Boys soccer: Neuqua Valley avoids PKs

Daniel Costea was sitting on the bench when Neuqua Valley first took the field against Plainfield Central during Wednesday's Class 3A Bolingbrook sectional semifinal.

Everyone on the boys soccer field and in the stands knew where he was about 100 minutes later when he scored the game-winning goal with only 2:23 left in the second overtime to lift the Wildcats to a 1-0 victory.

Costea also kept the game from being decided by penalty kicks, something that the Wildcats had to do early in the season in a tournament game they ultimately lost to Normal West.

"Like coach said in our huddle (before the second OT), PKs are really a coin toss," Costea said. "All of us didn't want to go to that, especially because we had a tournament game where we lost in the semifinals in PKs. We really didn't want to go back to that."

The overtimes were rather uneventful with the ball being kicked back and forth but neither team creating any scoring opportunities until Billy Provost sent the ball to Costea just outside of the penalty area.

"Billy sent in a really well-placed ball and I settled it and dribbled at them," Costea said. "That's what I consider to be my strong suit and I just aimed at the corner and it went in."

Costea has started at times this season or come off the bench early in games depending on the formation.

"Our wings were not as productive so we decided to put him up top," Neuqua Valley coach Arnoldo Gonzalez said. "We decided to put him as that target. I think that was maybe the situation we've been waiting for because the ball was played in and I kept hearing, 'Turn, turn, turn," and he turned, the defense dropped and gave him space. And, I'll say this, if you give Costea some space he's going to dribble through you or place it just like he did.'

Neuqua Valley (13-5-4) was thrilled to survive upset-minded Plainfield Central (12-11-1) and will play for its first sectional title since 2009. The Wildcats realize that they will have to play better against Naperville North on Saturday afternoon to keep their season alive.

"We easily had 80 percent of the possession and a lot of chances in this game," Costea said. "They were a good team, but we definitely should have won this game."

If Costea doesn't score who knows what would've happened when the result would've been decided by unpredictable and often unfair PKs.

"When you don't show up to play, that's what happens," Gonzalez said. "These games need to be played at a higher intensity than you normally play."

The Wildcats and Huskies played to a 0-0 tie on Sept. 29.