Palatine Boys Soccer has a talented team and they’re ready to cap a great regular season in the Mid-Suburban League with a long playoff run. The conference has had a lot of tough competition this year. Barrington and Wheeling were two of the top teams last year and they’re both expected to have strong teams again.

They split games with Fremd and Hersey, losing 1-0 to Fremd and winning 2-1 over Hersey. Despite the tough competition and getting out to a 5-5-1 record in conference, Palatine is confident that they can have a strong playoff run.

“My goal for the team is to make it past regionals and make it to sectionals. I also hope for the team to have eight shutouts,” senior Will Riordan said.

Riordan will be a key player this season for Palatine. He plays Forward and hopes to have fifteen goals and ten assists. The team has a lot of seniors that will be getting a lot of playing time this year. One of the seniors getting a lot of playing time will be goalkeeper, Ethan Bank.

“Ethan didn’t play a lot last year but he’s improved a lot and already made some big saves for us this year” said head coach Filian. Bank was the backup last year but he also broke his hand after the first game this year.

“Obviously the playing time is nice” said Bank, “It’s also good to be healthy and to be a leader on the field this year.” Bank will get most of the playing time in net and he’s already done a fantastic job this year.

Palatine has a 8-8-1 record this year and six of their eight wins have been shutouts. Earlier in the season, the Pirates defeated state semi-finalist Conant by scoring four unanswered, second half goals.

The team plays Lake Zurich Saturday, Oct 7 at noon, hoping to add some wins to their resume before they embark on their playoff journey next week.