Boys soccer: Late penalty kick sends state-bound York past Huntley
York kept applying pressure the entire game and Huntley's defense, whether it was defenders blocking balls before they got to goalkeeper Ethan Kornas or Kornas knocking shots away, remained solid.
The Dukes finally got the chance they were looking for with 8:59 remaining in a game with a tied score.
Forward Kevin Gliatis made a run into the goal box and was awarded a penalty kick.
Sam Musial booted that one in, and less than a minute later, Kacper Janowski headed in a direct kick from Ryder Kohl and the Dukes had a 3-1 victory in the Class 3A Streamwood boys soccer supersectional Tuesday night at Millennium Field.
York (21-2) takes on Lockport at 5 p.m. Friday in Hoffman Estates in the first Class 3A semifinal. Lockport rallied from a 2-0 second-half deficit to beat Collinsville, 3-2 in double overtime.
“You're not always looking for a PK, but that's one of those pressure-in-time things,” said York coach Jordan Stopka, who will take the Dukes to state for the first time. “Eventually, something's going to happen, something's going to cave. You just need that one opportunity to take care of business and they did.”
Gliatis looked right away at Musial, one of the team's captains, to take the penalty kick. Musial, a right-footed kicker, pushed the ball to Kornas' left into the goal.
“Kevin made a super, direct run and won us the penalty,” Musial said. “Every practice we each take two penalty kicks. We've been working on it. Kevin said, ‘I want you to have it.' I was ready. I would have been happy with anyone from that spot.”
Huntley disagreed with the call, thinking the Red Raiders' defender had tapped the ball away, but a foul was called.
“(York) came in with a good plan. They pulled us out of our six and we didn't adjust quickly enough,” Red Raiders coach Matt Lewandowski said. “That's the first time we've ever been pulled out of our game plan like that.
“To have the game decided on that (penalty kick) is unfortunate. A goofy couple of minutes happened and that's what shot us in the foot. In the postseason anything can happen.”
Huntley (20-3-2) scored with 26:53 remaining in the first half when Zach Heitkemper hit a direct kick from 50 yards out that Austin Killen headed in. It was Huntley's only shot on goal of the first half.
Jose Herrera scored 10 minutes later to tie it at 1-1.
“It was a beautiful ball from my friend Joe Hernandez and I have to finish it,” Herrera said. “We stayed motivated. We took over the mid and once we did that we were able to pressure them and take over the game.”
Still, Kornas, who had eight saves, and the Raiders kept it tied until late.
“I think that's the best team on the field that we've played,” Heitkemper said. “They played as a team and kept their composure. They connected on their passes, they kept the ball. I was thinking, ‘How can we find a way to score?' like we've been doing all year.”
The Fox Valley Conference champion Raiders could not find a way.
“They were stout defensively, they played very well,” Stopka said. “We wanted to play with the ball at our feet. We've played some teams that took that away from us. Huntley kind of agreed they wanted to play with the ball on the ground and that's where we excel. I'm glad we had that opportunity to play the way that we play.”