Girls soccer: Waubonsie Valley falls in PKs to unbeaten Oswego

Oswego junior goalkeeper Kyla Baier was not flustered when Waubonsie Valley scored what a teammate termed a fluky goal in the final minutes of regulation to force penalty kicks.

Baier is no stranger to PKs.

She is just as adept at deflecting the pressure of those moments as she is turning away the actual shots.

“Sadly, I have had a lot of work with PKs, I’m kind of used to it. Especially with my club in finals and stuff,” Baier said. “Going into PKs the pressure is on the shooter. I have to take a deep breath and play my game.”

She was indeed on her game in those extra moments. Baier turned away all four shots she saw, and visiting Oswego beat Waubonsie Valley 4-2 in the Naperville Invitational game to remain unbeaten.

Waubonsie Valley (7-4) tied it at 2-2 with 2:50 left when Ava Kus converted a score off a corner kick in traffic, the ball hitting the crossbar and landing past the end line.

“It was rolling around the box, bounced one time and I had to slide the ball right in,” Kus said. “My job is to be at the top of the 18, get the rebound. I did my job.”

Oswego’s Jordyn Washington, who scored both of her team’s goals in regulation, had the first penalty kick of extra time knocked away.

She hung her head as she walked away, but was singing a different tune as PKs progressed. Baier knocked away Waubonsie Valley’s first shot and Oswego’s Peyton Johnson converted an attempt that deflected off the goalkeeper, off the post and in.

Oswego’s Mane Brolley easily put her team’s next attempt inside the far left post.

“My teammates, they always pull me out,” Washington said. “Kyla was brilliant. I don’t know how she does it. She does well at keeping her mind on track.”

It did seem that Waubonsie Valley’s kickers felt the pressure late, as Kus’ shot hit the crossbar and the third and fourth attempts went wide left and high without Baier getting a hand on them.

“I saved the first shot, good shot, but I did read the other ones pretty well and guessed every single one the right way,” Baier said. “Happy with myself for that. Takes a lot of practice. It did seem like there was a lot of pressure on them. That’s my job, to keep the pressure on them.”

Oswego (14-0) beat Waubonsie Valley 3-2 on April 13, but the Warriors wasted no time jumping ahead in the rematch.

Isabella Ahlert scored on a cross from Macy Evans barely a minute in.

But Washington was taken down with 21:39 left in the first half and converted the penalty kick. And then she scored the go-ahead goal just under 10 minutes into the second half.

“I think we woke up with that goal that they had in the first few minutes. We countered back,” Washington said. “We knew it would be hard. It’s tough to beat a team for a second time.”

Washington, who scored a combined 51 goals the last two years, showed off her exceptional leg strength on her second goal.

Dribbling right with a defender on her hip, Washington rifled a shot back into the far left corner of the goal. She nearly knocked in a 20-foot shot with her left foot moments later.

“I realized I had nobody to the right, the girl was behind me and I kind of swooped it around and kicked it in,” Washington said of her second goal. “The keeper was off center so she couldn’t reach all the way. I powered in.”

Waubonsie Valley kept the pressure on late, with Kus finally scoring off the second corner kick in the final three minutes.

“It was definitely a tough game, a lot of wind screwed up up our shots but everybody put in the effort,” Kus said. “We were fighting the whole game.”

Oswego, which recorded a program-record 19 wins last year, looks well on its way to eclipsing that mark.

But the Panthers, who have outscored their 14 opponents by a combined 58-9, weren’t surprised to get this kind of challenge.

“Props to Waubonsie Valley, they’re a really good team, they’re our biggest competition yet – but we had to show up and bring our all, no excuses," Baier said. “If we want this we need to play as hard as we can.”