BURBANK – In his fourth year of varsity soccer for Lincoln-Way West, senior midfielder Eli Bach still was searching for his first win over crosstown rival Lincoln-Way Central.

Bach was determined to make it happen Saturday, when the district foes met up in a quarterfinal of the 32-team Windy City Ram Classic at Reavis.

Bach scored the only goal and the Warriors’ defense made it hold up for a 1-0 win and a trip to the tournament’s final four.

“It’s a great feeling,” Bach said. “It’s my fourth year on varsity and we hadn’t beat Central yet, so to finally beat them feels good, and hopefully we can beat them again later in the season.”

Lincoln-Way West (3-0) advanced to take on host Reavis (3-0) in a semifinal at 6:30 p.m. Tuesday.

Fellow senior Josh Lehman assisted on Bach’s goal, while junior Brenden Vlasak made five saves to record the shutout.

Kent Nelson, Luca Rotondi, Dylan Maksa and Drew Schiller led a strong defensive effort for Lincoln-Way Central (2-1), which allowed only the one good scoring chance for the Warriors.

Bach made sure Lincoln-Way West capitalized on it, breaking behind the defense and putting away his shot with 23 minutes, 9 seconds left in the game.

“The ball just got through the middle and I was spacing out because (Central) played a tight four in the middle,” Bach said. “I figured when they pinch in, I’ll just make my run behind them. Lehman was good enough to see me through. All I need is one chance and I’ll put that in.”

The Warriors have a young team, with six sophomores on the roster, so Bach knows it is important for him to take charge.

“Being out here with all these young guys, I hope I can be a leader for them,” Bach said. “I just try to be a good role model for them. They’re more technical, all these younger guys. I just try to show them how to come in and work hard and hopefully my leadership rubs off on them. (Sophomore) Adrian (Ontiveros) picks up on it, (sophomore) Jackson Hirschboeck picks up on it. They’ll be the guys the next two years.”

Lincoln-Way West coach Matt Laude said Bach is providing exactly what his team needs.

“Eli has become a phenomenal leader this year,” Laude said. “He was voted unanimously to be our captain. He’s grown so much over the last four years. He learns from his mistakes. Every day at training, he’s constantly telling the boys, “Do this, don’t do that.’ He leads by example.”

The Warriors’ defense, which includes three sophomores in Ontiveros, Cohen Cox and Karter Kelderhouse, plus seniors John Hernandez and Noah Nawracaj, kept the Knights from finding the net despite a steady stream of pressure, especially in the second half.

Lincoln-Way Central had 10 corner kicks, but came up empty.

“It was just passion and effort,” Ontiveros said. “You just had to make sure to get the ball out. You have to put your heart into it.”

Laude has been impressed with the play of the youngsters on defense.

“We’ve got three sophomores in the back and I’ve lost about 50 years of my life with the anxiety, but gosh, they’re doing well,” Laude said. “My sophomore group is insane. We’ve only given up two goals in three games. These guys just want to battle and prove to people that they deserve to be at the table, too.”

On the other side, it was a frustrating day for the Knights, who controlled much of the game but could not break through.

Rotondi, Maksa and Noah Anhalt put shots on goal from outside 25 yards, and Aidan Byrne put a header on frame from inside the box off a corner kick, but Vlasak stopped them all.

“We know when we play Lincoln-Way West it’s going to come down to who makes less mistakes or who capitalizes when the other team makes a mistake,” Lincoln-Way Central coach Dave Brown said. “I think we made one mistake there to kind of give them a goal in transition. We had chances. We knocked on the door a lot and we couldn’t find a way through. It’s a learning moment for us. We get to see West again later in the season when it matters in conference.”

Solorio 1, Lockport 0: The Porters (2-1) were shut out in a quarterfinal, ending their reign in the tournament as they had won the event in the last three years it’s been contested.

Lincoln-Way East 1, Lemont 0: After a scoreless 80 minutes, the Griffins (2-1) won the penalty-kick shootout 4-2 for the victory in a consolation game. Caden Udani, Brian McCracken, Josh Mensching and Jack Duzik scored in the shootout for Lincoln-Way East, while goalkeeper Noah Brown recorded the shutout. Andrew Guzy and Aidan Ontiveros had shootout goals for Lemont (1-2).