State title shot for Naperville Central
Mike Pavliga stood alone on his island and turned Fremd away.
The Naperville Central junior goalkeeper stopped three Vikings penalty kicks and nearly a fourth as the Redhawks advanced to tonight’s Class 3A boys soccer championship game with a 3-1 win in a penalty-kick shootout Friday night at Lincoln-Way North. Eighty minutes of regulation time and four 10-minute overtimes ended tied 3-3.
“I think you have to have a different mentality to be a goalkeeper,” Redhawks coach Troy Adams said. “You’ve got to have a nothing-can-happen-to-me, nothing-can-go-wrong-type attitude in order to shrug off goals during the game.
“He had the first PK, it went off his fingers. He shrugged it off and came right back and made three great saves. They all were like, he lives for these things, he lives for these things. I said, well, your coach doesn’t live for these things. Could we finish it earlier please?”
Naperville Central (19-4) led 1-0 at halftime on an Adam Hamielec unassisted goal in a half the Redhawks dominated.
They didn’t dominate what turned out to be a roller-coaster second half. Fremd tied the game at 1 in the 49th minute on a Brian Hindle goal. The Redhawks regained the lead in the 69th on a Conner Allen goal, but Fremd again tied it in the 71st when Jeremy Kosacz scored.
Fremd took its only lead in the 74th minute when Hindle was tripped in the Naperville Central penalty area and converted the penalty kick. But this Vikings lead was short-lived also. Jay Tegge’s goal in the 75th minute sent the game to overtime tied at 3.
“For about 10 minutes that was some of the most exciting soccer you’re going to see,” Adams said. “Up and down the field, back and forth, both teams working their tails off. You could just see how generally exhausted both teams were at the end.”
“I knew we had the advantage,” Pavliga said. “In all four overtimes we had the advantage. The offense was playing great, ‘D’ was staying strong in the overtime. We just took it to them and got it done.”
Hindle stepped up first as Pavliga stood by himself 12 paces away and made his PK, but the Vikings never beat Pavliga again. The Redhawks’ Tegge, Mike West and Hamielec each converted their spot kicks.
“Ever since I’ve been young and going into PK shootouts with club, I’ve loved it,” Pavliga said. “I work on PKs a lot, and I read the guy. It’s an insane moment. It’s fantastic.”
The Redhawks advanced to meet Morton in today’s 7 p.m. state final in Frankfort.
“We just have to focus on the game,” Pavliga said. “As our coach says, we haven’t accomplished anything.”