Sabres fall short in finals

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STREAMWOOD -- With 17 wins, Streamwood had by far its best soccer boys soccer season ever.

But it all came to an abrupt end on Saturday night with a 4-0 loss to Wheaton North at the Sabres own Class 3A regional at Millennium Field.

"Well, we were certainly hoping for a better outcome," said Streamwood coach Matt Polovin.

"But it doesn't take away from the great season we had. The program took a big step forward. It's just a shame it had to end like this."

The fourth-seeded Sabres actually dominated the first 20 minutes of the match with a 6-1 shot advantage.

But they just couldn't find the back of the net.

Fifth-seeded Wheaton North, on the other hand, had three scoring chances in the final 12-plus minutes of the first half and cashed in on all of them.

"Not scoring early on when we had our chances really killed us," said Polovin.

"Then they came back and scored three times against the wind. They deserved to win."

The Sabres (17-5-4) managed just three shots in the second half, while Wheaton North added another insurance goal.

"We haven't been down by three goals all year," said Polovin.

"So it would have been tough to come back. We kept playing hard the whole way. We just couldn't get anything going."

Streamwood still has a lot to look forward to in the near future with more than half of the roster returning, including leading scorer Alex Perez, who had 17 goals this season.

"I think this is just the start for us," said Polovin.

"I think there's even better days ahead."

Wheaton North advances to its own sectional where the Falcons will oppose St. Charles North on Tuesday in semifinal action.

St. Charles North shocked top-seeded Larkin 2-1 Saturday in the finals of the North Stars' own regional.

Huntley Regional -- Second-seeded Jacobs downed top-seeded Crystal Lake South 4-1 to win the Huntley Class 3A Regional championship.

The Golden Eagles (13-7-4) got two goals from Mike Wallace.

Wallace has been on a scoring binge of late.

He accounted for three goals in a semifinal victory over the host Red Raiders earlier this week.

Jacobs also got single tallies by Luis Cabral and Taylor Pignataro to dispatch Crystal Lake South.

The Golden Eagles advance to the semifinals of the Rockford Boylan Sectional where Round Lake awaits in a Tuesday semifinal match.