Soccer Unbeatens Don't Decide Anything In 1-1 Draw

The showdown between the Evanston and Glenbrook South soccer teams Thursday night didn’t decide anything.

But the intensely fought 1-1 tie in Glenview showed that both unbeaten squads are on track to duplicate the feat accomplished by New Trier and Glenbrook North in the 2023 season with trips to the Final Four.

Just like in 2023, the Illinois High School Association has assigned different postseason paths for the Wildkits and Titans this time around and no one would mind seeing them matched up again in the Class 3A state finals.

Both powerhouses are likely to earn No. 1 sectional seeds when that voting concludes next week. And both are positioned following Thursday’s draw to earn at least a share of the Central Suburban League South division championship if they can survive rivalry matchups in their final division contests next Tuesday.

GBS, now 13-0-1 overall, will face Glenbrook North while ETHS (11-0-2) travels to New Trier on Tuesday.

It’s not often that Evanston head coach Franz Calixte is satisfied with a tie against anyone. But Thursday’s game was the exception to that rule after the Kits’ Joseph Sargent scored a goal in the 43rd minute and South’s Emil Cerimovic matched him 10 minutes later.

“That was a battle tonight. That was a great battle!” Calixte exclaimed. “That was just a great high school soccer game. It was a test of our character (minus starters George Lewis and Cristiano Hamer) and I thought we came out of it pretty well.

“Without a doubt that’s the best team GBS has ever had. I couldn’t think of a weakness we could exploit because they’re so strong at every position on the field. I would love to see them again and run this back again at State.”

Thursday’s contest was a postseason preview in more ways than one. After being knocked out of the state tournament by less talented foes too many times to count in the past 10 years, Calixte tried out a new “low pressure” philosophy against the Titans.

Call it Calixte 2.0.

“This isn’t the stubborn Franz Calixte anymore, where we keep trying to out-possess and out-shoot teams we play in the postseason,” the veteran coach said. “In the state playoffs we have to be able to play those slow, grind it out games even though that’s not our style. Our guys are used to going and going but we haven’t been as successful as we’d like when we do that.

“We did a decent job of that tonight. We have to prepare for the postseason and with all the talent GBS has at every position, I thought it would be a good learning lesson for us. We really haven’t been able to work on it much until now.

“Overall I was very pleased because we had chances to win this game. We played at a high level and I really appreciated our effort. It’s another great lesson for us to build on.”

Evanston got on the board first thanks to a Titan misstep. Defender Yianni Biscotakis stumbled with his foot on the ball near midfield, and Evanston’s Johnny Hunwick gained possession in time to deliver a pass while Sargent was making a run down the left side of the field.

Sargent cranked a shot from the extreme left off the right far post and it ricocheted into the back of the net, past Titan goalie Michael Falk (3 saves).

Cerimovic produced the equalizer with a left-footed laser that eluded ETHS’ keeper Charlie Dillman (5 saves). The visitors attacked relentless in the last four minutes and had two good opportunities.

Sargent slid a pass through the GBS defense that almost connected with Hunwick near the goal mouth, but Falk cut off the ball before Hunwick could get a touch with 3:40 left in the game. About 60 seconds later, Johnny O’Carroll maneuvered through a pack of Titans but Falk smothered his close-in attempt.