HUNTLEY – With Elgin and Huntley being strong defensive teams, the squads realized one goal would be enough to win Saturday’s Class 3A Huntley Sectional final.
Regulation, however, ended in a scoreless tie. The score remained unchanged after two extra 10 minutes periods. Huntley finally prevailed during penalty kicks, finding the back of the net four times to Elgin’s one.
The victory on their home pitch earned the Red Raiders their first sectional title in program history.
Huntley (20-2-2) advances to the Streamwood Supersectional on Tuesday with hopes of securing a berth in the state finals. Huntley, seeded first in its own sectional, will face York (20-2-0), also the No. 1 seed in its own sectional.
“We knew going in that we needed one goal. The team that got one goal is going to win this game,” Elgin coach Dave Borg said. “And unfortunately, we didn’t get it.
“We knew that they were going to be a threat attacking, so we knew we had to play some lockdown defense,” Huntley coach Matt Lewandowski said. “We came up with a rotation through our backs to make sure we stayed fresher than them, and I think that was the key – we shut them out of their opportunities.”
Huntley’s Austin Killen started the PK round by getting the ball past Maroon goalkeeper Fhernando Aviles. Elgin responded with an Eduardo Nava score on Huntley keeper Ethan Kornas.
In the next two rounds, Zach Heitkemper and Jackson Bauer successfully challenged Aviles while Kornas blocked shots by Nick Lopez and Alan Sanchez.
In the fourth session, it was keeper versus keeper as Kornas lined up for the attempt and his boot got past Aviles to win the PK round, the match and the sectional plaque for the Red Raiders.
“I was feeling really confident because I was playing well,” Kornas said about his decision to take a PK. “So, if there was a chance the game was in my hands, I’ll take it.”
Elgin (12-4-5) had the run of play in the first half but could not finish its attacks. The Maroons had seven shots on goal in the first 40 minutes. Kornas stopped four, including an open shot on goal by Nava halfway through the period, and three went wide.
“We tried our best. I think every single chance that we had it was always in a positive way,” Elgin’s Isaac Espinosa said. “But they had an amazing goalkeeper.”
“I think in the first half we definitely controlled time of possession and we had more opportunities,” Borg said. “Their goalie was fantastic in the first half. I think any other goalie we would have been up one or two to nothing.”
“They get the ball, they get the lead and keep the ball,” Lewandowski said of Elgin’s game strategy. “Our job was to keep that ball out of the goal and settled into our game.”
The second half saw more even play between the two teams.
“I think in the first half we forced the ball too much in the air in,” Heitkemper said. “We realized it, and in the second half we kept it on the ground. That was the difference.”
“We weren’t going hard to balls in the second half as we did in the first half,” Borg said. “We seemed to be a little bit out of sync.”