Boys soccer: West Aurora ends Naperville Central's season
From Rashidi Meso's perspective, there was no doubt the ball was going to pierce the net.
The only question was, would it be enough?
It was.
The senior forward's 61st-minute goal propelled the West Aurora boys soccer team to a 2-1 Class 3A sectional semifinal victory over Naperville Central at Lockport.
A very even half played primarily between the gridiron football 20-yard lines came to an end in the 61st, when Meso reared back from about 20 yards out and fired a shot from the right side high and tight, which landed in the left corner of the net, just past Naperville Central junior netminder Caden Redpath. That gave the Blackhawks a 2-1 lead, which turned out to be the final score.
"I run fast, drove it left and kicked it in," Meso said with a satisfied smile, as his Blackhawks advanced to Friday's sectional final against Naperville North, which beat Oswego 3-1 in the earlier semifinal at Lockport. Meso is from Tanzania and in his second season on varsity.
"He's somebody that's a finisher," said West Aurora coach Joe Sustersic, who saw his team improve to 18-4-1. "He's a hard working kid. A great kid."
But Naperville Central wouldn't go away without a fight. Five minutes after Meso's goal, senior forward Roman Krupka nearly scored himself from 20 yards out on the far right sideline. But West Aurora senior goalkeeper Alejandro Barrios was drawn out and made a key save.
Ten minutes later, in the 76th minute, Naperville Central nearly scored again. In a scrum in the front of the West Aurora net, the ball suddenly got loose in front of the goal line, but senior defender Hunter Darukhanavala prevented the equalizer by getting his foot on the ball and clearing it away.
Disaster averted.
"We had to calm every one down; we had to protect the goal at all costs with a 2-1 lead," Darukhanavala said. "They put the ball in, everyone was scrapping around, I saw the ball right there in front and the goal was wide open, so I just had to clear it out of there."
Redpath finished with 6 saves but was particularly effective in the second half, especially after Meso's tally, preventing several shots within range of the net from increasing the Blackhawks' lead.
This was a unique game from the standpoint of a pair of penalty-kick goals in the first 11 minutes, one for each team, and both on handballs in the box. The first was scored by Naperville Central senior midfielder Will Morgan; the second by West Aurora senior midfielder Miguel Magana.
For Naperville Central it was a tough end to a campaign that finished 10-7-5.
"In the playoffs only one team gets to really enjoy the end of the year, and that wasn't us today," Naperville Central coach Troy Adams said. "I told them I'm sad that it ended, but I'm not mad or disappointed that we lost. In the second half I thought we played phenomenal. They got one chance, they happened to score on it. We had a couple and we didn't. Unfortunately, that's soccer."