Naperville N. wins shootout over Neuqua Valley
Naperville North sophomore Joe Sullivan positioned the soccer ball on the penalty mark, stepped back and then calmly ran forward and struck the ball toward the target he'd already identified.
Sullivan went left and Neuqua Valley goalkeeper Hunter Hollingshead guessed the opposite, giving the No. 2 seed Huskies an exciting 4-3 shootout advantage to break a 1-1, four-overtime tie and lay claim to the Class 3A Naperville North sectional title on Saturday afternoon.
“I was definitely nervous coming up to it,” Sullivan said shortly after emerging from a crowd of students that rushed the field to celebrate with the players. “We were the underdogs, so I didn't feel that much pressure. They were supposed to beat us the whole game, so I had to step up. I was going to put it on frame. If it went in, it went in.”
The tone was set for the shootout when Huskies goalkeeper Kevin Anderson dove left to save the first PK.
“I usually guess in shootouts, but for some reason I knew in my head even before he took the shot he was going that way,” Anderson said. “I got a nice jump and put the hand up.”
Naperville North junior Evan Trychta made the Huskies' first attempt, and then watched as Wildcats senior Nicko Makropoulos' shot was wide of the goal.
“It'd be nice to save another one,” Anderson said, “but now if our shooters just make the rest of them, they can even miss one like Jimmy (Butler) did, and we're fine.”
Max Auden and Lee Grander made their respective shots for the Huskies, while Sammy Al-Qady, Patrick Doody and Will Butler made theirs for No. 1 Neuqua (16-4-3).
Though Hollingshead made a save on North's Butler, all Sullivan had to do was make his shot to clinch.
“He's a killer,” Naperville North coach Jim Konrad said. “As a sophomore, he makes us go. That's a big boy thing to hit the winning PK against Neuqua Valley.”
Naperville North had been just three minutes away from walking out a winner in regulation. The teams went to half tied 0-0 and just 40 seconds into the second half, Huskies junior Austin Maggard hit a long cross from the extreme right, which Trychta dove and headed into goal from a foot off the ground.
“We scored a beautiful goal,” Konrad said. “World class.”
Said Trychta: “What a great ball. I was just trying to stay wide and cut through. The ball got over their outside back and I just dove for it. Usually those are the ones you can get under and just roof it.”
With just less than four minutes remaining in the game, a simple cross, redirected off the head of Jacob Brindle, found the feet of Alex Karkazis with room to shoot. Karkazis' shot got past Anderson, setting up the final theatrics.
With the win the Wildcats (20-2-2) will square off with Lyons Twp. in the Hinsdale Central supersectional to be played Tuesday night at Benedictine University.