Chicago Public League Sports Blog

Washington Stuns #1 Lemont in Boys Soccer State Playoffs

CPS Results at IHSA State Playoffs, Regional Semi-Finals

Class 2A
Washington 1 Lemont 0
Fenton 6 Westinghouse 3
Kennedy 2 St. Francis 1
Lake View 3 Roosevelt 1
Prosser 3 Northside 1
Ridgewood 3 Kelvyn Park 2
Riverside Brookfield 1 Solorio 0
St. Joseph 6 Muchin 1
Wheaton Academy 6 Jones 1
#14 Little Village 4 , #4 Nazareth Academy 3

Class 3A
Lane 2, Niles West 0
Leyden 3, Foreman 2
Maine South 3, Schurz 2 (PK)
Maine West 3, Steinmetz 1
Morton 5, Lincoln Park 0
New Trier 1, Mather 0
St. Ignatius 5, Young 0

Washington ends Lane's 62 game 16-inch softball streak

Lane Tech's 62 game winning streak covering almost 3 years ended yesterday to Washington.

From a Lane source:

They beat us twice (15-10 and 6-4).  We are now 11-2 on the year, 4-0 in the Red North. 

 

Remaining schedule:

 

10/1  vs Amundsen @ Winnemac Park 4:15

10/3  vs Taft            @ Taft                    4:15

10/5  vs Payton       @ Payton               4:15

10/8  vs Steinmetz  @ Winnemac Park 4:15

10/15 vs Taft           @ Winnemac Park 4:15

 

City Playoffs TBA

Washington Football Team Preview

Alfredo Ramirez(5-9, 190lbs, MLB/CB) returns as captain and top returning tackler for Washington.

Last Year: 7-2 overall with a 5-2 Inter-City 2 conference standings. Placed 2nd in conference to North Lawndale.

Quick Take: Washington, on the far south east side of Chicago is mainly known as a soccer school. But during the same season as soccer, the football team is starting to show signs of progress. Washington finished 7-2 last year finishing 2nd in the Inter-City 2 conference. Only a loss to North Lawndale prevented Washington from taking a rare conference crown. Depending on how the CPS realigns the conferences, we do not know yet which conference Washington will play in.

I do know conference champion North Lawndale will almost surely move up to a Chicago Conference. If that is the case and Washington stays down, they looked poised to have another great season in an Inter-City conference.

Washington finished last season on a 6 game winning streak. Their stout defense led by returning captain Alfredo Ramirez(sr to be) -a 5-9 190lb linebacker gave up only 28 points in their last 6 games.

Look for returning top receiver Gabriel Lopez and athlete Malachy Foney who at 6-3, 215 lbs has great size.

Dariel Whitehead(so) has great speed and is a dangerous kick returner. He could play a much bigger role this year for the Patriots.

Players to look out for:
Malachy Foney(6-3, 215lbs, jr, WR/DE/P)
Gabriel Lopez(5-7, 160lbs, sr, CB/WR) (top returning receiver)
Dariel Whitehead(5-8, 155lbs, so, WR/CB)
Alfrdeo Ramirez(5-9, 190lbs, MLB/CB)(top returning tackler)

Curie, Mather, Lane, and Washington Advance to CPS Boys Soccer Semi's

Washington advances to a 2nd straight CPS semi-finals.

Curie 2 Kelly 1 (Penalty Kicks)
Curie knocked out the defending city champion Kelly. Kelly missed its first three penalty kicks. Curie freshman Eric Gonzalez hit the winning penalty kick.

Lane Tech 4 Hubbard 1
Maciej Skutnik(jr-F) and Andy Piszczor(sr,-F) each scored 2 goals to propel Lane.

Mather 3 Amundsen 1
Steven Younus(sr,F) scored 3 goals as top seeeded Mather surprisingly dominated previously undefeated Amundsen.

Washington 2 Lake View 1
All-city forward Miseal Martinez and Washington held off Lake View to send Washington to the semi-finals.

October is championship time!

City Cross Country Championship is in 11 days! Lane, Mather, Jones, and Whitney Young will battle it out for the Public League supremacy on the boys varsity level.

Boys soccer playoffs begin this Wednesday. Washington, and Miseal Martinez(sr- above) placed second last year, and is trying to make another run this year. Kelly will try to defend it's title. Mather, Amundsen, Lake View, Curie, and Lane Tech all are looking for a deep run. Mather and Amundsen have had monster regular seasons and enter as my pre-playoff favorites.

Madeline Nash and Payton will participate in the girls city cross country championship. Whitney Young looks to retake it's crown after Lane's upset win last season. Payton, Northside, Little Village, and Mather are other teams to watch.

 
Every game from now on will be crucial for the conference. There are battles in every conference for the conference title and to prevent last place finishes (nobody wants to get demoted down to a conference).

Golf city championship was Saturday; 16-inch softball, girls volleyball, girls tennis,  and girls swimming also have championships coming up.

Soccer Themed K-8 Charter School To Open This Fall

There is so much potential soccer talent to be developed in the CPS. Pictured above are players from predominantly hispanic city runner up Washington.

United Neighborhood Organization (UNO) runs 9 charter schools in Chicago. UNO has a vision of making an elite soccer focused academy comparable to the soccer academies in Mexico. That vision includes a soccer focused charter elementary school, soccer high school, soccer stadium, and plaza. Well that vision starts right now as UNO will be accepting applications for the K-8 elementary school this fall.

The new school will be located at 51st and Homan Avenue in the Gage Park Neighborhood of Chicago. It will house 575 kindergartners through 8th grade students. The word on the street is that there is already a buzz of parents who want to send their kids there. Although, I don't exactly like how admittance will be largely determined by a lottery system.

Personally, I feel this school has a lot of potential. It has the funding, as UNO won $25 million in state funding to help build the school.  Chicago has done a great job building up the elementary school infrastructure for basketball and because of that the CPS churns out some of the best basketball players in the state every year.

The same thing can happen in soccer. I've been to many soccer games over the years. Soccer, as you can imagine with so many hispanic students in the CPS is very popular. There is so much talent and passion at schools like Farragut, Kelly, Washington, Lane, Hubbard, Juarez, etc. I feel if you do steps to improve the kids at an even early age and hone those skills over years, the sky is the limit.

CPS Soccer Looks Strong in Class AA

All-City Alex Young of Payton. Payton is the number 2 seed in the Elmwood Park Regional and will have a good chance to advance to sectionals.

State Soccer Playoff Key Matches

Neilski's Take on Class AA Chances

The CPS will always be judged on how well they play against suburban schools. After basketball and track, soccer is maybe the next most competitive CPS sport.

Class AA teams have always performed better for the CPS in the past. This year is no different. It seems the best chances for the CPS will be Payton, Washington, Lake View and Juarez.

Payton is the 2nd seed in the Elmwood Park Regional and seems destined to play #1 seed Ridgewood in the regional finals. Payton has all-city Alex Young who is a big threat to score goals. Lake View, with all-city defenseman Hector Alcazar, is also in the Elmwood Park regional and could be a threat to Payton and Ridgewood.

City-runner up Washington travels to the suburbs at the Rich East Regionals where they are the 4th seed. They will have a tough path as they face host Rich East to open the playoffs, then if they win face either Illiana Christian or Tinley Park. If they are fortunate to win, they then will likely face number one seed Lemont. Good luck! Washington has really good mid-field play and have a top notch forward in Miseal Martinez. So they have a chance.

Juarez is in the tough Wheaton Academy Regional, where they are the 6th seed. They open with Cristo Rey on Tuesday, then likely face Wheaton Academy for the regional finals. Juarez will be a heavy underdog in that game.

Little Village and Juarez are from what I call the Caliente Valle (hot valley) of soccer in the city.

Little Village has one of the strongest teams it has ever had but are in a killer playoff bracket. To get to the sectional finals they will have to get by Montini, Nazareth Academy, and #1 St. Joseph.

Who is For Real?

 State Soccer Playoffs Begin this Week

City runner up Washington will be tested this week against the suburbs as they face Rich East (Park Forest) tomorrow then if they win, Illiana Christian or Tinley Park on Friday.

Neilski's State Soccer Match-Ups to Watch

Class AA

Tue., Oct. 19
4:00 pm: (4) Chicago (Washington) vs. (14) Park Forest (Rich East) @ Rich East
7:00 pm: (8) Oak Forest vs. (9) Chicago (Brooks) @ Lemont

Wed., Oct. 20
4:30 pm: (7) Chicago (University) vs. (10) Chicago (Jones)
4:00 pm: (5) Chicago (Little Village) vs. (12) Lombard (Montini) @ Nazareth

Class AAA

Tue., Oct. 19
7:00pm (5) Wilmette (Loyola Academy) vs. (10) Chicago (Von Steuben) @ Loyola
7:00 pm: (8) Chicago (Taft) vs. (11) Skokie (Niles North) @ New Trier

Wed., Oct. 20
4:00 pm: (7) Chicago (Mather) vs. (12) Chicago (Lane) @ Maine East
4:00 pm: (8) Chicago (St. Ignatius College Prep) vs. (11) Chicago (Kelly) @ St. Ignaitius
4:00 pm: (4) Downers Grove (South) vs. Chicago (Whitney Young)
5:00 pm: (3) Downers Grove (North) vs. Chicago (Curie)

 

 

 

Pictures Now - Kelly vs Washington - CPS Boys Soccer Championship

Photo Album

Kelly wins the the 2010 CPS Boys Soccer Championship

Videos Now - Kellys Beats Washington in Penalty Kicks