Girls soccer: Neuqua Valley prevails over Waubonsie Valley
Friday's Class 3A Neuqua Valley girls soccer regional final was a game where there weren't a lot of scoring opportunities for either team close to the net.
If a team wanted this game, it needed to make the most of its scoring chances further away. That squad was Neuqua, which prevailed 2-1.
With 26:43 left in the first half, Wildcats senior Rachel Ehrman booted a 20-yard shot that went high into the net for what turned out to be the winning score.
"In the beginning I didn't think it would go in. Then I saw it float a little more and I thought it might be able to get in," Ehrman said.
The win advanced Neuqua (8-9-2) to a Class 3A Metea Valley sectional semifinal at 5 p.m. Tuesday against top-seeded and top-ranked Naperville North.
Neuqua coach Joe Moreau said a team has to adjust if it can't attack up close.
"Both teams have players that can make it from 25 yards out, and if they're open they need to hit it. Rachel hit a rocket in the first half and I was happy how we had worked the ball around very well," he said.
The Wildcats, seeded sixth in their sectional, were parked in the Waubonsie third early in the first half, but the fourth-seeded Warriors (11-8-1) started getting their chances. Neither squad was getting close to the net very often. Neuqua edged Waubonsie in shots on goal for the first half, 6-5.
Just 3:39 into the second half, Neuqua made it 2-0 on Alyssa Bombacino's penalty kick as a result of a Warriors handball in the penalty box.
Waubonsie junior Sarah Griffith had shown some strong ballhandling, getting between and around the Neuqua defenders throughout the first half and just under halfway into the final 40 minutes. Her efforts paid off on a direct free kick and her 25-yard shot made a home high in the net with 23:26 left in the game.
"I think we had momentum and confidence the whole game. We just didn't get the outcome we wanted," Griffith said.
Like Neuqua, she said a player on the pitch Friday had to adjust to the type of game being played.
"You needed to keep your head up and if you are not going to get in front of the goal, get on runs and if can take a shot, take it," she said.
Griffith and 25 other players will return in 2017 from a Waubonsie roster this spring that had just four seniors but 19 freshmen and sophomores.
"Our freshmen and sophomores did awesome. They held their own," Griffith said.
Waubonsie was awarded two more direct free kicks after Griffith's goal with one resulting shot going over the net and one that was saved by Neuqua goalkeeper Yanel Ortiz, who finished with 8 saves.
"We just need to be ready and have the same intensity as we've had the last two games," Ortiz said of Tuesday's sectional semifinal.
Waubonsie goalie Sarah Young, a sophomore, finished with 10 saves.