Boys soccer: Lake Zurich, Stevenson among regional winners
Here's a look at this weekend's boys soccer regional championship games.
Lake Zurich 1, Warren 0:
During the early stages of the 2022 soccer season, Lake Zurich had a 2-3-2 overall record - with a variety of injuries the prime reason for the Bears' slow start.
Saturday afternoon at Round Lake, the No. 7 seed Bears (12-4-3) stunned No. 2 seed Warren, 1-0, to advance into the Buffalo Grove sectional Tuesday where it will face Waukegan at 6:30 p.m.
"It was a good game in which we played solid defense, created a lot of chances, and just kept grinding it out right until the very end with a total team 80 minutes effort," said Bears coach Mike Schmitz, whose club is now 9-0-1 in its last 10 games.
Owen Peich would bag the game-winner in the 77th minute, with junior keeper Filip Kanski recording the shutout.
The loss ends the Blue Devils' season at 15-5-2.
Stevenson 4, Libertyville 1:
NSC champion Stevenson kept its record near perfect after its 4-1 victory over longtime league rival Libertyville to lift the championship trophy at Chic Anderson Stadium in Palatine.
The Patriots play Fremd at 4:30 p.m. Tuesday at the Buffalo Grove sectional.
Bryant Rouse would hit the opener for the Patriots. The Wildcats (7-9-4) would draw back even shortly thereafter.
Daniel Sokolvsky bagged the eventual game-winner before the intermission, with teammates Rohan Gopalam and Jack Bacher adding one each to the score line.
"We managed a strong attack from Libertyville in the first half, but we came out strong after the half, and although (they) defended well, we were able to stretch our lead to 3-1, until Bacher scored our final goal of the game 20 seconds before the final whistle," said Patriots coach PepeJon Chavez.
Grayslake Central 5, Prairie Ridge 0:
Top-seed Grayslake Central extended its record to 15-1-3 after its 5-0 thrashing of No. 10 Prairie Ridge (10-10-0) on Friday night in Mundelein to claim the 2A Carmel Catholic regional title.
Next up for the Rams will be No. 4 Wauconda (12-3-0) in its sectional semifinal at home Wednesday at 5 p.m.
"We're finally getting back to playing soccer the way I knew we could after getting over season-ending injuries to Danik Marynevych and Jose Chavez," said Rams coach Keith Andersson, whose club drew 0-0 with Wauconda in the first week of October.
"We've been working hard to be the team we were before Danik, and Jose went down, and tonight we put together a great 80 minutes of soccer to get the win," said senior Alan Alanso.
When Alonso converted his PK in the 6th minute, it would be his 19th on the year, with teammate Mitchell Fein adding another at 17th minute with a remarkable long range blast.
The Rams would put three into the back of the net after the break with Ivan Sereno making it 3-0 in the 45th minute.
A PK from Fein in the 68th minute would come before a 72nd minute goal from Miles O'Sullivan.
Junior Uriel Garcia-Perez registered the shutout, but not without a spectacular first period save.
In other action Saturday, Fremd beat Zion-Benton 4-1 and Waukegan knocked off Barrington 2-1 on penalty kicks.