Boys soccer: Stevenson stuns Barrington with late goal, then wins in PKs; Glenbrook North ousts Hersey
Stevenson (14-4-2) advanced into the sectional final Saturday morning after its dramatic victory in penalty kicks over Barrington Wednesday night at Roland Goins Stadium in Arlington Heights.
In a stunning turn of events, the Patriots would strike the equalizer in the 100th minute and then find their way through in penalties, outscoring the Broncos 4-3 with keeper Matthew Rutcosky saving two to help his club stay alive.
"It was a wild ending for us, but coach (PepeJon Chavez) always tell us to believe, and it happened for us tonight," said Rutcosky.
Next up for the Patriots on Saturday at 11 a.m. will be top-seed Glenbrook North (18-2-3) who used a pair of second-half goals from Jackson Lee and Manny Salto to defeat sectional host Hersey, 2-0, to dash the hopes of the Huskies of a possible return to the state tournament.
"We just did not have it today. There wasn't the kind of energy we needed to compete with such a talented and well coached team like Glenbrook North, and it was a big difference today," said Huskies coach Mike Rusniak.
The Spartans would avenge their loss a year ago to the Huskies (16-8-2) in a sectional final. In doing so, they gave coach Paul Vignocchi his 300th career victory.
"I'm proud of the effort from our guys today. It's been a great 21 years for me at Glenbrook North, a place that I feel very fortunate to have started my career," said Vignocchi.
In the Barrington (14-5-5) semifinal vs. Stevenson, it would be a non-stop, high energy contest that had a little bit of everything for the big crowd on hand, but one in which it took 93 minutes before the opener would be struck.
Reid Peterson would keep the ball alive deep inside the Patriots end, long enough for teammate Hamza Sarraj to collect and turn before steering in his close-range effort past a diving Rutcosky.
Sarraj was given a red card for excessive celebrating immediately following his goal.
The Broncos did a good job of managing their one-goal advantage, and appeared on their way to a thrilling victory until a long throw from Cole Dirks found its way to the back post where the ever present Navaan Kistanna smashed in the equalizer with just 3.9 seconds left.
The referee, after a long discussion with both of his assistants, would issue straight red cards to both Kistanna and Brady Brunner for excessive celebrating, and will be unavailable for the final with Glenbrook North.
This affair would be settled when a quarter of Patriots were perfect in the spot-kicks, including Daniel Pryor, who sent his attempt just inside the near post to give the Patriots a 4-3 advantage, and the victory.
"This is a team that has not given up all season, so there was never any doubt we would advance because of our grit, heart, and ability to give 110%," said Patriots center-back Cole Dirks.
"We've come a long way from where we started, and to say how proud I am of this group is an understatement. And although we all wanted to keep a good thing going, we just were not able to do so, but not because of a lack of effort and heart tonight," said Broncos coach Scott Steib, who retire at the end of the 2025-2026 school year after 27 magnificent years in charge of the program, and 426 victories.