Stepping onto the field for a state semifinal and playing in front of a huge crowd of supporters, Streamwood’s Josue Lopez could hardly believe it. After a turbulent regular season, the Sabres’ magical playoff run took them all the way to state. Lopez was thrilled to get where others in his family could only dream of being.

“It feels good,” Lopez said. “A lot of my cousins and other family members have played at Streamwood, so it felt good to be part of the team that was representing our school here at state.”

Lopez certainly represented well. He scored a goal and dished out an assist as Streamwood started strong Friday night, but the Sabres let a two-goal lead slip away and lost 4-2 to De La Salle in overtime in a Class 2A semifinal at Hoffman Estates. Max Galvan added a goal for Streamwood (13-11), while Alex J. Garcia made five saves.

Adrian Chavez helped the defense shut out De La Salle (24-3-1) in the first half. The Sabres will take on Rock Island (14-6-1) at 9:30 a.m. Saturday in the third-place game.

Streamwood coach Matt Polovin praised his team’s effort Friday. “I’m beyond proud of these guys,” Polovin said. “They really did everything that they could and more. De La Salle was a good team. We kind of beat ourselves a little bit, but you can’t take anything away from them. They deserve it.”

In the 12th minute, Lopez curled a corner kick toward the net. Galvan was able to get a piece of the ball to redirect it into the net, thrilling a huge Streamwood crowd. The school brought four fan buses to the game.

Lopez then made it 2-0 with 41 seconds left in the first half, firing a high shot on a free kick from 30 yards. De La Salle goalkeeper Jahir Anaya made a leaping save attempt, getting a piece of the shot, but the ball tucked under the crossbar for Lopez’s eighth goal of the season.

“I was practicing those free kicks before the game and I knew I could make it,” Lopez said. “In the playoffs, I’ve been stepping up my game and doing better on those free kicks.”

All the Sabres picked up their play in the postseason. Streamwood entered the playoffs at 8-10 and seeded sixth in a 10-team subsectional as part of the Geneva Sectional. But the Sabres remained hopeful.

“I told the guys that it’s not how you start the season, it’s how you end it,” Chavez said. “Everyone thought that since we lost 10 games, we’re going to be a first-round exit. But we weren’t. We made it all the way here.”

The Sabres were actually 5-10 before winning their final three regular-season games. That’s when Polovin saw things start to click.

“With the amount of injuries we’ve had all season long, it was like three guys would get hurt, one guy would get better and two more guys would get hurt,” Polovin said. “Maybe three or four games before the playoffs, guys started getting healthy and everyone started performing the way they should.”

Lopez started to gain confidence in his team and himself after a 3-1 win over Geneva for the regional title.

“It was the way we were coming together and the way we started playing,” he said. “That’s when we knew we could go somewhere.”

And the Sabres took it all the way to state, where they played in the program’s second semifinal. The only other state appearance came in 2014, when Streamwood suffered consecutive 4-0 losses and finished fourth.

The mission now for Lopez and his teammates was to surpass that team.

“We want to try to get third place and be the best team the school has ever had,” Lopez said. “We don’t want to get fourth place. We want to be one step ahead.”
https://www.chicagotribune.com/2025/11/08/josue-lopez-streamwood-de-la-salle-ihsa-boys-soccer/