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Boys soccer: Scouting the postseason in the Fox Valley

Going into the boys soccer postseason in the Fox Valley the question is: can anyone be last year's Bartlett?

A No. 6 seed that barely got out of a regional semifinal, the Hawks weren't even favored to get out of regionals. Instead, Bartlett upset St. Charles North, Glenbard North and Wheaton Academy before knocking off McHenry to get to state. The Hawks held a late lead before succumbing to Quincy in overtime of the state semis. While they lost to Morton for third place, 2015 showed that anything can happen.

While Jacobs and St. Charles North won their respective conference races in 2016, there's a bevy of talented teams in a postseason that has some exciting regional matchups.

In Class 3A at the Crystal Lake South regional, the matchups are sizzling. No. 2 Jacobs (12-5-4), led by forward Noah Melick's 24 goals and 5 assists and Colin Walsh's 4 goals and 13 assists, enter as a Fox Valley Conference champ for the first time since 2002. The Golden Eagles draw No. 8 Cary-Grove Tuesday at 4 p.m., a team they've beaten 3-0 this season. Jacobs was ousted in PKs by McHenry last year in sectionals, a team they finally downed this season, and the Golden Eagles are eager to get back.

"Experience is good but you have to use that as a reminder as to why you got there," said Jacobs coach Anthony Cappello. "You can't just say you're going to win because you think you're good. You use that as a reminder as to why you were successful and you have to put in the same work and the same work rate."

Wednesday, No. 3 Elgin will face host No. 6 CL South at 4 p.m. The Maroons (12-5), a quick and skillful team, are much improved from last year's regional championship loss to Jacobs. A big win over St. Charles East can help your cause any season, but a 3-3 record in the Upstate Eight River, a revamped defense in Eric Whiteman, Alex Kunicki, Manny Ramirez and Andy Zavala and an emotional 1-0 win over rival Larkin last Tuesday for their sixth-straight certainly gives Elgin a great chance at this regional. Midfielder Cesar Gomez leads the Maroons with 16 goals and 3 assists while Roberto Martinez (7 goals), Alex Serna (6 goals) and Tirso Reynoso (7 assists) make Elgin dangerous. South (13-8-1) is the biggest question mark in this regional. Which Gator team will show? Forward Andrew Grabowski (19 goals, 15 assists) and midfield Nikolas Getzinger (12 goals, 4 assists) have certainly overwhelmed teams but a 1-0 loss to Cary-Grove (4-10) last week after a second place trophy at PepsiCo earlier this year will put a premium on team play this week.

At the Streamwood regional, the top-seeded Sabres (11-5-4) have a rematch against No. 7 Dundee-Crown (11-8) Tuesday. The host Sabres, led by midfielder Aldo Lazaro (10 goals, 9 assists) and forward Alex Chavez (8 goals, 3 assists) up top and Daniel Dominguez (5 shutouts) in goal, have a 3-1 win this year over the Chargers at Hononegah's Indian Cup. But after a big program win over St. Charles North, a 1-1 tie to Bartlett last week certainly has coach Matt Polovin's team on its toes.

"Maybe it's a little wake-up call because you can't be up and down and have a phenomenal game against St. Charles North and beat them and come back the next game (tie to Bartlett)," Polovin said. "But we'll be prepared. We know (D-C's) had a few good results since we played them. They beat CL South, Jacobs and McHenry. Either way, I'm sure they've improved from last game and I feel we've improved, too."

D-C certainly has raised its game against some of the best. It helped Jacobs to the FVC title by being the first team to knock off McHenry in PKs and then ruined the Golden Eagles' perfect FVC season with a win over them last week. The Chargers have won 5 of 6 and forward Julian Ajroja's 14 goals and 6 assists are a big key to that. So too is midfielder Jeremy Jareckyj's 6 goals and 11 assists. Goalkeeper Luis Cruz can make some big saves - he made 2 PK saves against McHenry and 1 against Jacobs.

The second half of the doubleheader at Millennium Field Tuesday features Larkin (9-7-3) and South Elgin (9-10), another rematch of an earlier meeting. South Elgin defeated Larkin 3-1 on August 31. The Storm have gone 5-9 since with notable losses to Addison Trail, St. Charles East and Elgin. South Elgin doesn't lack firepower, as forward Javier Lujan leads the team in scoring with 15 goals while Derek Baker follows with 14 goals. Larkin, led by Bryan Dominguez, Chris Plantz and Roberto Escobar, lost a tough 1-0 game to rival Elgin last Tuesday but coach Ken Hall feels confident in his Royals after they clogged up the Maroons in the second half.

At the Rockford Guilford regional, Huntley (13-5-1) is blind to any of the teams in its bracket but the Red Raiders do have an incentive if they win out as hosts of the sectional. Forward Aaron Ruffner has 11 goals on the season while midfielder Zach Whitaker has 5 goals and 8 assists.

Huntley will square off against No. 9 Rockford Auburn Tuesday.

At Glenbard North, back-to-back UEC River champ St. Charles North finished with a 12-3-3 record and a top seed in the sectional to boot. If there's any plus to winning the UEC River, it certainly has you battle-tested, which North has clearly been this season even counting the PepsiCo final loss to state power Morton. That loss and the win against St. Charles East in particular might be where the season turned for the North Stars, who showed some tenacity and character. Last season North was upended by a hot Bartlett team that got to state. This year, led by midfielder Jonathan Acevedo (5 goals, 13 assists), midfielder David Gorniak (8 goals and 6 assists), speedy-quick forward Bernard Elegbede (7 goals and 5 assists) midfielder Ryan Olson (5 goals, 5 assists) and defender Peter Willis, North looks to reverse last year's trend. The North Stars open against Wheaton North Tuesday.

At St. Charles East, the host Saints (16-4-2) come in as a No. 2, both in regional seedings and in the UEC River. But East knows as well as anybody over the years your regular season can be great and be washed rather quickly. A stark reminder was a 1-0 loss to No. 15 Lake Park last weekend, East's opponent on Tuesday. The Saints have rebounded with 2 shutout wins and the if East's defense and goaltending are in check, those are good signs.

"We really feel we've turned a little bit of a corner," said Saints coach Paul Jennison. "Lake Park outworked us and we learned a lot from that and been on the right track ever since. It's just been the consistency throughout the team. We don't have superstars but no go-to guy. We don't have anyone that we really need to go to be successful and the lads have really responded to that over the last couple of weeks."

No. 16 Batavia (4-11-2) has its hands full in Tuesday's Oswego regional semifinal against No. 1 Naperville North. Should the Bulldogs pull off the upset they'd either get No. 8 West Aurora (8-6-5) or No. 9 Plainfield North. The Blackhawks are led by Jose Munoz with 12 goals and 5 assists.

At Geneva's regional, the host Vikings (7-8-2) also have their hands full. A win over No. 10 Plainfield East Tuesday means a likely date with No. 2 Naperville Central Saturday.

At the Class 2A Burlington Central regional, top-seed Hampshire squares off with rival No. 8 Central Wednesday. The Whip-Purs were bolstered by playing much larger 3A teams in the Fox Valley Conference as well as 2A teams Prairie Ridge and Sycamore. The Whips (11-7-3) are led by Jose Cruz with 11 goals and 11 assists. Nico Barrientos (6 goals, 3 assists), Parker Bishop (5 goals), Tyler Fairwood (5 goals, 5 assists) and Braeden Frenette have also contributed. Hampshire will have to get past the host Rockets (9-7-5). Both teams have knocked each other out the past 2 seasons. Central has been steadily improving each week as junior forward Jack Schramme leads Central with 18 goals and 4 assists. CJ Heinz has 8 goals and 1 assist and Ryan Wilmington has 4 goals and 4 assists.

At Kaneland, the defending regional champion Knights (8-11) are the No. 5 seed going up against No. 4 Glenbard South Tuesday.

No. 6 Marmion (5-13-1) went through a roller coaster of a Chicago Catholic League season but will have to get past No. 3 Timothy Christian at the Class 2A Fenton regional Wednesday.

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