Herald-News boys soccer teams eye postseason glory

After a magical run that went all the way to the Class 3A state championship match last season, Romeoville – which lost that game 1-0 to Naperville Central to finish as a state runner-up – is hoping for another memorable postseason.

The Spartans (15-5-3) are seeded fourth in the Class 3A Plainfield North Sectional and open the playoffs with a Marmion Regional semifinal against 13th-seeded Neuqua Valley (9-6-2) at 5 p.m. Tuesday.

“We’re hoping to go far and put it on all these teams,” Romeoville senior Isaiah Pina said. “It doesn’t matter if they’re better than us record-wise, we’re just going to go fight for the title. We know we can go far again. We just have to keep pushing.”

The road won’t be easy. The Plainfield North Sectional includes both teams that played for the state championship last season, with defending champ Naperville Central as the No. 5 seed.

Plainfield Central (15-4-2), seeded 10th after its most successful regular season in several years, draws Naperville Central in its playoff opener, a Bolingbrook Regional semifinal set for 6:30 p.m. Tuesday.

The host Raiders (9-5-4), seeded third, take on 14th-seeded Waubonsie Valley at 4:30 p.m. in the opener of Tuesday’s doubleheader.

“It’s a tough sectional,” Romeoville coach Nick Cirrincione said. “It’s loaded. Neuqua Valley has a winning record as a 13 seed. Plainfield Central’s best season ever and they’re a 10 seed. Anyone can win it.

“We’ve just got to score when we get chances to score. That’s the biggest key.”

Naperville North (16-1-3) and Southwest Prairie Conference champion West Aurora (17-3) are the top two seeds in the Plainfield North Sectional.

Plainfield East (12-4) and Plainfield North (10-6-3), seeded eighth and 11th, respectively, square off in a crosstown battle in a Plainfield North Regional semifinal set for 7 p.m. Wednesday. The Bengals beat the Tigers 2-1 in the regular season.

In the Class 3A Joliet West Sectional, Lincoln-Way Central (12-3-1) is seeded second behind top-seeded Bloom (21-1).

The Knights host a regional, opening with a semifinal at 5 p.m. Wednesday against 15th-seeded Joliet Central (5-13-3) or 18th-seeded Richards (1-16).

Lockport is seeded seventh, but the Porters (12-4-1) have a recent history of postseason success, including a state third-place finish in 2021, and are riding an eight-game winning streak into a Lockport Regional semifinal against 11th-seeded Lincoln-Way East at 4:30 p.m. Wednesday.

Lockport coach Chris Beal saw his team start to turn it around in a 2-1 home loss to Stagg – which is seeded third in the sectional and won the SouthWest Suburban Red Conference title – on Sept. 19.

“Even though they scored in the second half we started to show what we were capable of,” Beal said of the Stagg match. “We played with confidence and belief, we played to our potential. We started playing high-pressure defense and turning that up.

“Overall the team morale is high. We’ve got that winning feeling back.”

Senior defender Sebastian Podgorski said the Porters are playing to their potential at the right time.

“We got overly cocky at the beginning of the season,” Podgorski said. “Then we went to Iowa (going 3-0 at the Great River Classic), put in a lot of hard work, and brought up three players. Now we think we can keep building all the way to state.”

Other local teams in the Joliet West Sectional include 12th-seeded Lincoln-Way West (5-12-3) and the 14th-seeded host Tigers (6-12-3).

Minooka is the lone area team competing in the Class 3A Normal West Sectional.

Minooka (10-5-5) is seeded fourth in its subsectional and hosts a regional, opening with a semifinal against fifth-seeded Normal West (9-8-4) at 6:30 p.m. Wednesday.

In Class 2A, Lemont (7-8-4) is hosting a sectional and is the No. 6 seed, opening with a Lemont Regional semifinal against 12th-seeded Crete-Monee (7-12-1) at 6:30 p.m. Tuesday.

Providence Catholic (9-7-2) and Morris (11-9) are seeded ninth and 10th, respectively, in the Lemont Sectional.