When he was growing up, Lincoln-Way Central’s Eddie Rafacz always wanted to follow in the footsteps of his dad.
Rafacz would go to indoor soccer games at Hallmark Sports Club in Frankfort to cheer on his father, Martin.
“My dad was the biggest influence on me,” Rafacz said. “He’d always play in a men’s league. At Hallmark, I’d run right up to the glass to watch the games, just hoping it’d be me out there one day.”
Rafacz’s day came Tuesday night.
The senior forward/midfielder and captain rose to the occasion in the Knights’ playoff opener, scoring twice to lift sixth-seeded Lincoln-Way Central to a 2-1 victory over 11th-seeded Thornton co-op in a Class 3A Reavis Regional semifinal.
Jamison Stockrahm had an assist and Ryan Marszalek made four saves for the Knights (12-6-1), who will take on third-seeded Romeoville (23-1-1) — a 7-0 winner over Reavis — at 5 p.m. Friday in the regional championship game.
It will be a rematch of the sectional semifinal in 2021, when Romeoville eliminated Lincoln-Way Central 3-2 in a shootout.
“It’s been on my revenge list since last year,” Rafacz said. “It was a rough back-and-forth game last year, but hopefully this time, we can get the result we want.”
Alexander Lopez scored and Alberto Figueroa made six saves for Thornton (13-6).
Rafacz struck twice in the opening eight minutes to record his first multi-goal game of the season.
In the third minute, Drew Schiller took a corner kick and played a cross into the box, where Stockrahm flicked the ball with his head toward the far post.
Rafacz was right there to head it home.
“I just kind of know that Schiller’s going to put the ball in and hopefully it’ll end up on my head,” Rafacz said. “I’ll be there to be the poacher to put it in and get us the lead.”
Stockrahm said he’s confident Rafacz will deliver in those big moments.
“I know that’s he’s always going to be there,” Stockrahm said. “We work on that in practice. It comes up consistently in games. I can count on Eddie to be there, and he took the chance and capitalized.
“We already knew before going into this game that one of our big three — Nico (Espinosa), Johnny (Roussakis) and Eddie — was going to step up. We can count on them when the going gets tough.”
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Rafacz made it 2-0 in the eighth minute when he picked off a Thornton clearing attempt and fired a quick 25-yard shot, burying it inside the near the post.
“I haven’t scored two all year,” Rafacz said. “To finally be able to do that in a playoff match, it feels perfect.”
Rafacz, who has embraced the captain’s role, tries to help his younger teammates.
“He’s a guy who’s played varsity soccer for four years and has scored in some big games for us,” Lincoln-Way Central coach Dave Brown said of Rafacz. “He’s a guy we certainly trust and want the ball on his feet.
“It was nice for him to score two early and calm some nerves for some of these guys who have never played in a playoff game.”
After digging themselves an early hole, however, the Wildcats battled back hard.
Lopez put his team on the board when he collected a loose ball and ripped a shot from 40 yards inside the left post.
The goal with just 1:23 left in the first half gave Thornton momentum that carried into the second half.
The Wildcats pressured most of the final 40 minutes but could not find the equalizer.
“We just had to scrap,” Stockrahm said. “We outworked them. We outdefended them. They had more possession, but at the end of the day, it was 2-1 us.”
Steve Millar is a freelance reporter for the Daily Southtown.