April 25, 2024
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Boys soccer: Naperville Central edges Romeoville to win first state title

Josh Weigel scores lone goal in 1-0 victory for Redhawks to capture Class 3A championship

By Chris Walker
John Starks/jstarks@dailyherald.com Romeoville accepts their runner up trophy in the Class 3A championship game of the boys state soccer tournament in Hoffman Estates on Saturday, November 5, 2022.

John Starks/jstarks@dailyherald.com Romeoville accepts their runner up trophy in the Class 3A championship game of the boys state soccer tournament in Hoffman Estates on Saturday, November 5, 2022. (John Starks/John Starks)

HOFFMAN ESTATES – Josh Weigel ran with his teammates toward a large group of Naperville Central faithful and leapt toward the clad-in-white student body with absolute glee.

Weigel scored the lone goal in Saturday night’s 1-0 Class 3A boys soccer state championship against Romeoville at Hoffman Estates High School to provide all the offense the Redhawks needed to capture their first state title.

“It was straight up adrenaline, and I didn’t really know what was going through my mind,” Weigel said. “I just wanted to celebrate the fans who have supported us all year. It was awesome.”

The communication that helped the game-winning play develop may not have been nearly as enjoyable as the end result, but it still captured the attention of coach Troy Adams, who last brought a team to state with 2013′s third-place finisher.

“We talked about communication and Josh [Weigel] calls Sean [O’Reilly’s] name to get the ball back, so we talked about that component,” Adams said. “As a coach, yeah, that championship is unbelievable, but seeing those little pieces that make a season complete, when you’ve talked about something as much as we’ve talked about and see players execute it, it was an awesome goal.”

John Starks/jstarks@dailyherald.com Romeoville’s Joseph Duarte steps on the foot of Naperville Central’s Sean O'Reilly in the Class 3A championship game of the boys state soccer tournament in Hoffman Estates on Saturday, November 5, 2022.

John Starks/jstarks@dailyherald.com Romeoville’s Joseph Duarte steps on the foot of Naperville Central’s Sean O'Reilly in the Class 3A championship game of the boys state soccer tournament in Hoffman Estates on Saturday, November 5, 2022. (John Starks/John Starks)

Weigel was able to get past a defender as well as the goalkeeper to send in the game-winning goal with still 32:46 remaining.

“I think it was a great pass from Sean to play into me,” Weigel said. “I was kind of wide open and all I had to do was go around the goalie to score.”

Romeoville (28-2-1) kept on pressing and was able to create some opportunities but ultimately came up just short of winning the first state title in any sport in school history. Still, the second-place finish is another of the many program records the team is proud to now own.

“We’ve got a record board, and this group of guys broke every single record that we ever had,” Romeoville coach Nick Cirrincione said. “That whole board needs to be changed.”

Naperville Central (26-3-1) had finished as a runner-up three times and also had a third-place finish during their most recent visit in 2013.