Girls soccer: Waubonsie Valley drops overtime heartbreaker in regional semifinals
Jordyn Washington watched in disbelief as the 2-0 lead she helped to establish with a goal and an assist in the first half of Oswego‘s regional semifinal against Waubonsie Valley morphed into a 2-2 tie with 30 minutes left to play in regulation.
Washington, who leads the team with over 20 goals, knew that at some point down the line the fate of the game – and the Panthers’ season – would rest at her feet.
And sure enough, it did.
About 90 seconds into the second overtime period, Washington netted the game-winner of a 3-2 final after collecting a pass in the middle of the box from Gianna Rizzo that missed its intended target.
“I was really thrilled and hyped,” Washington said. “We kind of buffered a little bit, but we came back in the end.”
Oswego (20-4-1) dominated the first half, outshooting the Warriors 21-2 through the first 40 minutes of play.
After 15 unsuccessful shots from the Oswego offense, the Panthers finally found the back of the net in the 27th minute. Washington broke through on her seventh shot of the afternoon, giving the Panthers a 1-0 lead.
Six minutes later, Washington got involved again, this time feeding a nice pass to Mane Brolley who was able to knock it home for Oswego’s second goal of the match.
“We try to come out and score as many goals as possible,” Washington said. “We also look for the best shot. All those 40 shots are good ones.”
The Panthers outshot the Warriors 47-10 on the afternoon, but the large gap in scoring chances did not phase the Warriors in the second half.
Waubonsie (5-10-6) found its stride thanks to the outstanding play of senior attacker Katie Chapman. She scored in the 44th and 51st minutes to even the match at 2-apiece.
Both of Chapman’s goals came from set pieces initiated by McKinley Ladd, who claimed two assists on the day.
“They showed up, and they fought,” Waubonsie Valley coach Julie Bergstrom said. “I’m really proud of them for fighting back.
“There was nothing special we said. That’s on them.”
With just under 30 minutes to play in regulation, both teams scrambled to score the go-ahead goal. Both had their fair share of opportunities down the stretch, including Washington who saw a scoring chance go to the wayside after a sprawling slide tackle by Waubonsie’s Chloe Shaffer.
The Warriors had a good chance of their own with about 16 minutes left. Chapman was on a breakaway and found herself one-on-one with the Oswego goalkeeper, but a mishandled touch quickly ended the threat.
With 10 seconds left, Oswego was amid a last-ditch effort to win the game in regulation. A loose ball slipped off the foot of a Waubonsie defender and into the possession of Aubrey Elrich, but her shot spun wide to the left, and the match went into overtime.
“Giving up those two fouls and those two set plays affected us mentally,” Oswego coach Gaspar Arias said. “We had this and it was like, ‘What happened?’ ”
Oswego’s offensive aggressiveness remained in the first overtime period. The Panthers fired off three shots in the 10-minute period, two of which ended up being on goal. However, none of the scoring chances bore fruit thanks to great efforts from the Warriors goalkeeper Charlee Vanderwatt.
Vanderwatt faced 21 shots on goal and saved 18 of them, including a full-extension diving save in overtime.
“Charlee played great,” Bergstrom said. “She kept us in the game, and she stepped up.”
The Panthers, after 58 minutes without a goal, finally broke the streak with Washington’s game-winner 90 seconds into the second overtime period.
“We were looking a bit saddened, but it wasn’t like it was over,” Washington said about the team’s conversation before overtime. “We had to stay mentally locked in.”
With the win, the Panthers advance to the regional championship match against Naperville North, a team the Panthers lost to on penalty kicks earlier this season.
“I’m excited. It will definitely be different now that we are on grass instead of turf,” Washington said. “We’ll play our game, and hopefully we do great.”