Boys soccer roundup: Glenbrook South advances to supersectional past Hersey in PKs

Top seed Hersey saw its long winning streak come to a heartbreaking end Saturday afternoon in its Class 3A sectional final against Glenbrook South at Fremd.

After an intense 100 minutes failed to get any goals, Titans goalkeeper Matthew Kattan made a pair of saves and his teammates bagged their last three penalty kicks to give them a 4-2 advantage.

The Titans (19-4-1) advanced to the Barrington supersectional on Tuesday to face South Elgin (19-3-4) with a spot in the Class 3A semifinals at stake.

"Obviously, the guys are deeply disappointed with this result, as they should be, but I cannot tell you how proud of all of them after the guys played their hearts out for 100 minutes, and through adversity to get this close to advancing one more day," said Hersey coach Mike Rusniak.

The Huskies (18-1-3) lost starting outside back and long throw specialist Matt Mabry to injury midway through the first half, and later all-state midfielder Adam Myslinski.

Despite the setbacks the Huskies managed to enjoy a lot of the play throughout, keeping the Titans’ Henry Stephan and Alex Onysenko under wraps.

Following a pair of 10-minute extra sessions, Huskies all-state goalkeeper Patryk Smakowski made a brilliant save in the second round.

However, PK conversions from Johnny Antoniou, Mateja Dordevic and David Kozakiewicz were not enough as the Titans buried three perfect attempts to move on.

"It was a great game by two great teams that could not be decided any other way than penalties, and I want to give props to (Glenbrook South) and wish them luck from here on out," Rusniak said.

The postseason thrill ride Vernon Hills has enjoyed continued Friday night in Lake Forest when the No. 4 seed Cougars beat Carmel Catholic 2-0 to claim their first sectional title in 10 years.

Isaac Simpson was the Cougars’ hero with two late clutch goals to send his club into the Class 2A supersectional on Monday at Grayslake Central. They will meet Crystal Lake South (16-5-2), which defeated crosstown rival Crystal Lake Central in Rockford to advance.

The Cougars’ one and only appearance in a supersectional was in 2016 when they lost to eventual state champion Chicago Latin 3-2 in overtime at Grayslake North.

"We battled all night long against a real tough Carmel team, and we finally broke things open with our two goals and are now just one win away from going to state," said Simpson, now with a team-best 14 goals on the season.

The No. 10 seed Corsairs were resolute in defense.

"Our plan all along was to defend as best as we could in our end, outwork them with a lot of energy, and a high work rate, and for most of the night that's what we were able to do until they finally broke through with their two goals," said Corsairs coach Colin Spude.

The Corsairs (9-11-4) leaned heavily on senior center back Garryn Thornberry, his back-line teammates and goalkeeper Vincent Fiore, who made a pair of spectacular saves to help keep the Corsairs in the contest.

"Garryn has been an amazing player and leader all season long, while Vincent, who last year was a field player on the JV, is the guy who gave us a chance to win," Spude said.

The first of two saves by Fiore came just moments before halftime, when he turned away a wicked smash.

The Corsairs keeper then made an acrobatic reaction save, elevating high into the air to stop a shot off the foot of Osmar Gomez in the 53rd minute.

The senior was unable to save the first goal from Simpson in the 71st minute created by Connor Finn.

Two minutes later Simpson would double the Cougars advantage with both Finn, and Agam the architects.

"I might have been a little lucky on that first goal (just) being in the right place at the right time, and on the second goal I received the ball and just turned my defender before putting the ball into the net," Simpson said.

"That was a really tough match for us, and all the credit goes to Colin's men, who played just a tremendous game," said Cougars coach Mike McCaulou. "We've told the guys all throughout the season that each one of them is a piece to the Cougars soccer puzzle, and without all the pieces in place, we would not be this far in the playoffs.

"We have 11 seniors and a really tight-knit group of guys who are committed to each other, and an all-state keeper in Maximilian Gral who has been unbelievable all year for us."