Marturano, Palatine eliminate Libertyville
Matt Marturano's 2 goals in the second half, including a late penalty kick conversion, gave host Palatine (17-4-1) the perfect start in the Class 3A state tournament series Tuesday night in a 3-1 victory over No. 11 seed Libertyville.
The No. 5 seed Pirates now meet No. 4 St. Viator this Saturday at 2 p.m. in the regional final at Palatine.
The visiting Wildcats (8-4-4) stunned the home side at four minutes when Andrew Stone took a superb ball from teammate Kyle Gustafson on the right and comfortably side-footed home past a diving Kyle Held at the near post.
The Wildcats did well to defend and keep nearly everything in front of them after grabbing the early lead as Josh Muchmore, Kevin Wolf, Dennis Mudd and Adam Chernoff stayed organized despite countless long throws into the box by the Pirates' Willie Filian.
It appeared this match would go to intermission with the Wildcats taking its 1-goal lead in with them, but Filian hit the equalizer at 39 minutes when the junior finished a Josh Clark corner past Wildcats keeper Chris Crow.
"Kind of a tough call against us near the end of the half, and one that led to Palatine getting even with us," said Libertyville coach Andy Bitta.
Two minutes after the break, Marturano struck the game-winner.
After that, the match opened up as the Wildcats looked to equalize while the home side had thoughts of adding to its lead.
Pirates senior Glenn Arnold, who turned in strong work up top all night long, nearly found the back of the net on consecutive chances in close before Marturano converted his spot kick at 75 minutes after Jose Quintero set it all up with a nifty tackle and subsequent pass to Marturano, who was brought down in the box.
"We did not do a good job of winning second balls all night, and we got a little careless in the back which cost us as well," said Bitta. "It's disappointing to see our season end tonight, but we had a very good year and we'll get back at it with some hard work and see where we are next season."
- Mike Garofola
St. Viator 5, BG 0:St. Viator coach Mike Taylor could afford himself a welcome sigh of relief after seeing his squad cruise to a 5-0 victory over No. 13 Buffalo Grove (9-11-1) at Palatine on Tuesday night and finally banish one of the Lions' darkest days.
Junior Alan Aboona made sure there would not be a repeat of the Lions' 1-0 loss to Jacobs in its 2007 regional opener by striking for a pair of first-half goals to help jump-start his club.
The No. 4 seed Lions (19-2-0) next face host Palatine at 2 p.m. Saturday.
"This was the (match) that really worried me," said Taylor, who earned his 400th career victory with the Lions' shutout. "We knew, especially after last year, that every first-round opponent is always so dangerous, and I think the boys took Buffalo Grove very seriously because of that."
Grayslake N. 1, Vernon Hills 0: At Lakes, James Gianneschi scored off a Julio Zamora cross with 3:30 left in the first overtime to lift the Eagles in the Class 2A regional semifinal.
Grayslake North (15-5) will play host Lakes at 11 a.m. Saturday in the regional final.
"We had a real tough time breaking down Vernon Hills," Knights coach Adam DeCaluwe said. "They did a good job staying compact and managed to thwart many of our threatening build-ups."
Grayslake North keeper Nolan Peek made 6 saves in earning the shutout.
Vernon Hills finished 3-14-3.
Wauconda 3, CL Central 0: At Marian Central, Trevor Stellwag scored twice, as the Bulldogs won the Class 2A regional semifinal.
Mike Mrohen also scored for Wauconda (11-5-3), which plays host Marian Central for the regional championship at 4 p.m. Friday in Woodstock. Alex Kasula, Mike LeClaire and Greg Gustafson had assists, while Joe Radice earned the shutout in goal.
Lake Zurich 4, D-C 0: At Barrington, Tim Kreutz had 2 goals and an assist in the Class 3A regional semifinal.
Nick Janus added a goal and 2 assists, and John Pothast also scored for Lake Zurich (18-1-3), which plays Barrington in the regional final at 11 a.m. Saturday. Bears keepers Taao Scarnato and Mike Messner each made 3 saves.