5 things to watch this IHSA girls soccer postseason, led by Boylan's title chase

With the kickstart of the Class 1A regional on Tuesday, the girls soccer postseason is upon us, and there are plenty of storylines to watch for right here in the Rockford area.

With several teams embarking on what they hope will be long and successful runs — and plenty of players showing off their skills during breakout seasons — here are the top five storylines to watch for as the postseason kicks in:

More soccer: How Rockford Christian girls soccer slammed the door on its first league title

Boylan set to claim another NIC-10 title

The Titans surged past Freeport 3-1 on Tuesday night, and now Boylan can close out its 31st NIC-10 title in the past 35 years on Thursday night.

Boylan (14-1, 8-0 NIC-10) is heavily favored over East (2-9, 1-7), and a win would lock down the NIC-10 crown. The Titans fell to Freeport last season and watched the Pretzels celebrate an undefeated conference run. This year, Boylan lost its season opener 3-1 to St. Charles East, and hasn't been defeated since.

Setting rec: Freeport girls soccer set records last season. Here are 3 reasons they're still winning

Now the conference title is there for the taking.

"This was just goal No. 1 of many for this team," Boylan coach Taylor Meyers said. "But we take it one game at a time, and we'll see what happens next."

Izze Fritz opened the scoring for the Titans against Freeport (10-3-1, 6-2), and Claire Kirkham followed with a pair of goals for Boylan before Freeport's Autumn Diduch scored in the second half to erase the shutout.

"It's exciting, and we've been wanting this since last season," Boylan's Izze Fritz said of the conference title. "This team is really after a state title, though. We know we have to stay focused, and stay passionate."

The Boylan girls are trying to match the Boylan boys by winning a state championship in soccer this school year.

Brackets released, here's who to watch

Boylan has the No. 1 seed in the Class 2A Rochelle Regional and the Titans kick off the postseason against Sterling at 4:30 p.m. Tuesday.

"We're hoping for a nice run this year," Meyers said. "This is the time of year when you want to be at your best."

Belvidere North, seeded second and taking on Pecatonica on Tuesday, is hosting a 2A regional that includes Freeport and Belvidere, which plays each other on Wednesday.

Hononegah is the top area team in the 3A bracket, seeded fourth and set to take on East, seeded 14th, Wednesday in Hampshire to kick off the postseason. Auburn, seeded 13th itself, is also hosting a 3A regional.

Hefty, other scorers, finish strong

There are some powerful scorers to keep an eye on throughout this upcoming postseason, including the NIC-10's co-leading scorers Cortlyn Hefty of Belvidere North and Autumn Diduch of Freeport. They each have 33 goals on the season.

Hefty has just one goal the past four games, while Autumn Diduch had Freeport's lone goal in the loss to Boylan on Tuesday. They are both going to be players to watch this postseason.

"There are some great scorers in this league, for sure," said Freeport's Cadence Diduch, Autumn's twin sister and one of the best defenders in the league. "It's fun to get to go up against them and see what you can do. ... I take pride in those games."

North and Hefty close out the season Thursday at Freeport against the Diduch's and the rest of the Pretzels.

Boylan's Maggie Schmidt had 20 goals and Fritz has 17 headed into the regular-season finale at East, and they each had 10 assists. Hononegah's Molly Hughes had 15 goals and seven assists headed into the final week of the regular season, and outside of the NIC-10, Rockford Christian's Jada Harvey stayed hot, scoring a hat trick in their postseason opener on Tuesday, and she now has 27 goals and 19 assists.

Rockford Christian off to good start

After falling behind 1-0 in the 23rd minute of action Tuesday night, Rockford Christian (14-1) came to life on offense, breaking free for an 8-1 victory over Rockford Christian Life in the 1A regional opener.

Now the Royal Lions will face Winnebago in Friday's regional final, the second meeting between these two teams in the past week. Rockford Christian beat Winnebago 4-2 on May 4.

"That was a really bad start to the game for us, but we turned it around, and we kind of turned it into a good thing," Rockford Christian coach Eron Harvey said. "It showed us that we have to work for everything we're going to get."

Jada Harvey had three goals and two assists, Ellen Love had three goals and one assist and Molly Henderson had two goals and two assists.

Jada Harvey set for double duty

Harvey, who is hoping to lead the Rockford Christian girls soccer team on a powerful run to state this season, is looking to run her way to the track and field state meet as well this year. To do it, though, she will have to play in a regional final soccer game on Friday night, and then rush to the Winnebago Sectional track and field meet to run in the 200-meter dash on the same night.

"I want to do it; I've wanted to do this all season long," she said. "It's just a matter of can I get there in time, now. ... If I can, I'll get it done."

Harvey ran a 27.25 to take third in the 200 dash at the Big Northern Conference track meet last Thursday, and her time was less than a second off the state-qualifying standard (26.89).

The Royal Lions are scheduled to take on Winnebago at home at 6 p.m. Friday for the soccer regional title. The 200 dash is scheduled to be run at the Winnebago track sectional at 8:20 p.m.

Jay Taft is a Rockford Register Star sports reporter. Email him at jtaft@rrstar.com and follow him on Twitter at @JayTaft. Sign up for the Rockford High School newsletter at rrstar.com.

This article originally appeared on Rockford Register Star: IHSA girls soccer: Top storylines for Rockford-area postseason