Glenbard West (14-5-1) is scheduled to play Glenbard North (5-10-2) at a neutral site in the regular season finale for both teams on Oct. 16 in Glendale Heights.

The team will reconvene just five days later in the post-season as the No. 2-seeded Hilltoppers will travel to Carol Stream to take on an upset-minded No. 14 Panthers squad.

“It definitely is odd and (Glenbard West coach) Phil (Wicyk) and I have talked about trying to find a new date for our regular season game going forward as we have been in the same regional two years in a row,” Panthers coach Spero Mandakas said.

“This year our Glenbard Cup game will be held at Camera Park in Glendale Heights which a lot of our players grew up playing at. They put a new turf field in so we are going to have a Community Night and hopefully a great soccer match. With playing each other back-to-back we will definitely hold some of our cards back and try some different things out that we think we may be able to have some success with.”

Wicyk said the winner of the first match doesn’t predict anything for the playoff game.

“Whoever falls victim in that first game, that pain will generate a passion for revenge over the next five days,” Wicyk said. “Whenever it comes to West versus North throw out the records, it doesn’t matter, these games are always personal and it always comes out a tough match.”

While on the subject of the Glens, No. 8 seed York is going to attempt to beat three of the District 87 schools as the Dukes will take on Glenbard East in a Class 3A Leyden regional semifinal to open the postseason.

The Dukes already beat Glenbard North, 4-2, on Sept. 25 before surviving Glenbard West, 1-0 in OT, on Sept. 30.

“We are focused on trying to end the season on a five-game winning streak - two down, three to go,” Dukes coach Jordan Stopka said. “We are confident in our abilities in the first round and we are starting to score goals, especially Quinn Stratton. He has seven goals in his last five games.”

There’s a rematch of DuKane foes in Roselle as Lake Park, which is hosting a regional, will invite Wheaton North (5-10-1) to town for a regional semifinal. The Lancers (11-3-3) prevailed 2-1 when the squads met on Sept. 9. Lake Park is having an exceptional season. The Lancers will finish with a winning record for the first time since 2018, the same year they won 20 games and finished fourth in the state.

“They’re a really good team and we’re excited for the challenge,” Falcons coach Joe Klingelhoffer said. “My thought after we played them last time was that they would likely be the top of our conference, and they have continued to have a great season. However, we felt like we could have won that game if a few things went differently, and we’re a stronger team now than we were then, so we’re going into our playoff game with that confidence.”

Shooting for above .500

Downers Grove North (9-10-1) was looking to go above .500 again on Saturday but saw its four-game winning streak come to a halt as the Trojans dropped a 6-3 game to Leyden (13-3-1).

The Trojans’ last winning year was in 2020 when they went 4-1-1 in the abbreviated spring season. The last time they finished with a winning record in a full season was in 2017 when they went 14-5-2 and won a regional before a heartbreaking 3-2, double OT loss to Morton.

It doesn’t get any easier for the Trojans as they finish up the regular season with games against Glenbard West (14-5-1), Oak Park and River Forest (12-3-2), Fenton (8-2-4) and York (7-7-1).

“Yes, this is probably the toughest part of our schedule down the stretch here with three huge conference matches left and one non-conference match against Fenton,” Trojans coach Rafal Slomba said. “Each team that we’re playing has different strengths and we need to make sure to make adjustments prior to the games to ensure that our players are ready to compete. These next couple of games will help prepare us for playoffs.”

If the seeds hold true in the postseason the Trojans would likely see Lyons again. The Trojans dropped a 2-1 game in OT when the team met up on Sept. 23.

Depth and deposits

The addition of some new players this season has allowed Westmont coach Francisco Delgado to free up sophomore Adam Dubiel on occasion from his role on the backline.

Dubiel leads Westmont (9-9) with 11 goals. He also has 5 assists.

“Adam has moved up the field this year as we had a couple new players able to fill out our backline,” Delgado said. “He still switches back and forth during games, but this year he’s a lot more confident and aggressive. Hoping to have him up top full-time next year.”

Senior Martynas Bobrevicius (10 goals, 6 assists) and sophomore Edwin Rodriguez (9 goals, 6 assists) are providing a strong attack along with Dubiel.