Soccer Rivals Advance To Regional Finals

The first 100 meetings between the Evanston and New Trier boys soccer teams almost all came during the regular high school season.

But it’s even more special when the rivalry is part of a win-or-go home scenario.

The Wildkits and Trevians set up an early postseason showdown by advancing in the Illinois High School Association Class 3A state tournament series with semifinal victories Tuesday at the Evanston Regional.

Evanston, after eliminating a feisty Maine East squad 2-0, will meet the Trevians in the regional championship game on Saturday at 5 p.m. at Lazier Field. New Trier topped Chicago Prosser 7-1 in the other semifinal.

The two rivals have played each other in the state playoffs five times since the 2014 season, usually in the sectional semifinals. The “early” meeting in the regional finals comes because both squads are seeded a bit lower than usual in a balanced DePaul Prep Sectional field where Taft, Lane Tech and St. Patrick are seeded above No. 4 New Trier and No. 5 Evanston.

New Trier’s regular season 2-0 triumph over the Kits was one of those deceptive scores in the sport. ETHS actually out-possessed the winners for much of that game and one of New Trier’s tallies was an Evanston “own” goal.

ETHS head coach Franz Calixte said his squad has been eager to earn a rematch for months.

“By the time they got off the bus (on the way back from New Trier), they all said they were hoping to play New Trier in the playoffs,” said Calixte Tuesday after goals by Matt Gilroy and Noah Thomas helped the Wildkits improve to 11-6-1 on the season. “Tonight they got their wish.

“They’ve changed the sectional a lot over the years and we haven’t played them much. It’s draining when we play each other --- but I know both teams are looking forward to it. We feel good about it.”

It’s the first postseason meeting between the two since 2023, when New Trier needed two overtimes to score a 3-1 win in the sectional semifinals.

Prior to that, Evanston prevailed with sectional wins in 2019 (1-0), 2017 (3-2) and 2016 (4-3 on penalty kicks). New Trier won the 2014 encounter by a 1-0 margin.

The Wildkits utilized an early goal by Gilroy, in the 8^th minute, to establish control against a Maine East squad that’s no pushover like in the past. East played a physical style that resulted in numerous fouls and five yellow cards, and put six shots on goal against Evanston keeper Ben Matsa before bowing out with a 7-10-1 record.

Thomas found the back of the net in the 53^rd minute, knocking in a loose ball following a throw-in, to give the hosts some breathing room.

“That’s one down,” said Calixte regarding the playoff picture. “We had to play hard tonight and I’m glad we had to suffer and struggle a little. Maine East is a good team when you look at their record. They finished second in the conference (Central Suburban League North) and they beat and tied some good teams this year. They came in here expecting to win (after losing to ETHS 1-0 during the regular season).

“We’ve been struggling on offense, but we rose to the occasion and did what we needed to do tonight. That early goal from Matt really helped. We’re using the slogan BAMN! and it means “by any means necessary” because we really need to find ways to get a goal.

“Matt Gilroy’s been coming on as of late and he’s been a dangerous play in the last six or eight games. We’ve called him our Swiss Army knife because he does so much for us and this year we’ve made him a target (for passes) because he’s dangerous in the box, and we wanted to find a way to get him more scoring opportunities.”

Gilroy’s 8^th goal of the season came after a flick from Alex Byhre, after the Kits couldn’t convert a handful of earlier chances to score.

“We don’t score a ton of goals, so it was a huge sigh of relief when we got that first one,” Gilroy said. “That was really well done by Alex, the way he flicked the ball to me.

“We’ve built our identity this year of getting one (a goal) early, and then relying on our strong defense. I trust our style. There’s no reason to change now.”

Gilroy, one of 14 seniors on Evanston’s postseason roster, is eager to turn the table on his neighbors to the north.

“New Trier gave us a tough go when we played them,” Gilroy said. “We both had chances to score, and they were able to capitalize on theirs. I’m looking forward to playing them on Saturday. They’re very good with their set pieces and that’ll be our emphasis in practice, I’m sure.

“I’m super excited to play another game with our group of guys. We have a lot of seniors who understand it might be their last time playing together. Absolutely, this is a winnable sectional, and when we play our best, we can play with anybody.”