Class AA semifinal:
Solorio vs. Notre Dame (Peoria)
By Curt Herron
Four Chicago Public League schools have won state championships but none of those has ever won more than one title.
Solorio hopes to make history as it tries to add to its 2017 Class AA title at the IHSA state finals this weekend at Hoffman Estates High School.
For the Sun Warriors to pull off that achievement, first they'll have to get past one of the most successful programs in the sport.
Solorio (22-3) begins its quest on Friday at 1 p.m. when it meets Peoria's Notre Dame (21-3-1) in the first of two semifinal matches in Class AA. In the second semifinal at 3 p.m., Grayslake Central (18-1-3) faces Glenwood (19-3-2).
The winners advance to Saturday's 11 a.m. championship match.
When they won the AA title in 2017 in their only previous state appearance, coach Adrian Calleros' Sun Warriors followed up a 1-0 semifinal win over St. Patrick with a decisive 6-0 victory over Gibault to cap a 19-6-4 campaign. Boys soccer is the lone program at the school that has been able to win a trophy for a top-four finish at state.
Solorio is on a roll heading into this weekend's play after winning its 12th-consecutive match. That 1-0 win came in double overtime against Mount Carmel in Tuesday's St. Laurence Supersectional.
It followed a pair of one-goal victories in sectional play over two other teams in the same league as the Caravan, the rugged Chicago Catholic League Blue Division. After beating Saint Ignatius 3-2 in the semifinals, the Sun Warriors avenged a 3-0 loss to the Vikings on August 25 by capturing a wild 4-3 victory at St. Laurence in the sectional final.
After a slow start, Solorio won eight matches in a row before falling 2-0 to Chicago Public League rival Washington on Sept. 23. The squad hopes that its current streak gives it plenty of momentum when they meet the Irish, who've won three titles and four other trophies since 2008 under coach Mike Bare, whose team is back at state for the first time since 2018.
Solorio's top scorer is senior midfielder Orlando Ojeda, who has scored 20 times and collected eight assists. Senior forward Yamir Gallegos (15 goals, 20 assists) and sophomore midfielder Junior Pineda-Alcala (14, 21) have also done significant damage. Senior defender Ivan Lopez, who is the team's captain, has 13 goals and six assists.
The Sun Warriors also receive contributions from sophomore midfielder Christopher Bueno with nine goals and five assists, junior midfielder Justino Saucedo with 16 assists and sophomore forward Ricardo Mejia with five goals.
Sophomore goalkeeper David Salgado has allowed 21 goals in 22 matches for an 0.95 GAA and has recorded 93 saves.
"The Sun Warriors are a young team with excellent leadership," Calleros said "We only have four seniors on the roster, but two of them. Ivan Lopez and Yamir Gallegos, are (IHSSCA) All-State selections; and we have an all-sectional selection in Orlando Ojeda. The other senior, right back Adrian Munoz, has been the steadying influence on a very young defensive unit.
"We start sophomores in goal, and at left back and both center mids. The defensive leadership of Ivan Lopez and Adrian Munoz has been monumental. The Sun Warriors started out 2-2-0 and the sky was falling on this prestigious program. A couple changes in the midfield and the backline and things turned around quickly with a championship at the BodyArmor tournament followed by an undefeated conference championship and the Sun Warriors' third city title in five years.
"We've had a tough road getting back downstate going through Catholic League powerhouses St. Ignatius, St. Laurence and Mount Carmel. The Sun Warriors are back downstate after an unlucky run when they were highly-ranked but knocked out, due to the CPS teachers strike and the pandemic in consecutive years."
Calleros played club ball for America on the Southeast Side and also played basketball and football at St Francis De Sales, which didn't have a soccer program. He went to Southern Illinois University and completed his teaching certificate at Chicago State University.
He coached at Mount Carmel from 2003-09 and built the program up. The Caravan won the school's first conference titles, regionals, and sectional under Calleros before he moved to Solorio in 2010. There he has posted a 188-48-24 record during his 13 seasons leading the Sun Warriors.
The first Chicago Public League school to win a state title was Harrison in 1973. Mather took first in AA in 2011 and Washington was first in AA in 2013. But only Washington was able to make a return to state. Coach Alvaro Perez's program added a fourth place trophy in 2015 and finished third a year ago after losing 2-1 to eventual champion Boylan in the semifinals.
With its latest state appearance, Notre Dame (Peoria) moves past Granite City for first place in trophies with 14 and is tied with that program for the most qualifying teams with 16. The school is one of four tied for second for most titles with four, joining Naperville North, Collinsville and Gibault in that prestigious club.
Bare, who joined the 300-win club this season and owns a 306-67-24 record in his 16th season, owns Class AA records for most state appearances with eight, most state matches won with eight and most championships won with three. His Irish won titles in 2008, 2010 and 2012, finished second in 2009, 2015 and 2018 and placed third in 2011.
The Irish, who are members of the Big Twelve Conference, opened the season with 10-straight wins. After going through a 4-3-1 stretch, Notre Dame has won its last seven matches, outscored its opponents by a 27-2 margin and posted five shutouts.
Notre Dame earned its trip to state with a pair of 1-0 wins in its last two matches. After beating Morton (Ill.) to win the title of the Washington (Ill.) Sectional, the Irish defeated Marmion 1-0 at the Sterling Supersectional to end its longest state finals drought under Bare.
The top scorer for the Irish is sophomore forward Kayden Hudson, who has 18 goals and eight assists. Other top goal-scorers are senior midfielder Andrew Bonham with 11, sophomore midfielder Thatcher Hogan with 10, senior midfielder Nevan Libert with nine and sophomore midfielder Teddy LaHood and senior defender Joel McIntyre with seven.
Senior forward Dillon Stickelmaier has six goals and five assists, and sophomore midfielders Maximillian Matarelli and Sebastian Salazar both have seven assists.
Senior goalkeeper Dillon Bare has allowed 18 goals in 23 matches, which is good for an 0.78 GAA. Captains for the Irish are Bare and McIntyre.
Beside his record-setting accomplishments in soccer, Bare was well known and respected in the wrestling community for operating the Illinois Matmen website for 15 years through 2020. During that time, his website was the go-to source for information about Illinois wrestling.
He played varsity soccer for four years at Notre Dame for coach Danny Driscoll, who is now his assistant coach. After a year of playing at Southern Illinois University at Edwardsville, he focused on academics and began his coaching career at Metamora. He was there for two years before taking over as head coach of his alma mater's program in 2007.
"The difficulties of last season, the losses, and the early exit from the postseason have really driven this group since last November and put us back in this position where Notre Dame belongs, at the state tournament," Bare said.
"I couldn't be more proud of this senior class and this team in general. They have learned how to compete, how to overcome adversity and how to win big games. We have been very balanced in our scoring across our roster which makes us a difficult team to defend and have really tightened things up defensively only allowing one goal this postseason after being up 3-0 to Dunlap in the regional final.
"Our goal every season is to make the state finals and win a championship. We are excited and hungry to win our fifth championship and add another star to our uniforms. We haven't won since 2012, coming up just short in 2015 and 2018 and being upset in 2019 in the supersectional."
Solorio vs. Notre Dame (Peoria)
By Curt Herron
Four Chicago Public League schools have won state championships but none of those has ever won more than one title.
Solorio hopes to make history as it tries to add to its 2017 Class AA title at the IHSA state finals this weekend at Hoffman Estates High School.
For the Sun Warriors to pull off that achievement, first they'll have to get past one of the most successful programs in the sport.
Solorio (22-3) begins its quest on Friday at 1 p.m. when it meets Peoria's Notre Dame (21-3-1) in the first of two semifinal matches in Class AA. In the second semifinal at 3 p.m., Grayslake Central (18-1-3) faces Glenwood (19-3-2).
The winners advance to Saturday's 11 a.m. championship match.
When they won the AA title in 2017 in their only previous state appearance, coach Adrian Calleros' Sun Warriors followed up a 1-0 semifinal win over St. Patrick with a decisive 6-0 victory over Gibault to cap a 19-6-4 campaign. Boys soccer is the lone program at the school that has been able to win a trophy for a top-four finish at state.
Solorio is on a roll heading into this weekend's play after winning its 12th-consecutive match. That 1-0 win came in double overtime against Mount Carmel in Tuesday's St. Laurence Supersectional.
It followed a pair of one-goal victories in sectional play over two other teams in the same league as the Caravan, the rugged Chicago Catholic League Blue Division. After beating Saint Ignatius 3-2 in the semifinals, the Sun Warriors avenged a 3-0 loss to the Vikings on August 25 by capturing a wild 4-3 victory at St. Laurence in the sectional final.
After a slow start, Solorio won eight matches in a row before falling 2-0 to Chicago Public League rival Washington on Sept. 23. The squad hopes that its current streak gives it plenty of momentum when they meet the Irish, who've won three titles and four other trophies since 2008 under coach Mike Bare, whose team is back at state for the first time since 2018.
Solorio's top scorer is senior midfielder Orlando Ojeda, who has scored 20 times and collected eight assists. Senior forward Yamir Gallegos (15 goals, 20 assists) and sophomore midfielder Junior Pineda-Alcala (14, 21) have also done significant damage. Senior defender Ivan Lopez, who is the team's captain, has 13 goals and six assists.
The Sun Warriors also receive contributions from sophomore midfielder Christopher Bueno with nine goals and five assists, junior midfielder Justino Saucedo with 16 assists and sophomore forward Ricardo Mejia with five goals.
Sophomore goalkeeper David Salgado has allowed 21 goals in 22 matches for an 0.95 GAA and has recorded 93 saves.
"The Sun Warriors are a young team with excellent leadership," Calleros said "We only have four seniors on the roster, but two of them. Ivan Lopez and Yamir Gallegos, are (IHSSCA) All-State selections; and we have an all-sectional selection in Orlando Ojeda. The other senior, right back Adrian Munoz, has been the steadying influence on a very young defensive unit.
"We start sophomores in goal, and at left back and both center mids. The defensive leadership of Ivan Lopez and Adrian Munoz has been monumental. The Sun Warriors started out 2-2-0 and the sky was falling on this prestigious program. A couple changes in the midfield and the backline and things turned around quickly with a championship at the BodyArmor tournament followed by an undefeated conference championship and the Sun Warriors' third city title in five years.
"We've had a tough road getting back downstate going through Catholic League powerhouses St. Ignatius, St. Laurence and Mount Carmel. The Sun Warriors are back downstate after an unlucky run when they were highly-ranked but knocked out, due to the CPS teachers strike and the pandemic in consecutive years."
Calleros played club ball for America on the Southeast Side and also played basketball and football at St Francis De Sales, which didn't have a soccer program. He went to Southern Illinois University and completed his teaching certificate at Chicago State University.
He coached at Mount Carmel from 2003-09 and built the program up. The Caravan won the school's first conference titles, regionals, and sectional under Calleros before he moved to Solorio in 2010. There he has posted a 188-48-24 record during his 13 seasons leading the Sun Warriors.
The first Chicago Public League school to win a state title was Harrison in 1973. Mather took first in AA in 2011 and Washington was first in AA in 2013. But only Washington was able to make a return to state. Coach Alvaro Perez's program added a fourth place trophy in 2015 and finished third a year ago after losing 2-1 to eventual champion Boylan in the semifinals.
With its latest state appearance, Notre Dame (Peoria) moves past Granite City for first place in trophies with 14 and is tied with that program for the most qualifying teams with 16. The school is one of four tied for second for most titles with four, joining Naperville North, Collinsville and Gibault in that prestigious club.
Bare, who joined the 300-win club this season and owns a 306-67-24 record in his 16th season, owns Class AA records for most state appearances with eight, most state matches won with eight and most championships won with three. His Irish won titles in 2008, 2010 and 2012, finished second in 2009, 2015 and 2018 and placed third in 2011.
The Irish, who are members of the Big Twelve Conference, opened the season with 10-straight wins. After going through a 4-3-1 stretch, Notre Dame has won its last seven matches, outscored its opponents by a 27-2 margin and posted five shutouts.
Notre Dame earned its trip to state with a pair of 1-0 wins in its last two matches. After beating Morton (Ill.) to win the title of the Washington (Ill.) Sectional, the Irish defeated Marmion 1-0 at the Sterling Supersectional to end its longest state finals drought under Bare.
The top scorer for the Irish is sophomore forward Kayden Hudson, who has 18 goals and eight assists. Other top goal-scorers are senior midfielder Andrew Bonham with 11, sophomore midfielder Thatcher Hogan with 10, senior midfielder Nevan Libert with nine and sophomore midfielder Teddy LaHood and senior defender Joel McIntyre with seven.
Senior forward Dillon Stickelmaier has six goals and five assists, and sophomore midfielders Maximillian Matarelli and Sebastian Salazar both have seven assists.
Senior goalkeeper Dillon Bare has allowed 18 goals in 23 matches, which is good for an 0.78 GAA. Captains for the Irish are Bare and McIntyre.
Beside his record-setting accomplishments in soccer, Bare was well known and respected in the wrestling community for operating the Illinois Matmen website for 15 years through 2020. During that time, his website was the go-to source for information about Illinois wrestling.
He played varsity soccer for four years at Notre Dame for coach Danny Driscoll, who is now his assistant coach. After a year of playing at Southern Illinois University at Edwardsville, he focused on academics and began his coaching career at Metamora. He was there for two years before taking over as head coach of his alma mater's program in 2007.
"The difficulties of last season, the losses, and the early exit from the postseason have really driven this group since last November and put us back in this position where Notre Dame belongs, at the state tournament," Bare said.
"I couldn't be more proud of this senior class and this team in general. They have learned how to compete, how to overcome adversity and how to win big games. We have been very balanced in our scoring across our roster which makes us a difficult team to defend and have really tightened things up defensively only allowing one goal this postseason after being up 3-0 to Dunlap in the regional final.
"Our goal every season is to make the state finals and win a championship. We are excited and hungry to win our fifth championship and add another star to our uniforms. We haven't won since 2012, coming up just short in 2015 and 2018 and being upset in 2019 in the supersectional."