Girls soccer: Metea Valley beats Neuqua Valley to keep winning streak going

Someone had to fall.

Neuqua Valley and Metea Valley were playing at their best while finishing the regular season, but with them going head-to-head during Wednesday's Class 3A Lockport sectional semifinal, one of them had to see their great season end.

The Mustangs prevailed, knocking off the Wildcats 3-1 to earn a berth into Friday's sectional championship against Naperville North.

"We had some good energy and the girls are excited," Mustangs coach Chris Whaley said. "They had some corners, free kicks and dead ball situations and unfortunately we probably gave them too many of those, but we did pretty well. We were organized defensively and the girls had a lot of intensity, but it was organized and composed."

The Mustangs (16-3-4), who haven't lost since April 17, jumped ahead on Kiley McKee's goal less than 10 minutes into play.

The Wildcats (12-4-4) got the equalizer on a Hailey Furio goal with 12:54 left in the first half.

"We got tied at 1-1 there and we're hoping we could play the style we would like to play the rest of the way but we couldn't," Wildcats coach Joe Moreau said. "We were banging balls and we were in trouble. We needed to get the ball on the ground and that didn't happen."

What did happen was the offense of the Mustangs as they scored what proved to be the game winner with 3:29 left in the opening half, which was set up by a beautiful pass from Sophia Senese.

"I heard Sophia (Mahjer) yelling and there was a pretty big gap open in the middle of the box," Senese said. "I tried to chip one into her and she did a really good job of finishing,"

Mahjer deflect all the praise and redirected it to Senese.

"She took on the defender going the other way," Mahjer said. "I was open for the split and she found me open and I was able to finish and you have to finish in these playoff games."

The Mustangs added an insurance goal almost midway through the second half to extend their lead to 3-1 and pretty much bury the Wildcats.

"We got into a game that we're not as strong in and that's the ball in the air," Moreau said. "When we got the ball on the ground, though, there were times we didn't finish. They played aggressive, their midfield played really well and their back line played tough."

While the Mustangs move on to another day, Moreau is left wondering what could have been for the DuPage Valley Conference champion Wildcats.

"I'm very proud of our team," he said. "It was a great season and the toughest part is not being able to practice with them (Thursday). They're like daughters to you."