Boys lacrosse: South Elgin adjusts, beats Wheaton Academy
It took South Elgin three quarters to solve Wheaton Academy's zone defense in Wednesday's second sectional semifinal at Geneva.
South Elgin, holding a 4-2 advantage at the start of the second half, exploded for four goals in the third quarter to break the game open in its 10-4 victory over the Warriors.
South Elgin, ranked second in the sectional, will face top-seeded Neuqua Valley in Friday's championship game. The Wildcats beat Geneva 9-2 in the first semifinal.
South Elgin, a co-op team with players from South Elgin, Elgin, Larkin and Streamwood, jumped out to a 2-0 lead early in the first quarter on goals by Nathan Gehrke and Alex Noworol.
Wheaton Academy (10-7) halved the lead with 3:18 left in the frame on a shot by Ben Thorson.
Cade Newtown scored the first of his three goals a minute later to give his team a 3-1 lead at the end of the first period.
The squads played an even second quarter with each team scoring one goal. Ian Venard scored the first of his three goals for Wheaton Academy while Newton scored his second to give South Elgin a 4-2 halftime lead.
"They are really a skilled team. We have a couple of different zones we run. In our initial zone, they were able to find a few gaps so they got two quick ones on us," said Wheaton Academy coach Geof Weisenborn. "We made some adjustments. We switched up where we were going to pressure, and where we were going to take pressure away. It stalled them for a little bit."
Venard opened the scoring in the second half with a goal 90 seconds into the third quarter to pull the Warriors within 4-3.
South Elgin (18-1) then scored three unanswered goals. Lucas Baer scored back-to-back goals less than a minute apart four minutes into the frame followed by a Griffin Carey shot.
Newton scored his third goal with 41 seconds left in the quarter on a shot over the defense.
"I was coming around on the left side and I turned back and turned back around and took a jump and went over everybody and put it in between the goalie's legs," said Newton.
"The second half, they made adjustments again and we had to switch again. So it was a real chess match there," Weisenborn said. "Closing it to 4-3 early in the third quarter, I felt we were right on the edge. You've got to credit South Elgin to take advantage of some mistakes we made."
"We eventually found a way to crack their zone," South Elgin coach Dylan Butler said. "It was just reminding them that we are talented on the offensive side of the field so we don't need two guys to start hero balling, we don't need to force inappropriate passes. We just do needed to do what we have done all year - just move the ball faster than the defense can rotate."
South Elgin started the fourth quarter with an 8-3 lead.
The Blackhawks scored two more times in the fourth quarter - one by Jacob Sietmann and Noworol's second goal. Wheaton Academy answered with Venard's third goal.