Boys soccer: Metea Valley ousted on penalty kicks
Metea Valley had a daunting task during Saturday's Class 3A Plainfield North regional championship game against Oswego.
The Mustangs were trying to beat a team that hasn't lost since August, hasn't been shut out in over 50 days and has one of the state's most talented players in Omar Carreno.
And they almost did it, falling in a thriller that had to be decided by penalty kicks after the teams battled to a 1-1 draw after regulation and two overtimes.
Oswego (18-2-2) won the shootout 3-0 to advance to sectional play, winning its first regional in 10 years.
Metea Valley (13-6-2), which was attempting to win a second consecutive regional title, just came up short.
"I'll be abundantly frank, the way we regionally represent in the IHSA makes the value of a regional title different in different places," Mustangs coach Josh Robinson said. "The value in this sectional is huge, and when you win a regional here you've done something, and that's not always the same at other places and is not disparaging anyone else, but it's just a fact."
The Mustangs won 28 games the past two years after just winning four in 2016.
"This group transformed our program," Robinson said. "These guys are going to be iconic in what they've left behind, especially these seniors."
Windy conditions and two strong teams in the midfield and in back made it difficult for either team to create many chances on offense, but the Mustangs were finally rewarded for their efforts with 21:54 left in the game when Shareef Amor scored.
The ball bounced around in the box with Colin Bastianoni and Evan Lang appearing to get touches on it for the Mustangs before it was directed toward Amor who was able to finish.
It was the only thing to get past Oswego goalkeeper Kade Gutierrez, who made his presence known especially later in the shootout.
The Mustangs held on defensively for nearly 75 minutes before Carreno finally made them pay with a perfectly executed header off Anthony Falcone's cross with 5:37 left in regulation.
"We did a tremendous job in this game today and then in one moment (Carreno) had a phenomenal goal," Robinson said. "We did a tremendous job on them, but that's why that kid is so talented and why he's all-state, and that was one of the best goals I've seen all year."
In the second overtime defender Tony Sanchez kept the Mustangs alive with an incredible save of Mason McCaw's shot, sending the game to PKs.
The Mustangs missed their first attempt and Gutierrez made two excellent saves on their next two shots while Oswego made three straight to earn the victory.
"Maybe on a different day we could've beaten them, but hats off to them for taking it today," Metea Valley senior Matthew Berry said. "Obviously, we can't disregard everything that we've done the past two years. We are proud of everyone on this team and we've all grown so much. I'm proud of everyone here."