Daniel Marynevych is making a lot of noise during Grayslake Central’s historic run in the Class 2A state playoffs.
On Tuesday night, it was the junior forward’s turn to hear some noise from the crowd.
Marynevych scored in the 69th minute to propel the Rams to a 1-0 victory against Notre Dame in the Grayslake Central Supersectional.
Once his shot nestled into the back of the net, the largely pro-Rams crowd started celebrating. At that moment, he sprinted toward the main grandstand, putting his hands up to each ear in a gesture to those fans.
“When the goal was scored, I had nothing in my mind,” Marynevych said. “All I could think was celebrating. I envision myself before every game scoring.”
By pulling off an upset win against a No. 1 seed for the second game in a row, Grayslake Central (14-6-2) extended its program-best run to a state semifinal against Triad (24-0-1) at 1 p.m. Friday at Hoffman Estates. The Rams beat the Vernon Hills Sectional’s top seed, Crystal Lake South, on Saturday.
Marynevych, who had scored four goals in the Rams’ previous three playoff wins, came off the bench for the third straight game due to a hamstring injury. But he was in the middle of the action against the Dons (23-2-2), as usual.
He found a spot in the box to knock in a header from 10 yards out for his 20th goal of the season. It was set up by Mitchell Fein, who directed the ball with a shot off a throw-in from captain Lucas Veenstra.
“We’ve been practicing that all year and just did it again,” Marynevych. “On every throw-in during this game, I just had a feeling. I’m just glad to help my team and be there for them and carry our team to the top. This means everything.”
The Dons entered the game with 22 goals in the playoffs but were shut out for the first time all season.
Grayslake Central sophomore goalkeeper Uriel Garcia Perez earned his third straight shutout with four saves. He inspired a “what a save” chant from the crowd with a stop on a header by Notre Dame’s Ryan Shanahan in the 61st minute.
“I can’t describe what I’m feeling,” Garcia Perez said. “This is amazing.”
The Dons, who have three players with a combined 61 goals, rarely were able to generate quality shots against the Rams’ back line.
“It takes a team to make it this far,” Grayslake Central coach Keith Andersson said. “We have confidence in the rest of the team. We have such a deep bench. Alan Alonso, Raymond Sereno and Marko (Marynevych) all played out of their minds. Ben Berry shut them down tonight. It was a fantastic team effort.”
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Behind a strong group of juniors, most notably Daniel Marynevych, the Rams were slated for a run in 2022. But they had other plans.
“At the beginning of the season, I would never have thought this would happen,” Marynevych said. “To make it this far is just unbelievable. Every game we just got 1% better. Our mental game has gotten so much stronger.”
Andersson said the Rams gained insight into big-time soccer by losing four straight games — against Vernon Hills, New Trier, Libertyville and Loyola — to open the season.
“The biggest thing is at the beginning of the year we played four amazing teams, and that woke us up and showed us what we had to do and that we had to work harder,” Andersson said. “We knew we had to get better. They’ve worked and worked. As coaches, we’ve been sitting back and enjoying the ride.
“Every game that these boys do is history and something they will remember the rest of their lives. These are the memories they will make for the rest of their lives.”
Bob Narang is a freelance reporter for the News-Sun.