Wildcats lose state championship in third OT
Neuqua Valley senior soccer player Bret Hruby and his team had a season that stuck to the script all season -- until the final act.
It was pretty much a season you dream of," Hruby said. "But it would have been better if we won, of course."
The Wildcats (24-2-4) lost to Barrington 2-1 in Saturday night's Class AA title game in Naperville on a Ryan Nolan goal in the game's third overtime period.
Neuqua Valley trailed 1-0 at halftime, tied the game on a Bryan Ciesiulka goal in the second half, and then struggled to convert on their scoring chances in the face of a strong, physical effort by Barrington (25-2).
"It's just one of those things. It's a low-scoring game, and if you're a little bit off in your shooting, you can't put the game away," said Wildcats coach Jim Johns.
Francesco Furio put Barrington up 1-0 in the 24th minute with a head shot goal from 7 yards out. Neuqua Valley pressed hard for a tying goal to halftime and came out hard to start the second half.
Ian Krol hit a post in the 45th minute, and Bryan Gaul sent a long shot just high in the 50th, before Ciesiulka scored from 3 yards out in the 53rd minute on an assist from Hruby.
The Wildcats lost a chance to take a 2-1 lead in the 75th minute when Barrington goalkeeper Tom Unak saved a penalty kick. The Wildcats blistered a shot off the crossbar in the first overtime period and ripped another good chance just wide of net just prior to the start of the third overtime.
"We were getting shots off left and right. We just couldn't finish," Hruby said. "I think we had better possession, and we had more shots. It was just one of those games."
Ultimately, the Wildcats earned a 16-5 edge in shots on net and a 27-17 edge in shots overall on the night.
Barrington won the state title in the game's 106th minute, when Cameron Reilly sent in a free kick from the right side, and Nolan headed it home to give his program its first state title in boys soccer.
"They had a free kick there, and they managed to put it away," Johns said. "We did everything we could, but we just couldn't get the second goal."
Hruby played with a broken nose suffered in Saturday morning's semifinal win over Rockford Boylan and led the Wildcats in scoring with 26 goals this season, including a hat trick in Friday's quarterfinal win over Champaign Centennial.
The Wildcats will graduate a strong core of starting seniors in Hruby, Gaul, Paul Box, Tanner Fink, Asa Carson and Bo Miller.