroons) played well, but we got a couple real nice saves."

-- Stan Goff

Geneva 3, Glenbard West 0: This isn't a team that likes to play in midday, this Geneva team -- they're more Vampires than Vikings.

But after playing the first half like a group of Zombies, Geneva found something it could sink its collective teeth into -- a Glenbard West squad that hadn't shown much bite itself in a scoreless opening 40 minutes.

Geneva stuck a 3-0 spike into the Hilltoppers' hearts and claimed the Bartlett regional championship in the process.

The Vikings, who are unbeaten in 14 matches and improved to 17-5-2, face Wheaton Warrenville South at 5 p.m. Tuesday in the Class AA Wheaton Academy sectional semifinals.

Glenbard West (12-6-2) went most of the match without a serious effort at a goal. Kyle Donegan hit the post with 12 minutes to play. And the shutout nearly ended five minutes later when Donegan sent a close-range header that Geneva goalie Greg Duff saved.

"We lose our heads and then we don't play -- and then the better team prevailed," said Glenbard West coach John Gosling.

-- Darryl Mellema