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Chicagoland Soccer Top 25


By Patrick Z. McGavin



The grand experiment now reaches its intermission.

“I was not even sure we’d have a season,” was the dominant refrain, of players and coaches. For the first time since 1972, a boys season will not end with playoffs and state champions.

What exists in its place is an in-between space intertwining present and future. The absence of a tournament leaves an unmistakable melancholy tone.

Given the wider backdrop of the pandemic year, any competitive soccer is a moment worth rejoicing. The games were meaningful, and they were high-level, a remarkable achievement given how little time teams had to practice and play before the six-week season.

This unprecedented season now overlaps, for the first time ever, with the girls’ season. Nearly two full years have passed since Benet and Naperville North won state championships, at North Central College, in the first week of June, 2019.

After the lost season of 2020, the girls will have a state series.

This transition year offers a unique perspective, a fast turnaround to the start of summer camps, team contact dates and the arrival, in the middle of August, of the next boys season.

This boys season has mattered. It provided a unique experience for coaches.

“We want to honor our seniors,” Naperville North boys’ coach Jim Konrad said. “We want to win every game obviously. At the same time, in the back of our minds, there is always that Plan B of preparing for next fall. 

“Guys earning spots for next year once the seniors are gone. Once these seniors are gone, we are thinking about those spots.”

Most of the normal evaluative standards were upended by the circumstances of this spring season. By any measure, it was a success, and the teams on this list represent a high point.

This is the final Chicagoland Soccer Top 25 poll (with 15 additional programs listed in our honorable mention tally). With the close of the season on Saturday, we will publish a Final 50, a ranking of the top teams in the state, regardless of class or location.

We will also publish our annual all-state team, with special mention of the top seniors and a watchlist identifying the best underclassmen in the state.

As always, the all-state list will be headed by our Player of the Year. 

This spring offers a tantalizing glimpse, a chance to give the proper send off to the best players in the class of 2021 and an extended preview of what to look out for come August.

Players, coaches and their families, friends and teammates have endured a great deal, with the specter of the pandemic, upended schedules, a scattering of positive cases or schools forced to quarantine.

Once the players hit the pitch, they performed at a high level. This penultimate poll of the boys spring season is one of the last opportunities to show our gratitude for their spirit and effort as we welcome yet another new no. 1 team.


Enjoy, but don’t blink. The new season is right around the corner.



​Games through Saturday



​
Rk LW Team W L T Comment
13Warren1100GK Nic Diana helps take down New Trier
22Lyons910Cameron Labbato energizes attack
36Naperville N920Cameron Radeke is an elite junior
44Benet1110Brendan Forsythe beats Wheaton A. late
511W. Aurora1500Top seed at SPC conference tournament
67St. Charles E1132Josh Ruiz is a deft passer
78Morton612Luis Gonzalez stabilizes the middle
89Loyola810Joseph Roscoe is strong presence in middle
91New Trier1230Collin Donnelly-Maine is key weapon in attack
10NRNaperville C324Sharp win against St. Charles North
115St. Charles N1041Nate Hanselman an evolving offensive threat
1217Jacobs1001Statement win over CL South
1322Buffalo Grove910Bison take thriller over Hersey
1410Hersey820Eric Worwa helps power attack
1519DG North721Ben Schaub keys win over Leyden
1612Leyden720Dylan Santamaria bolsters middle of attack
1718St. Laurence810Loyola ends winning streak
1824Maine South723Beat New Trier in final 2 seconds
19NRMt. Carmel500Big win over Fenwick
2023Plainfield N1121Miguel Rodriguez is athletic keeper
21HMRound Lake921Strong win over Lakes
2215Lakes820Edged out by Round Lake
23NRSt. Francis800Showdowns with Wheaton A., Timothy
2414Timothy821Jackson Day is dynamic in space
2520Wheaton A1021Haetham Nasr a jack of all trades for Warriors
Look out for: West Chicago, Geneva, Fremd, Stevenson, Fenwick, Riverside-Brookfield, Lockport, Niles West, Glenbrook North, Solorio, North Shore Country Day, Latin, St. Patrick, Shepard, Barrington.

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