Leyden beats Geneva in PKs
It suddenly felt like 1992 all over again for Leyden boys soccer coach Mark Valintis.
Valintis was on an Addison Trail team 18 years ago that went undefeated until it lost on penalty kicks in the state quarterfinals.
On Tuesday in the Class 3A Schaumburg sectional semifinals, Leyden needed penalty kicks to beat Geneva as the two teams were scoreless after regulation and four overtimes.
This time, Valintis was on the winning end, as Juan Carlos Duarte netted the game-winning penalty kick after the two teams both went 2-of-5 in the first round of penalty kicks. With the 1-0 victory, top-seeded Leyden moves on to Friday's 6 p.m. sectional championship game against Bartlett, a 2-1 OT winner against Elk Grove.
“Geneva didn't deserve to lose and I'm not sure we deserved to win but when it comes down to penalty kicks someone has to advance,” Valintis said. “Unfortunately it had to get to that point.”
In its only other game decided by penalty kicks this season, Leyden lost 5-4 to Morton.
Geneva's Robbie Johnson and Brian Ruane and Leyden's Fernando Camacho and Juan Recendez converted their penalty kicks in the shootout, but after Leyden's Oscar Ortiz misfired high, the teams moved onto sudden victory.
After both teams connected on their first attempt and then came up empty on their second attempt, Geneva's Mike Henriksen's shot was too high, setting up Duarte for the game-winner.
“If you can only make 3 out of 8 penalty kicks then you're not going to do anything in overtime, that's for sure,” Geneva coach Ryan Estabrook said. “The pressure got to us maybe, and we just didn't connect right there.”
Geneva (13-10-1) created more opportunities in the first half than Leyden but couldn't figure out how to slip one past the Eagles defense and keeper Marco Granda.
“I think we controlled the action for most of the game,” Estabrook said. “Leyden had the better chances during the game and (keeper) Steven Soderstrom came up in big in the regulation with the two really big saves.”
Leyden (18-3-2) took advantage of having the wind at its back to control the tempo for most of the second half, but it didn't result in any conversions.
“It was pretty even and back and forth,” Valintis said. “I thought (Geneva) might have a little letdown because they didn't score in the first half, and we had a few good chances but that (Johnson) cleaned up everything and their goalie made an outstanding save but didn't have to make too many more.”
The Vikings were without Craig Hancock for the overtimes as he suffered a concussion while Seamus Kaminski received a red card. Both players likely would've improved the team's chances in the shootout.
It also proved to be the final game for Hancock, Kaminski and nine other Vikings.
“It's always tough to go out and this a nice group for us,” Estabrook said. “They did a lot for our program and they'll be remembered for all the positives, that's for sure.”