AURORA — Tyra King is well aware that her time playing soccer for Metea Valley is running out.
Such an observation from the senior forward seemingly inspired her to new greatness as she scored four times to lead the Mustangs to a 4-2 victory over Lockport in Tuesday’s Class 3A East Aurora Sectional semifinal.
Metea Valley (19-0-3) will take on Plainfield North (22-1-2) in Friday’s sectional championship. The Tigers jumped on Naperville North (13-6-1) early in the second semifinal in a 5-2 victory.
The Mustangs and Tigers played to a 2-2 tie on March 21.
“I’ve just been coming out with a lot of energy and just the motivation to play because it is my last year,” King said. “Working hard and putting in the extra effort has helped a lot.”
Lockport (21-3-1) rallied back from a pair of first half goals from King to tie the game at 2-2 after a goal from senior Bella Diorio, a player that King knows well since the two are teammates with the Eclipse club.
King didn’t allow Diorio much time to celebrate netting the equalizer as she blasted in her third goal of the night just 90 seconds later to give the Mustangs the lead again, and this time for good.
“I just didn’t want this to be my last game,” King said. “So I was trying as hard as I could to get another goal and get us ahead. I was just pushing hard and putting in as much effort as I could.”
King wrapped up her brilliant night with an insurance goal with 6:35 left, taking a ball from junior Kyleigh Jannisch and finishing it for the 22nd time this spring.
“At the beginning of the year I could see myself passing it more,” King said. “But in a game like this when you’ve got to win to keep on playing, I know I have to do whatever it takes and do whatever I can.”
Lucy Burk, Madison Wigfield and Alyssa Parrilli added assists for the Mustangs while Alyssa Gluting came up with nine saves.
Plainfield North 5, Naperville North 2
In the second semifinal, Plainfield North senior Mia Davis screamed about 7 minutes into the action.
Davis blasted in a 30-yard bullet to give the Tigers an early 1-0 lead over the Huskies and it was just the start of a terrific first half that saw Plainfield North take a 3-0 lead into halftime.
“That was very exciting,” she said. “I’ve never screamed that loud in my entire life.”
Davis would send in a corner kick which would escape a crowded box and land in the back of the net for a 2-0 lead with still 27:48 to play in the half.
Tessa Fagerson’s header from a corner kick from fellow senior Gabriella Mattio with 15:52 remaining before halftime made it 3-0.
“The only frustration in the first half was letting in, uncharacteristically, two restarts, because outside of that, it’s 1-0 if you’re playing that, but they deserved to be ahead,” Huskies coach Steve Goletz said. “They got all the pieces all over the field and they sub in kids who are not only super athletic, but very good soccer-wise and defensively.”
Goletz challenged his kids at halftime. It paid off immediately with two quick goals from Abby Penn and Reagan O’Malley in the first eight minutes. Suddenly, at 3-2, things became a lot more interesting and there was still 32:15 left to play.
“I challenged them,” he said. “It’s an amazing group. It’s a group that lit a fire under me and if you can make kids believe and make them better over the course of the year, I mean, this group did that and it’s because of the seniors and their willingness to lead and the underclassmen buying into the culture of the program.”
In need of something big to recapture the momentum that the Huskies had suddenly stolen, the Tigers turned to another one of their seniors, Alex Tetteh.
“We were kind of a little flat-footed and they got two on us, but then something came over me. I got amped up.”
— Alex Tetteh, Plainfield North senior
“We were kind of a little flat-footed and they got two on us, but then something came over me,” she said. “I got amped up. I turned on the jets and got past (a defender) and the goalie slid over which left it open for me and I put it in.”
The Tigers held their own the rest of the game while getting an insurance goal from Grace Roche with 9:50 left to all but seal the victory.
“We kind of underestimated them a little bit and they had momentum for the first 15 minutes (of the second half),” Tetteh said. “Once I got that goal, it switched to our side and we ran with that.”