Top effort lifts Cats

In the opinion of Naperville Central coach Jay Konrad, the newest rankings of the area's top soccer teams must unavoidably have one, specific team topping the list.

"Neuqua knocked off (three) top-10 teams. Nobody else has done that this week," Konrad said.

Konrad's Redhawks had just lost in a shootout to Neuqua Valley (4-0-1) in the title game of the Best of the West tournament, during which the Wildcats had also beaten highly ranked teams in Naperville North and Lincoln-Way Central.

"We work hard, and I really think we have a chance to win state this year," said Wildcats senior Bryan Gaul. "We have a lot of seniors, and a lot of leaders."

After a 2-2 tie in regulation and two overtime periods, it was a Wildcats senior who stepped in cold off the bench to secure the win. Senior keeper Andy Read teamed with starting keeper Jack Turanchik for the shootout, and he made the lone save on the 10 penalty kicks taken.

"I've always been good at (penalty kicks), so I just wanted to go in," Read said. "I didn't really have time to warm up."

In a hard-fought contest throughout, the Wildcats struck first when Miguel Joaquin bent a corner kick into net, three minutes into play. The Redhawks tied the score on a Tim Zimmer penalty kick six minutes later.

Neuqua Valley took a 2-1 lead late in the half when Gaul found a seam from 30 yards out and sent it home left-footed.

"I got a good pass from Brian Ciesiulka, and I heard everyone say 'shoot it,' " Gaul said. "So I just hit it."

The Redhawks came out hard and attacked well for 20 minutes in the second half, before attacking momentum began to swing back and forth both ways.

With time running out, the Redhawks' Joe Sawa placed a free kick to the far post from 35 yards out, where Zimmer located it and scored.

"That was the hardest we've worked for a full game," Konrad said. "There were a lot of pride issues on the line, and the kids got after it."

Both teams had good chances during the 10-minute overtime periods, with Redhawks keeper Tyler Kelley making a diving stop of a Paul Box blast, and Turanchik leaving his line to stop a shot by the Redhawks' Byard Ebling.

When Joaquin converted on the 10th penalty kick of the shootout, the Wildcats had their tournament title.

"We had to be perfect to beat these guys," Wildcats coach Jim Johns said of the Redhawks (5-1).

"How much more passion do you want? The kids are trying their best for both teams, they're all cramping up -- the work and the energy that they showed, the emotion."

"This is what it's all about."

Glenbard South 4, Joliet 3: Glenbard South scored twice in the last 8 minutes to defeat Joliet on Saturday at the Willowbrook Invite.

Glenbard South (2-1) trailed 3-2 in the second half when Foster Pyle scored unassisted to tie.

Pressuring Joliet heavily, the Raiders struck again with just 30 seconds remaining on Pyle's third-chance goal, a one-touch kick low into net off a Josh Payne assist.

Payne scored the first 2 goals for Glenbard South, from assists by Ian McKeown and Isaac Aguirre. Goalkeeper Dylan Milkent made 4 saves.

Barrington tourney: St. Charles North secured its place on the championship trophy at the 2007 Barrington Classic Tournament in penalty kicks against the host Broncos Saturday night.

It was an exhilarating night on the north end of the park for the North Stars (4-0-1) faithful as keeper Zach Hosler became the player of what was a scoreless match through regulation and 2 overtimes.

He stopped 3 straight spot-kicks by the Broncos (3-1-0) to clinch the title after teammate Alex Bergmann converted his attempt to push the North Stars advantage to 3-1.

"I just looked into (the) eyes of the shooters before making my decision as to which way I was going (to) go," said Hosler, who guessed correctly against Ryan Nolan, Ata Osbay and Jack Valentine to stop each Broncos' player stone cold.

Mike Picinich and Jake Hosler struck their penalty kick attempts easily.

Early on, Ryan Mangone was sent through by the Broncos' leading scorer, Francesco Furio on the right side, but the junior struck his shot wide to the right.

"You know we really did a lot of terrific things in our attack during that first half," said Barrington coach Scott Steib. "I am really encouraged by what I saw, and despite the fact that we fell off a little after the break, it was a very good effort from both sides of the ball for us."

Just after intermission, Broncos' keeper Jack Deroche made his best stop of the match when he used full extension to pull an Austin Andrekus blast out of the air.

Following regulation, both sides did their best to muster up enough energy to play through a pair of 10-minute extra periods. But it was apparent from early on this match was headed to a shoot-out.

"It was a great week of soccer for us, and, right now, I'd say things are looking up for us after coming into (this) first week not knowing what we really had this season," added Steib.

-- Mike Garofola