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Sports

Borge, Lyons Power On To Post-Season

Regular season concludes at West Fields with 3-0 triumph, regionals begin Tuesday.

Elliot Borge has been on fire.

A member of the Chicago Fire's Academy club team year round, Borge has exploded for four goals in Lyons Township High School's last three games, including what proved to be the winner in the squad's 3-0 win over Benet Academy on Saturday.

Lyons-- which clinched the West Suburban Silver Conference title Oct. 12 after beating York Community High School-- concluded its regular season in fine fashion against the Patriot League powerhouse.

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The Lions benefited from Borge's eighth score of the year along with insurance goals from seniors Kyle Kurfirst and Peter Kralovec-Kircherr. LTHS ends its year with a sparkling 18-1-2 record.

"Definitely a successful season," Borge said. "Obviously we had the one loss against Morton at the [Pepsi Showdown], but we strung a few wins together and we're getting ready to make a good, strong playoff run."

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With head coach Paul Labbato unavailable to attend the match, assistant Coach Kelly Neidig assessed the team's status following Saturday's win.

"Absolutely we have a good thing going [for us]," Neidig said. "We're going to keep focused in practice, allowing ourselves to go into the playoffs with a good momentum shift at the end of the season."

While there is much work to be done, Peter Gabreek admitted that the regular season will serve as some reassurance to the team's post-season ambitions.

"It's nice to get a few wins going into the playoffs," Gabrek said. "We feel pretty confident but we're not going to be over-confident. We know we have probably the most difficult road possible getting back to state."

LT and Benet both looked somewhat shaky from the first whistle, as each side made several critical mistakes on the ball that nearly led to goals. Borge's first half strike was the lone goal of the half, and just after the break he went close again when his long range volley just went wide.

Kurfirst calmly doubled the lead midway through the second period with defender Peter Kralovec-Kirchherr snatching his first goal of the year off a corner kick with less than five minutes to play, sending the lead to 3-0.

The regional round of games concludes Friday, and with a mainly straightforward road to Sectionals on paper, LTHS must direct some thought toward the talented teams it will likely meet in a week's time: Downers Grove North High School and Morton High School.

"We've seen both teams we expect to face in Morton and Downers Grove North," Gabrek said. "We know we can beat them, we just have to come out and play like we know we can play. If that happens, we shouldn't have a problem with either of them.

While Borge recognizes the difficulty of the impending matches, his concentration remains fixated on the preliminary regional fixtures.

"Obviously we're thinking a little bit about who we would potentially play down the road," Borge said. "But we're not going to take these games for granted; our coaches will make sure of that. We just have to keep focused because anything can happen in those games."

LT's return to the IHSA post-season begins on Oct. 19 at St. Ignatius High School's home turf against the winner of the play-in game between Chicago Kennedy and Chicago Farragut. Kickoff is scheduled for 4 p.m.

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