Lincoln-Way West freshman Kyle Seymour had quite a 24 hours last week.
Seymour, a defender, scored his first varsity goal with five seconds left in the first overtime period Friday night to beat Andrew.
Saturday morning, he came up with the game-tying score with 8:22 left in regulation against Thornton co-op and assisted on Zak Pavlovich’s overtime game-winner.
“I just ran up from defense and tried to get involved on offense and help us score,” Seymour said.
The freshman helped the Warriors earn two big SouthWest Suburban Red wins to keep them in the conference race. They have a key game Thursday against Lincoln-Way Central.
Pavlovich also has provided plenty of heroics for West. After starting the season as midfielder, the junior has played sweeper of late. When the Warriors need a goal, though, Pavlovich moves forward to help the offense.
“Zak has been ‘Mr. Clutch’ for us,” West coach Jeff Theiss said. “He’s composed in the back and comes through with big plays on offense when we need it. He’s a force in the box. He’s tied for the team lead in goals (with eight).”
West is seeded fourth in the 2A sectional it hosts. A potential regional final matchup vs. defending state champion Washington, seeded fifth, looms.
“We have a very talented sectional. The competition level was going to be huge no matter who we had in our regional,” Theiss said. “We’re excited for the challenge. To be the best, you have to beat the best.”
The great wide open
Lockport, Sandburg and Lincoln-Way Central earned the top three seeds in the Class 3A Sandburg Sectional, and while those three certainly are the favorites, the postseason in the Southland figures to be unpredictable.
“There’s a lot of parity in the area, that’s for sure,” Central coach Sean Fahey said. “That’s a good thing.”
The sectional also includes two other teams at the top of their conference in fourth-seeded Bloom and No. 6 seed Eisenhower. A potential regional final between Lincoln-Way Central and Eisenhower would feature two of the area’s most dynamic offenses going head to head.
No. 5 seed Lincoln-Way North, No. 7 Thornton co-op and No. 8 T.F. United also are dangerous. No. 12 seed Stagg took Sandburg to penalty kicks before falling Saturday.
Estrada earns praise
While Stagg has struggled to a 4-9-3 record entering Tuesday, senior goalkeeper Erick Estrada has continued his strong play.
Estrada has posted 1.00 goals-against average and has five shutouts. He’s broken the Stagg record for career shutouts with 25.
Player of the Week
Ricardo Avalos, of Bremen, is the SouthtownStar Boys Soccer Player of the Week.
Avalos, a sophomore forward, recorded a hat trick and scored in the penalty-kick shootout as the Braves upset Eisenhower 4-3. He has 19 goals on the season.
