Gators take every opponent seriously

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Sometimes, familiarity is a curse.

Coaches often talk about the difficulty of beating the same team three times in a season because it tends to have validity – and it becomes more worrisome when teams are faced with the added pressure of the postseason’s win-or-go-home format.

With that in mind, Crystal Lake South’s boys soccer team is taking no chances as it enters the Class 3A McHenry Regional next week and begins the postseason, where it could face familiar opponents McHenry and Jacobs for a third time this year.

“All five teams in this regional can beat one another on any given day,” South coach Brian Allen said. “Beating a team three times in one season is a huge challenge, and for our boys this is a matter of taking one game at a time, like we have all season, and staying focused.”

The Gators are fresh off their first Fox Valley Conference Valley Division title in 12 seasons – a feat they accomplished in part Tuesday with their second win of the year against McHenry. The Gators and the Warriors could set up a third meeting in the regional final at 11 a.m. Oct. 24 if they each win their semifinal matches.

Top-seeded South at 3:30 p.m. Tuesday will have to beat the winner of today’s 4 p.m. quarterfinal between fifth-seeded Grant and fourth-seeded Jacobs in Algonquin.

Second-seeded McHenry will face No. 3 Round Lake in the other semifinal at 3:30 p.m. Wednesday.

South has beaten Jacobs and the Warriors twice during FVC Valley Division play, but Allen doesn’t have comfortable feelings about facing either team for a third time, especially while the Gators are seeking their first regional title since 2004.

“They’re feeling good right now because they know that they’ve accomplished something great,” Allen said, “but there is more they want to do for this program and for one another. I think the big thing for us right now is we’re confident that we are capable of playing at that [high] level. But the postseason has that dynamic where if you lose, you’re done. There is some added pressure with that.”

The winner of the McHenry Regional will face the winner of the Huntley Regional in a Barrington Sectional semifinal match scheduled for 5 p.m. Oct. 27.

Huntley is the second seed in its own regional and will play No. 3 Elgin in a regional semifinal match at 3:30 p.m. Wednesday. Should Huntley advance to the regional final, it will face either top-seeded South Elgin, fifth-seeded Jefferson or fourth-seeded Larkin at 3:30 p.m. Oct. 23.

Cary-Grove and Dundee-Crown round out the local Class 3A soccer programs and will begin regional play Tuesday at Lake Zurich. The fourth-seeded Chargers will take on top-seeded Lake Zurich at 4 p.m. Tuesday, followed by the No. 2 Trojans against No. 3 Barrington at 6 p.m.

If the Trojans or the Chargers advance to the regional final, they will play at 6 p.m. Oct. 24.

The winner of the Lake Zurich Regional will face the winner of the Boylan Regional at 7 p.m. Oct. 27 in the other Barrington Sectional semifinal.