VERNON HILLS – Grayslake Central is on a roll and now has made history by going further than any other boys soccer team in school history. The third-seeded Rams won their first sectional championship Saturday, shutting out No. 1 seed Crystal Lake South, 2-0, in the Class 2A Vernon Hills sectional final.
“Not as a coach, but as a player, I have been here,” said Grayslake Central coach Keith Andersson, a 1989 Libertyville graduate. “This is what we wanted them to feel, and we don’t want the feeling to end. So, we’re going to keep pushing every game.”
Grayslake Central now will play in its own supersectional against Notre Dame (23-1-2) at 7 p.m. Tuesday. The Dons won the Noble/ITW Speer sectional with a 4-3 victory over Fenwick on Friday night.
Grayslake Central (13-5-2) started 0-4 in Northside College Showcase Tournament. Since the opening tournament the Rams have gone 13-1-2.
Going against Crystal Lake South (18-4-2) on Saturday, Grayslake Central had led, 1-0, going into the second half. The Gators had several players that had been in this situation before, winning a state championship in 2018 and placing second in 2019.
“The biggest thing in the second half that we had to do, and we explained it to all the boys, was to go hard at them.” Andersson said. “They were nervous. Crystal Lake South is an amazing team. So they were sitting back and letting (Crystal Lake South) play. I told them we’re just as good if not better. You have to play as hard as they can. When we finally got our rhythm, we were moving the ball and going side by side, which was something we preached all season long. It was lights out.”
Raymond Sereno scored the Rams opening goal in the 27th minute on a pass from Marko Marynevych for a 1-0 lead.
“I just provide more assists than goals,” said Marynevych, who now has 15 on the season. “I kind of wanted to shoot it, but I was dribbling the ball around the player doing some fancy stuff. I just passed to the top of the box. It just was a nice shot into the top right corner by Ray.”
Grayslake Central added an important insurance goal on a counter attack in the 64th minute. Cameron Paul scored off a through pass from Alan Alonso.
The Gators didn’t want to their season end and had chances to score. Grayslake Central keeper Uriel Garcia-Perez earned his ninth clean sheet with 10 saves.
“Grayslake Central was a quality team,” Crystal Lake South coach Brian Allen said. “They defended very, very well and made it difficult for us in different spots. Their keeper made some quality saves. If we had gotten one in the first half, who knows. I would rather lose 2-0 than 1-0. You go for it and (Grayslake Central) countered us. A guy got loose, and that’s a credit to them. I wish them the best of luck.
“With the COVID year, we had three straight sectional finals with these seniors, and that was something special. Not many teams can say that they have been able to do that. They will be horribly missed. I did tell the younger guys it’s a legacy that has been left behind if they want to get back to this game.”