Boys soccer: Schaumburg wins thriller over Hoffman Estates, advances to sectional title game
Game two of Wednesday's Class 3A Schaumburg sectional doubleheader had a pair of clubs who had gone a combined 43 seasons since their last sectional appearance.
Hoffman Estates last made it in 1992 en route to an Elite Eight berth under Angelo Testone's guidance. The sectional host Saxons were last in the round of 32 in 2015 when current Fremd athletic director Hamid Mehreioskouei managed the program of his prep alma mater.
When it was all said and done, it would take penalty kicks to determine who would earn a ticket to Saturday's sectional final.
And when Schaumburg senior Juan Carlos sent his penalty kick past Hawks goaltender Allain Acevedo it sent the Saxons to a 5-4 win in bonus attempts after the two teams had played to a 2-2 tie after 100 minutes of play.
The win earned No. 7 seed Schaumburg (16-5-3) its first sectional final berth since 2011. The Saxons will return to their home pitch at Gary Scholz Stadium where they will play No. 4 seed West Chicago (16-5-4), a 2-1 winner over top-seeded Leyden (19-4-1) in Wednesday's first semifinal.
Carlos' game winner came after Hoffman's Matias Silva-Colina hit the crossbar on the Hawks’ fifth shot attempt with the squads tied at 4.
"I saw him (Acevedo) dive earlier so I took my time, kept my head up (where) I tried to figure out what side he was going to," Carlos said.
"That helped me determine what side to shoot (the ball) into. It worked out."
Trailing 2-1 after senior Derek Navarro tallied with 90 ticks left in the first extra period, Saxon senior Dominik Skawina found the back of the Hoffman net with 1:44 remaining in the second overtime to send the contest into penalties.
The 11th-seeded Hawks (11-9-3) got on the board first courtesy of a successful indirect free kick by Diego Sequera in the 28th minute which was followed by an equalizer from the Saxons' Joel Rosales two minutes later to make it a 1-all contest at the break.
It stayed that way in the second half despite the Hawks being down a man for the remainder of play when a Hoffman player was disqualified for unsportsmanlike conduct.