Danielle Janowiak of Downers Grove South enters the Class AA girls soccer quarterfinals thinking the key to the Mustangs’ success will be “just sticking to what we’ve been doing all year. And getting better at it.”
The senior’s thinking probably is similar to how the other seven entries view the 2008 finals at North Central College. The eight teams are a combined 184-16-7.
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* Two unbeaten teams — Waubonsie Valley (23-0-1) and Normal West (26-0) — could meet in Saturday’s semifinals. Defending Class AA champ Waubonsie Valley is ranked third in the NSCAA/Adidas national rankings, Normal West seventh.
* Two teams are making their first trip to the finals: Carmel (22-1) and Homewood-Flossmoor (24-3). Carmel’s lone loss was to Mundelein in the game’s final minutes on April 3. H-F, which meets Belleville Althoff (23-3-1), is 20-1 in its last 21 games, and that loss was to West Des Moines Valley in Iowa.
* St. Ignatius (26-1-1) suffered its only loss to a St. Charles North team that took Waubonsie Valley to OT in the supersectionals. The Wolfpack will have to get past Normal West in the quarterfinals.
* Downers Grove South (20-6) has flown under the radar all season. But the Mustangs, who face Carmel on Friday, have the winningest girls coach in state history in Barry Jacobson (419-123-49).
* Maine South (20-2-4) reached the Elite Eight despite trailing until the last 39 seconds of regulation in its supersectional against Rockton Hononegah.