The 2024 women's soccer regular season concludes with a lot of excitement for fans in Barrington, Lakes Community, and Libertyville, who captured championship trophies in their respective conferences.
The best season of the year is just around the corner. The stakes are high and there are plenty of thrills and spills in store for those who love their favorite sport.
So let's take a quick look at the Class 2A and 3A sections that area teams belong to.
Barrington The No. 1 seed in the Huntley Division clinched their 12th straight MSL Soccer Cup title with a 3-1 win over Hershey last week, jump-starting their postseason ambitions.
“It's great to win another MSL Cup for this program, but we still have a lot of work ahead of us,” said Phillies senior Caitlin Taylor, who was the driving force behind the win over Hershey.
All-state candidates Ruth Van Roekel (center back) and Megan Holland (11.5 shutouts, 0.26 ppg. average) are part of a stingy unit in the back, with another pair of all-state candidates on the other side of the park. Lucier and 2023 All-State forward Sarah Sarnowski. The two have combined for 23 goals and 24 assists.
Add in the ball-winning brilliance of senior Maddie Sievers in the middle of the field and her overall quality, and the fillies will be tough opponents to negotiate with.
The Fillies (15-1, 2 KOs) will be wary of a handful of other forces trying to wrest state power from the tournament.
One such club is the second seed lake zurich (14-2-3) has a deadly trio of offensive talent.
The Bears have 2023 All-American forward Lauren Bailey, along with teammates Sydney Alendarchyk and Riley Novak. They totaled 45 goals and 35 assists.
Keeper Erin Vaughn has 10 shutouts and a 0.62 points per game average.
Another excellent club in NSC is No.3 warren That young team is led by 2023 All-State junior Addison Stansiak (16 goals) and senior Reese Mertens. They led the Blue Devils to an 11-7-1 overall record.
Mertens will attend the University of Iowa in the fall, while Stansiak has committed to play in St. Louis after the 2025 school year.
In addition to the No. 5 seed, fierce competition is expected in the Hershey region among the top four seeds. stevenson (12-4-2) and No.6 hershey (12-8-2), each has scoring stars who can make a difference when it matters.
Maryland's Ellie Egeland (Stevenson) is closing in on 30 goals, and Hershey sophomore Gracie Lisota (13 goals) can always score from distance with her powerful left foot.
No.1 glenbrook south (12 wins, 2 losses, 6 draws) We brought back several club players this spring, and those additions have paid off in a big way.
fremd (11-4-4) has been playing in the top flight all season and is loaded with potential all-state stars in Gemma Gillespie, Bela Cesniak and Gwen Zimmerman.
No.4 liberty building (11-4-1) has played some of the best soccer in the area since mid-April. The Wildcats wrapped up their second straight NSC title with a stellar 8-0-1 record, including an impressive 3-0 win over Stevenson.
On a roster full of underclassmen, it is seniors Erin Kelly and Molly Koch who provide great play and leadership for coach Daniel DePas.
“We have really good depth on our team this year and that's made a big difference in our success so far,” Kelly said.
The Wildcats are expected to face league rival Stevenson in the regional final, and if they advance to the regional semifinals, they will face Glenbrook South.
Glenbrook South ended the Wildcats' long undefeated streak with a 2-0 victory in the final regular season game last week.
No.8 schaumburg After several seasons below .500, he had a great year under new coach Tracy Serafini.
The Saxons (11-6-0) will have a chance to make a bold statement locally if they advance to the finals to face Glenbrook South.
Glenbrook North (13-3-2) is the No. 3 seed in the section.
2A, the above lakes community eagles recently won their second straight NLCC title with a perfect 7-0-0 record, outscoring their league rivals 32-2 in that time.
“Our strength is we move the ball well and create a lot of scoring opportunities, and we've shown that in three of the games we've lost, it's even,” coach Kevin Calvey said.
The No. 4 seed from Deerfield District is led by All-State candidate Mia Silver (17 goals, 15 assists) and the impressive trio of Raina Schmidt (19 goals), Tessa Smith and Ella Sager.
“Tessa and Ella are outstanding centre-backs for us and Raina has an incredible presence in and around the box,” said Kluby.
“Mia helped us every game with timely goals and assists, always giving us a chance to win,” Kulby says of Silver, who will play at Winthrop University in South Carolina in the fall.
Once the Eagles pass quality No. 5 seed Lake Forest, they reach a section that could easily be described as the Granite Group.
Two of the top 2A teams in this half of the state, Lakes and the No. 3 team, will headline. Sankt Viator (16-5-2) will look to get better in the sectional semifinal showdown with No. 1. Crystal Lake Central (16-2-2) and part 2 Deerfield (16-5-2).
St. Viator earned its best overall record since 2018, when it went 19-6-2 en route to the state 2A runner-up title under Hall of Fame coach Mike Taylor.
Although the Lions fell short of their goal of overtaking Beneto in the race for the ESCC title, they did score an astounding 109 goals this spring.
Crystal Lake Central, which was third in the state a year ago, won its fifth straight FVC title and is led by Loyola Chicago-bound Olivia Anderson. Deerfield will rely on star Emily Fox (St. Louis), who has set countless program scoring records.
If teams retain their seeds, the sectional semifinals on Wednesday, May 22 will be Crystal Lake Central vs. Lakes and St. Viator vs. Deerfield.