Boys soccer: McHenry ousts Jacobs in PKs
There will be indeed an all-Fox Valley Conference showdown Friday for the Class 3A Huntley boys soccer sectional title.
But the revenge Jacobs wanted after losing its outright Fox Valley Conference Valley Division title nearly 2 weeks ago to McHenry will have to wait until next fall.
After a 1-0 penalty kick loss to McHenry in Wednesday's sectional semifinal, it'll be Cary-Grove and the Warriors fighting for those FVC bragging rights, not Jacobs.
For the second time in 11 days Jacobs was stymied by McHenry (18-2-2), which this time needed 100 minutes and 3 penalty shots to finally break a scoreless battle, unlike its previous 2-1 win.
“We put out a good season,” Golden Eagles coach Anthony Cappello said. “We put out a good effort today, we just couldn't get one in the net.”
Kurtis Preis was able to bury his penalty kick in the extra session for Jacobs, but McHenry's 3-1 advantage in PKs — thanks to Luis Beltran, Alexander Lee and Joshua Burr — sent the Golden Eagles home at 17-6.
“We really wanted revenge from the start,” senior Nick Voss said. “We really wanted to dominate and I think we did the entire 80 minutes. Even in the extra time I think we dominated.”
McHenry held an 11-8 shot advantage as the Warriors put 7 shots on goal to Jacobs' 6. But it wasn't as if the Golden Eagles had chances to score as Voss alluded to.
Jacobs for the most part had more chances to score. Sophomore Noah Melick had a shot blocked in the 20th minute near the net and another from about 8 yards out get tipped at the very last possible second by a leaping McHenry keeper Jake King 2 minutes before the half. Kevin Dever's header from point-blank range went wide with 30 minutes remaining and another Melick shot sailed wide 5 minutes later. The forward also put forth a beautiful cross in the 58th minute that went to no avail while he couldn't find a clear seem in the box off Chris Ribgy's feed with 1:30 left in regulation.
“I mean, it's a cruel sport, it comes down to whoever can put it into the net,” Voss said. “We created as many chances as we could get, but we didn't put one in.”
Ethan Pickering had 5 saves in net for the Golden Eagles, including a diving grab to his left near the right post on a rifle by Connor Uhl from 22 yards out with 7:24 left. Pickering made another scramble on a ping-pong attempt by McHenry with 2:52 left in the second overtime, but the offense couldn't validate a well-defended game in the cage.
“We just couldn't get on one in the right way in the final third,” Cappello said. “McHenry defended very well; they're a solid team.”
King (4 saves) stopped Colin Walsh's re-kick to begin PKs. Rigby's shot hit the bar and Daniel Kim's last chance sailed too high.
“We played some great defense today and we knew we had to against them,” McHenry coach Tony Caruso said. “But when we get to PKs, we're confident with Jake in goal that he's going to save at least a couple and not miss more than one.”