Boys soccer: Scouting Fox Valley postseason
Here's a look ahead to Class 2A and 3A regional soccer action in the Fox Valley area this week, and St. Edward's quest to win another Class 1A sectional title.
Class 3A
Geneva sectional: The three Fox area programs have a mountain to scale in the 19-school sectional that features nationally No. 1-ranked Naperville North (19-0). Even as a regional host, Batavia's Bulldogs (3-10-4) are underdogs as the 16 seed facing fourth-seeded Oswego East (14-5-2) Tuesday at 5 p.m.
Even those top dog Huskies are aware that second-seeded West Aurora (15-3-1) feature a bona fide all-state scorer in Patience Yuha.
The question is do the Blackhawks have enough left in the tank. After a shootout loss in the second game of the season, West went 12-0-2 before losing 1-0 at home to Elgin. That became the first of back-to-back losses to end the regular season and four starters are missing from the lineup. The Blackhawks have a 5 p.m. Wednesday meeting with 18 seed Plainfield East, which posted a prelim round upset of 14 seed Geneva.
Addison Trail sectional: Since starting the year 1-6-1 and being outscored 22-8, Bartlett has gone 6-4-3 (outscoring foes 20-11), including the Hawks as 18th seed upsetting 16 Willowbrook (1-0) in a play-in.
However Bartlett (7-10-4) now has a Wednesday 4:30 p.m. match with regional host Wheaton Academy, the two seed among 19 schools in the Addison Trail cluster. Those Warriors (19-2) are eager to erase the sting of 4-1 loss in the regular-season finale at St. Charles East.
The Saints (11-7-0) are a dangerous fifth seed who hope to capitalize on home-field advantage in their Wednesday 6:30 p.m. regional against 11 seed Glenbard East and then gun for an encore win against rival St. Charles North.
Three games before, the North Stars (11-5-1) blanked Wednesday's 4:30 p.m. first-round opponent, 13-seed Glenbard North 3-0. However, seven of North's top 13 point producers on the varsity roster became disciplinary dismissals. Elevating five JV members may not be enough help for the North Stars in the likely rematch with rival East, let alone repeat last year's fourth-place state finish in Class 3A.
Hampshire sectional: The majority of Fox programs and some interesting rematches exist within the 19 schools assigned to the Hampshire sectional.
The powerhouse program and top seed Elgin has been on a mission ever since a 2-1 Hampshire upset in last year's regional championship. The Maroons' (14-1-3) lone loss occurred back on Aug. 31 in a shootout during group play of the St. Charles Tournament, which they still won.
Speaking of all-state scoring machines, Omar Lopez broke the school single-season scoring record with 37 goals; Manny Ramirez is a tenacious defender in front of an energetic keeper in Martin Jimenez. The goalie and defender Julian Garfias are the only two of 16 regulars without a goal, but they have one and three assists, respectively.
As the 18 seed, South Elgin (5-12-2) "upset" regional host and 16 seed Huntley in a prelim giving the Storm a chance to face Elgin in Tuesday's first semifinal at 5 p.m.
Five seed Hampshire would love a chance to avenge an early-season 5-2 loss to the Maroons, but the Whip-Purs (10-5-4) must start with a win in Tuesday's second semifinal against Crystal Lake Central in the DeKalb regional. Then Hampshire would need to beat the host Barbs (15-2-3), a dangerous four seed chomping at the bit to avenge an early 3-1 stumble versus 13 Rockton-Hononegah.
The lower portion of the sectional includes the Streamwood and Rockford Auburn regionals. As the second seed overall, Streamwood is the "favorite" on its home field and the Sabres (14-4-3) battled Elgin to a 2-2 deadlock. But that would be down the road. First is Wednesday's 4:30 p.m. semifinal against (15) Rockford Jefferson.
While Streamwood is unlikely to trip, don't be surprised if the 6:30 p.m. semifinal has 10 seed Larkin (13-5-3) blow past seven seed Belvidere North. The Royals finished the regular season without a loss in 12 straight (10-0-2), highlighted by a 2-2 draw versus the Sabres and a 4-2 upset of West Aurora. Veteran coach Kenneth Hall (21st year) figures his crew is overdue in the postseason with a trio of regional final defeats since 2014 when Larkin captured a sectional plaque.
Speaking of potential rematches, the Auburn regional has two teams that came up just short in the Fox Valley Conference race. Three seed Dundee-Crown (16-3-4) has the Wednesday 5 p.m. semifinal against fellow FVC member Cary-Grove (5-7-2), which was a 3-0 winner in a prelim with host Auburn. The danger for the Chargers is to assume they'll automatically repeat an earlier 1-0 win over Cary-Grove in anticipation of settling a score with Jacobs (8-7-4).
Those Golden Eagles are seeded eighth and are favored to beat Rockford Guilford in the 7 p.m. second semi. Just over two weeks ago, Jacobs scored with 31 seconds left in regulation before two overtimes didn't break the 1-1 deadlock with Dundee-Crown. The Eagles finished 5-1-2 in league play behind the Chargers (6-0-2), who were just in back of Crystal Lake South (7-0-2).
Class 2A
Speaking of the Gators from Crystal Lake South, they're the area's top hope for a Class 2A finalist. Granted South (15-2-3) has a target on its back as the top seed in the upper portion of the Harvard sectional, but the schedule featuring a variety of 3A foes has helped prep coach Brian Allen's crew for playoff rigors.
Both losses came during the PepsiCo Showdown courtesy of 3A foes. Matt McCaleb owns six shutouts and shared five other clean sheets with primary backup Oscar Estrada, who owns one solo whitewash. Offensively the Gators boast six players with nine or more points led by the 1-2-3 scoring punch of Alex Canfield (21 goals and 47 points), Ryan Coughlin (20 pts.) and Nick Langdon (17 pts.). South's first foe in Wednesday's 4:30 p.m. Antioch regional is eight seed Grayslake Central.
This has been a rebuilding year for an extremely young Burlington Central (4-11-3) crew, so the seven seed Rockets may be grounded in the Freeport regional battling top seed Harvard on Tuesday.
The other two area teams are potentially on a collision course in the Wheaton St. Francis regional which is part of the Glenbard South sectional. Marmion (10-7-1) is the top seed but Tuesday's 5 p.m. semifinal has the Cadets facing the host Spartans, seeded eighth among the nine schools assigned to the upper portion of the br. The follow-up 7 p.m. semi has four seed Kaneland (11-8-1) taking on five seed Glenbard South.
Class 1A
The pride of the Fox is once again the class of area 1A programs. Despite Elgin St. Edward graduating scoring machine A.J. Franklin (state's No. 2 all-time single season scorer with 70 goals) and all-area midfielder Will Gaston off a school-record 27-2 unit that placed third in the state, the Green Wave achieved 20 wins (20-1-1) for the second time in school history.
Coach Tim Briger (24th year) has a defense that yielded 14 goals in 21 regular-season matches and features four guys who have played together in every game over three years: goalie Evan Sajtar (12 of 30 career shutouts in 2018), Carson Scarnegie, Michael Lopez, and Emilio Martinez.
Joining them is all-purpose player Cameron Kruk while the midfield features more starters back Zack Olenek (four years), Chase Brieger (three years) and Jackson Godrey (two years). Up top are two 2017 set-up specialists now taking the lead in scoring with 29 (eight game-winners) and 17 (four gws), respectively, in Josh Johansen and Uriel Carachure.
Their fifth regional title advances them to Wednesday's 4:30 p.m. sectional semifinal against a Stillman Valley program that just won its seventh regional crown, all since 2010. The Cardinals (14-5-1) beat Oregon 1-0 and opened the season thumping Genoa-Kingston 6-1. There are two other common opponents with Stillman beating Somonauk (4-0) and losing to Rockford Christian (2-4) while St. Ed beat both (4-0 and 2-0, respectively).
The sectional final is Saturday at 3 p.m. against either Rockford Christian or Woodstock Marian Central Catholic (whom the Green Wave swamped 7-0 in the season opener). Aurora Central, Aurora Christian, Elgin Academy, Harvest Christian, and Westminster Christian have all exited.