Posada leads Warriors to soccer regional title

CHICAGO HEIGHTS | Saturday was a busy day for Crete-Monee senior Carolos Posada, even by his standards.

Posada spent the morning taking the ACT exam for college. He spent his afternoon as the kicker for the Warriors football team, which closed out its regular season unbeaten with a win over Rich East, helped in part by two Posada PAT klcks.

In the evening, Posada looked as fresh as if he just woke up. The state's all-time leading goal scorer in boys soccer scored four goals and added an assist, as the Warriors blew past Chicago University High School, 7-0, in the finals of the Class 2A Marian Catholic Regional.

With the win, Crete-Monee (18-2-2) advances to the Lemont Sectional, where it will face Bremen on at 7 p.m. Tuesday. Bremen defeated Lincoln-Way West 5-0 in the Lincoln-Way West Regional title game Saturday afternoon. Bremen and Crete-Monee have not faced each other this season.

"It feels great (to win the regional), because this is the first one I've been a part of," Posada said after his team received the regional trophy. "I just want to keep winning and get the sectional, too."

The Warriors took advantage of a young Maroons midfield immediately Saturday night. Posada scored first just five minutes into the match with a shot inside the far post off a nice lead by freshman Fernando Aguirre. Less than 14 minutes into the match, midfielder Ryan Sadowski made a 30-yard run before finding sophomore Jake Cogan for the Warriors second goal of the match.

Cogan's goal was followed in quick succession by two more goals by Posada off passes by Cogan to give the Warriors a 4-0 lead less than 17 minutes into the match.

Posada gave the Warriors a 5-0 lead off another feed by Aguirre just before halftime.

The Warriors got goals midway through the second half by Luke Johnson and Daniel Tucker to close out the rout.

"We've talked about starting early," Warriors coach Julian Lagunas said. "Our plan was to look for Carlos on through balls, rather than through the air, and that seemed to work."

The Maroons struggled to put pressure on Warrior goalkeeper Luke Cogan, who faced only five shots and two corner-kick situations.

"I thought Matt (Sadowski) and (Daniel) Tucker really played good defense for us," said Posada, who finished his busy day with 13 minutes to play. "And when Tucker moved to mid-fielder, he made some great runs."