Cinderella run ends

Where you stand as to whether or not Victor Zamora fouled a St. Charles North defender in the third overtime on Tuesday will forever rest with the school colors you favor.

Green-wearing Boylan fans found much to cheer about as Zamora first spun out of the collision in the corner and then buried the game-winning shot with 3:17 remaining in a 2-1 Titans victory over St. Charles North in the Class 3A Barrington Supersectional.

St. Charles North and its fans will always see that same incident a little differently.

"We've got the same foul called on the other end on us with (Luis) Ramirez," St. Charles North coach Eric Willson said. "I thought it was pretty apparent. My guy's jersey's ripped. I thought it was garbage, plain and simple."

St. Charles North (14-9-2) came close to advancing to Friday's semifinals. The North Stars nearly scored through Ramirez in the first half when Ramirez had the ball and the goalkeeper beaten when he came well out of his penalty area. Ramirez shot from 25 yards but just missed the net.

Ramirez' redemption came at almost the midpoint of the second half. The senior ripped a shot from 40 yards that went over the Boyan goalie's head and into the net.

"It was unfortunate that I couldn't put the other one in the back of the net," Ramirez said. "I thought we were going to push through and get a win. It's unfortunate what happened."

Ramirez said he saw some space over the goalkeeper - who was off his goal line - when he hit his goal.

"I chested it and hit it with everything I could hit it with," Ramirez said. "Yeah, I saw a little space and went for it."

The lead lasted just over 3 minutes. Boylan got the tying goal with 17 minutes to play from a Rocco Taglia penalty kick. The PK was called after Travis Haug was barged over in the penalty area.

Neither team created many scoring chances through the 80 minutes of regulation play. Boylan was always dangerous with its long throw-ins and long free kicks. St. Charles North, with more limited opportunities, still came close to scoring as well.

The match was played at a tremendous pace. Boylan used lightning attacks on both wings to stretch the North Stars, who then frequently broke the other direction.

"Boylan's a great team," St. Charles North senior Kyle Joss said.

The first overtime went by largely without incident. Haug had two superb scoring chances 4 minutes into the second overtime. First he blasted a shot over the crossbar. Then he hit a curling shot from left-to-right that just missed the right post.

One minute before Zamora won the game, St. Charles North nearly ended the match when Brandon Bautista hit the post.

Then Zamora, a freshman, notched his 19th goal of the season and the match ended.

"I don't think that we played a great game," Willson said. "But for a game to end like that and a season to end like that - for guys who played so hard - I think that's pretty poor."