1A regional boys soccer: Serena scores in final minute to slip past DePue-Hall in semifinal

SERENA - It looked as if Thursday’s Class 1A regional boys soccer semifinal between No. 5-seeded DePue-Hall and No. 4-seeded Serena was going to need extra time to decide a winner as the clock ticked under a minute to play tied at a goal apiece.

However, a Huskers’ clear from their defensive third found a streaking Carson Baker with a step on his defender on the left wing. Baker then sent a crossing pass to the center of the field at the top of the box, and Tanner Faivre beat Little Giants’ keeper Juan Raya to the ball.

Faivre chipped the ball over a sliding Raya and tapped it into an open net with 53.5 seconds remaining to score what proved to be the game-winning tally in a 2-1 victory.

Serena (14-5-1) will now take on top-seeded Mendota (20-0) at 4 p.m. Friday in the championship, the Huskers last regional title coming in 2015. DePue-Hall, which had split its two previous meetings with the Huskers this season, finishes 8-16-1.

“Tanner fought his butt off the whole game. It was nice to see him get rewarded for his hard work today,” said Serena coach Dean DeRango, his team trailing 1-0 with just under 30 minutes to play. “We just had to keep battling. We were getting some good chances, but unlike the first half we started to put those on net.”

The evenly matched squads played to a scoreless tie in the opening 40 minutes, with D-H having medium-ranged shots by Francisco Moreno and Nathan Harrison go just wide, and a another short blast by Moreno deflect off Serena keeper Ben Shugrue’s hands and off the post.

“We played really well, but just made a couple of defensive mistakes,” said DePue-Hall coach Martin Moreno. “I feel like we are two pretty even teams, and we had played them twice already this season and each of us had won one. Today they were just a little bit better.

“Both teams had a number of pretty good chances throughout the game. Serena has a couple of really fast forwards, but other than on the goals they scored, I thought we did a good job of keeping up with them.

“It is always tough when a season finally ends, but the kids played hard to the end.”

Each side had a pair of good scoring chances in the first 10 minutes of the second half, but with 29:29 on the clock the Little Giants took the lead when senior Jimmy Nugnes 15-yard low shot off a perfect assist from sophomore Francisco Moreno found the back of the net.

Serena knotted things up nearly 10 minutes later when Cam Figgins tracked down a high-bouncing punt from Shugrue and one-timed the second hop into the lower right corner.

The game statistics had each club with 21 total shots, DePue-Hall holding a 15-9 margin in shots on target. Shugrue recorded 14 saves, while Raya posted seven stops.

“DePue-Hall always seemed to have nine guys back on defense, especially when we would cross midfield,” said DeRango. “It seemed they had a defensive game plan and then were picking times to be aggressive on offense.

“We needed to realize that going through the center of the field wasn’t the best option. We needed to chip the ball to the wings, take the ball to the corners and then cross it. We did way too much dribbling and way too much dribbling in the center of the field where all the defenders were.

“But it’s always nice to win regional games, and hopefully we can find a way to get another one tomorrow.”