Boys varsity soccer held homecoming traditions in stride, filling in for football by crushing Prosser 7-0 in the early rounds of city playoffs at Lane Stadium on Wednesday, Oct. 4. This gave the boys their 4th win in conference and their 9th win of the season.    

Homecoming, which has been around at Lane for 52 years, is meant to welcome back alumni and current students with a pep rally involving marching band, varsity athletics, and a Homecoming King and Queen as well as other titles for underclassmen.

The homecoming football game against Whitney Young was originally scheduled for Friday, Oct. 6, but was cancelled when Young forfeited the rest of their football season one week before the game. The Beacon reported that there weren’t enough players eligible to play.

Not all schools have football as their homecoming sport. Jones College Prep has a homecoming soccer while Northside College Prep has a homecoming basketball game in the winter.

Starting midfielder Marcin Kieta, Div. 856, kicked off the night with two goals, both assisted by Zach Rogers, Div. 851.

Co-captain Alex Mezyk, Div. 860, scored the third goal of the first half, assisted by Drew Kelner, Div. 954.

David de la Fuente, Div. 883, scored the fifth goal assisted by Cathal O’Connor, Div. 958. O’Connor scored one soon after with the assistance of co-captain Arnel Sinanagic, Div. 874.

Sinanagic dished out the last goal by the team through a penalty kick.

Although the final score was 7-0, the team only scored six goals, with one accidentally scored by Prosser’s goalie.

Though Prosser was not able to score a goal, they were a formidable opponent for the Indians. Both teams played rough, with four players getting injured on the field.

Head Varsity Coach Andrew Ricks was satisfied with their game.

“I feel it was a complete win,” Ricks said.“We were classy and we just played hard. Sometimes when a team gets a win, they’ll start screwing around and we didn’t. We kept playing soccer.”

Senior defender Michael McMahon, Div. 852, recapped the game through the defense’s perspective: “We were able to keep control for most of the night,” he said. “I think that started from the defense, just talking to the rest of the players and moving the ball.”

Ricks attributed some of the success to the team’s seniors, as they make up 17 out of 23 players on the team; especially those who were on varsity last year, being the “spine” and “core” of the team.

“Our seniors really showed up, and what satisfied me was that we had balanced scoring,” Ricks stated “We had four seniors score five out of the six goals.”

Although the game wasn’t the typical Friday night football game, McMahon saw the game as an opportunity to showcase soccer in a different perspective.

“I think soccer can be a little undervalued sometimes, especially in the United States, where football, basketball, and baseball are the ‘American’ sports,” McMahon said. “We were all very happy that the attention was put on soccer and being able to show how great of a sport it is and how well Lane does it.”

The game was a great success. The stadium was packed with students and families, who were there to support both teams.

This is the team’s second year of finishing first place in conferences. The team powered through quarterfinals and semifinals, beating Taft Oct. 7 and Solorio Oct. 10. However, they lost city finals 1-0 to Washington High School on Sunday Oct. 15.

Their next game will be IHSA Regional finals versus New Trier on Oct. 21 after beating Glenbrook South 2-1. Class 3A Sectional semifinals begins Oct. 24-Oct. 25.