Boys soccer: Aguilar leads red-hot Vernon Hills to another win

Carlos Aguilar has taken on the role of a leader his senior season for Vernon Hills.

The Midfielder has led off the field and, as he showed again Wednesday night, on it.

Aguilar had a goal and an assist, as sixth-seeded Vernon Hills shut out No. 3 Grayslake Central 3-0 in the Class 2A Deerfield regional semifinals. Nick Burrows and Glen McGowean also scored for the Cougars.

Vernon Hills (10-8-2) won for the eight time in its last nine matches to advance to Saturday's 3 p.m. final against No. 8 Deerfield (4-15-2).

Aguilar hiked his season totals to 5 goals and 6 assists.

"We have a lot of younger players," Aguilar said. "I just try to get them to play our style of play. The speed of varsity is much different. It's a change."

He's seen the Cougars improve as the season has gone along and their younger players gain valuable experience.

"We started pretty slow, but we picked it up over the last couple of weeks," Aguilar said. "We did whatever we needed to do to get through. We persevered through the tough times when we started 1-4. Now, we're trying to make something special. We're doing pretty well right now."

Aguilar got the ball rolling against Grayslake Central by converting a penalty kick in the 13th minute after Zidan Chaires was taken down in the penalty area.

The Cougars added two more goals in the second half, Aguilar assisted on Burrows' goal in the 55th minute. McGowean scored off an assist from Zach Hanson in the 78th minute.

"The sophomores are playing like juniors, the juniors are playing like seniors, and the seniors are playing like they're in college," Vernon Hills coach Mike McCaulou said. "The team has arrived. Tonight was a reflection of how we've been playing. (Grayslake Central) was ranked three seeds higher than us. We have confidence in our game that we can play with anybody."

Grayslake Central (7-12) had beaten Vernon Hills 3-0 in the second game of the regular season.

"You have to give credit to Vernon Hills. They worked really hard for this," Grayslake Central coach Tom Hamilton said. "We knew it wouldn't be like the first time we played them. They pressed us hard and they had a little bit more in the tank in the first half than we had. Second half, we tried to show some fight and bounce. But, the ball wouldn't go into the net and they were keeping the ball in front of them. At the end of the day, they deserve to go forward. We're disappointed with the result, but not the performance and the season."