Girls soccer: Neuqua Valley turns the tables on Metea Valley

Losing to a rival in a do-or-die game is something you don't easily forget.

Beating them three times in a row certainly helps.

Neuqua Valley turned the tables on rival Metea Valley during Tuesday's Class 3A Plainfield North sectional semifinal, cruising past the Mustangs 4-0 to advance to Friday's sectional championship against Naperville North.

Last year it was the Mustangs who ended the Wildcats' season in a sectional semifinal in Lockport, so the returning Wildcats avenged that loss.

"I remember last year and it kind of made us work harder today to come back and show them that we're not the team they played last year," Wildcats senior Alyssa Bombacino said. "Last year we had a bit of an off-day and we wanted to show we were a strong team and that we can beat them."

Neuqua Valley (14-5) also beat the Mustangs twice earlier this year, but both of those games were decided by a single goal.

The Wildcats scored the only goal they needed Tuesday when Dani Hopkins connected off Shannon Tagler's corner kick with 23:52 remaining in the first half.

"I've been trying the whole season to get a header goal off Shannon's great corner kicks, so I finally got one and got momentum moving for our team," Hopkins said. "It upped our energy and we kept adding on."

Madison Zaleski extended the lead to 2-0 when she scored off a cross from Leah Senese with 1:53 left before halftime.

The Mustangs (14-8-3) didn't have a response.

"I thought that we came out with a lot of good energy, but Neuqua came out really hard this time," Mustangs senior Sophia Senese said. "They came out harder than they've come out before and kept pressing and pressing. They played a great game."

Any chance the Mustangs had for rallying seemed to quickly become an afterthought when Bombacino scored less than seven minutes into the second half, ending any real possibilities of a third straight game tight game between the two District 204 schools.

"I think we did a better job of scoring early today and scoring more than one goal," Bombacino said. "It pushed our momentum and had them stop a little bit because we had the momentum and we just kept scoring so they weren't really in the game as much."

The Wildcats were certainly into it, including freshman Frannie Keen, who put an exclamation point on the victory when she scored her first varsity goal with 8:10 left. Tagler set her up perfectly for her second assist of the evening.

"I feel like this is some of the best soccer we've played this season," Hopkins said. "We're just trying to keep adding on and keep moving forward."