Libertyville takes out Maine West
Libertyville is heading to the state tournament finals for the first time since 1996 after beating Maine West 4-1 in Class 3A supersectional play Tuesday at Loyola Soccer Park on the northwest side of Chicago.
The Wildcats (20-3-2) broke a goal-less deadlock with a thunderous effort, striking for 3 goals in rapid fire order, to send the Warriors reeling.
Maine West coach Mike DiVincenzo's group was unable to come back from the three-minute blitz but still marked its deepest tournament run in in program history.
“A couple of mistakes, and us having two freshmen and six sophomores out there when it happened spelled trouble for us against a very good opponent, perhaps the best we've seen all season,” said DiVicenzo.
“To get 3 quick goals like we did, it's kind of a dream come true,” said Libertyville coach Andy Bitta, “but with an explosive team like Maine West which has so many offensive weapons, I really don't think we ever really felt safe, even when we went into the break at 3-0.”
Libertyville will play Naperville North (21-2-2) Friday in a 3A state semifinal match at North Central College in Naperville. The Huskies knocked off defending state champion Lyons Township in OT on Tuesday.
“Even with us getting 4 goals, it was our defense that was the difference tonight,” Bitta said. “And that's where you're going to win matches, especially at this time of the year.”
Knowing its opponent would likely look to play through all-state candidate Marshall Hollingsworth in the middle, Maine West opened up in a 3-5-2, hoping to force the Cats to play wide and away from the counter-attack.
While it was obvious both sides came to play on the super-quick turf of the NCAA Division I Ramblers, the early exchanges were naturally cautious, with each club reluctant to commit forward with extra numbers.
Willed on by a large and noisy contigent of fans, the Warriors started to come into the match with pace, and some extra spark provided by Nelson Herrera, Ryan Ybarra and senior Jayson LeSeth, back after missing the Mather final due to a red card against New Trier earlier.
“We had a good spell of soccer for awhile, then disaster hit us,” said DiVincenzo.
Sam Kaplan's measured free kick from near the touch line at 40 yards somehow found the upper right corner, over the outstretched gloves of Jecsan Torres. Just two minutes later, the sophomore keeper, who has been brilliant in his rookie season with the varsity, was unable to hold onto a wicked drive from Joey Ruppert, his 15th of the season.
“They might have been enjoying the run of play up to that point, but those two goals quickly turned the momentum in our favor and we took full advantage of it,” said Kaplan.
Libertyville was in control now, and less than 60 seconds later a communication breakdown gave way to Miles McNeir smashing one in from the right side, just inside a postage stamp-sized opening at the far post.
“We immediately went to five in the back, and just planned on defending and holding our lead from there on out to counter (Maine West's) move to three up top,” said Bitta, “but we had to go back to (four) in the back after they scored in order to help restore our attack and put a little more pressure on them in their own end.”
Ruppert was stopped at point-blank range just after intermission by the left post, and freshman Lloyd Chatfield saw his blast crash off the woodwork just moments after Warriors keeper Cristian Perez stopped Ruppert.
The Warriors (14-5-7) did not fade away, and in fact made things increasingly difficult for Libertyville when Jerry Espinoza delivered a masterful one-timer into the corner to bring his club closer at the hour mark, and force the Cats' faithful to brace for a tense final 20 minutes.
“The guys didn't give up, they never have throughout the season, but it's tough chasing 3 goals against a team like Libertyville,” DiVincenzo said.
The Warriors' last-ditch effort to cut further into the 2-goal deficit saw three-year captain Emmett Turner-Jackson push forward and join the attack, with Austin O'Toole providing service into the area and at keeper Andrew Bitta but all to no avail, and when McNeir scored his 19th goal of the season, the result was sealed.
“After being involved in so many 1-goal matches during the postseason, it was great to finally get a 3-goal cushion, then go to work defending and holding the lead to get ourselves into the state tournament,” said Andrew Bitta.