Boys soccer: Conant falls in PKs in 3A supersectional
As some were still waiting in line to cast their ballot in the final hour that polls remained open throughout the state of Illinois, both Conant and Lane Tech commenced to make their final pitch for a spot in this weekend's Class 3A Final Four on the Cougars’ Feutz Field home turf Tuesday evening in the Conant supersectional.
However, there was one critical factor that both clubs had to deal with.
That was the need to successfully make their way forward on a rain-soaked pitch that had been covered by an all-day barrage of showers that hit the area earlier that still treated those on the playing surface as well as those in attendance to an early downpour at the start of the contest.
Fortunately for Lane it was able to successfully power their way through a strong challenge by the supersectional hosts to earn a hard-fought 2-1 win (4-3 in penalty kicks) to obtain their first final four berth in school history.
Lane (16-2-4) will face Edwardsville (15-8-1), a 3-2 winner (4-2 on PKs) over Naperville Central (16-5-4) in the Normal supersectional in Friday night's second state semifinal at Hoffman Estates High School.
"It's amazing. Amazing to make history (and) be with everyone in making this experience," Lane Tech junior Goalie Evan Burgess said after his 9-save effort.
After a scoreless first half, Lane got on the board first thanks to a header from senior Benicio Lacerda in the 50th minute for a 1-0 advantage.
The Cougars (14-9-2) would even things up thanks to a goal from senior forward Krystian Nizolek off a pass from junior defender Chase Staniak in the 72nd minute after having had 10 previous attempts at the Lane Tech goal in the half.
This set up the 20 minute extra session in which Cougars netminder Juan Diego Becerril's 9th and 10th saves in the closing seconds sent the contest to penalty kicks.
In the fifth round of PKs, Julian Audinelke successfully connected for Lane while Ibuki Takahashi's game-tyimg attempt sailed over the crossbar sending Lane towards Burgess where he was mobbed as they went into celebration as their captured their 11th straight game.
Conant coach Jason Franco could only give plaudits to his team that was 7-7-2 at one time before going on a 7-1 tear to make it to the round of eight.
"When we looked back at the beginning of the season we would've never thought that we'd be in this game playing on our home field,“ Franco said. ”It was a pleasure to play in front of a big crowd and our boys gave it our all. It was a heck of a high school soccer game."
A sentiment echoed by Nizolek who also scored the Cougars’ third and final penalty kick.
"Heck of a season,“ Nizolek said. ”Very proud of the boys. We figured out our mistakes and we made a wonderful run. It hurts not being able to go to the final four but we left it out on the field."