Neubeck strikes just in time for Lakes

A buzzer-beater and a golden goal?

Ashley Neubeck got both on Saturday afternoon, at the end of the third overtime, as second-seeded Lakes won its own Class 2A regional championship game over No. 1 seed Richmond-Burton 2-1.

“It’s all crazy,” said Neubeck, who placed her shot into the far upper corner for her 10th goal of the season. “I hit the shot and it went in.”

It all happened very quickly, right after a foul from a Richmond-Burton defender outside the box to the left.

With less than 10 seconds left, Neubeck worked at a quick pace.

“I saw the clock winding down. I placed it down and the ref asked me to move it back a bit. I looked back at the clock and saw 3 seconds. I set it down, made the run and kicked it.”

The ball crossed the line and found the net right before the horn sounded.

Lakes (9-13) next faces Grayslake Central (15-6) at 6:30 p.m. Tuesday in sectional semifinal action it will host. Wauconda (15-3-3) meets Amundsen in the other semifinal at 4:30 p.m.

“We held tough throughout the game,” Lakes coach Kevin Kullby said. “We’ve been playing much better on the defensive end, helping each other out. Thankfully, we held out long enough with the chances we were getting. We had a lot of chances, and it was a shame we didn’t put the game away sooner.

“The goal we got to tie it up was world class.”

The Eagles’ Rebecca Hill brought new life to the team in the 75th minute after Lakes had trailed by a goal for most of the game. Hill scored the tying goal, her third of the season, with an assist from Emily Mason.

“I was glad to kick that one in,” said Hill, “because it was the turning point in the game. It was pretty big, because I didn’t score a lot during the season and it meant something.”

Richmond-Burton (11-7-2) got the lead early in the first half. Lakes had a bad clearance in the back and the Rockets’ Maggie Koren scored in the 11th minute.

Richmond-Burton sturggled to handle the pressure from Lakes for the remainder of the game.

“(Lakes) was pushing the entire second half,” Richmond-Burton coach Chris Wagner said. “We couldn’t get control of the ball. I thought we could hold them back until the final five minutes.

“(Lakes) was a real good team, well organized and I think that organization got to us.”