MapQuest puts Metea Valley only 4.37 miles from Waubonsie Valley, but the Mustangs’ 2-1 victory Friday in the Class 3A regional championship game hosted by the Warriors was big.
How big?
“This means the world to us seniors and for the program,” Metea tri-captain Alena Sidwell said. “Our first win over Waubonsie and in a regional final. To be able to play so well, it means the world.”
No surprise that word — world — came up again when Madie Sandberg was asked about the game-winning goal she scored with 13:47 left in the second half.
“I’m on top of the world, beating a team this good is our ultimate goal,” Sandberg said. “Now we can aim for a higher goal.”
Metea (14-7-3) has home-field advantage as host of a 3A sectional, with a semifinal game at 6:30 p.m. Tuesday against Plainfield North, which won 1-0 in overtime vs. Naperville Central. The Mustangs were eliminated by Waubonsie the past two seasons and also lost 5-1 to the Warriors on April 21.
That’s now history.
Waubonsie (14-4-3), which finished third in the state last year, was seeking its 18th regional title and eighth in a nine-year span. The Warriors fell short despite a furious final five minutes that saw Metea goalkeeper Amy Ahern and her defensive teammates clear ball after ball to avoid an equalizer.
“Our defense stepped up so much and we had to fight to the very end, so I couldn’t be happier,” Ahern said. “This is a tough rivalry and we had to be very aggressive right to the end. As a keeper, you simply have to psyche yourself up every time the ball comes your way.”
The game might have gone differently if the Warriors could have finished the first major opportunity 10 minutes into the first half. Sarah Laws’ cross to the middle found Sam Stricker, but the shot sailed over the goal.
Sandberg then earned her fourth assist of the season with a pass that enabled Jade Eriksen-Russo to place a 19-yarder from the right side into the upper-left corner.
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“Once I got a touch on it and saw the goalie coming out, I just aimed for the far post,” Eriksen-Russo said of her team-high 21st goal. “Obviously, this one is more satisfying than the previous ones. Our seniors have been working for this their whole careers, so it’s great to help them achieve this dream.”
Ten minutes later, Waubonsie goalkeeper Emma Rigby stopped a blast by Maeve Riordan. Then it was Ahern’s turn to come up big, rushing out to stop a breakaway. At 29:39, Waubonsie’s Sarah Griffith headed home a shot, but the play was erased by an offside ruling.
The second half began with Rigby making a leaping tip save over the crossbar on another Sandberg volley. With 3:07 off the clock, Waubonsie pulled even thanks to Emily Dickens’ cross that Paige Fillipek headed in for her 32nd goal.
Ahern snared a dangerous cross minutes later, and that began a series of back-and-forth attacks by both sides. Sandberg followed with a 21-yard rocket of a shot from the right that sailed over Rigby and under the crossbar for the junior’s fifth goal and first game-winner.
“Honestly someone should get an assist because I got an amazing pass and had space and time get off a good shot,” Sandberg said. “I got really lucky, but it feels good to get this win because we all have so much faith in each other.”
It’s the third regional plaque for Metea, which lost 2-0 to the Warriors in last year’s Naperville North Sectional championship game. The year before, the Warriors were 1-0 winners in a regional final at Metea.
“They couldn’t be a better or more deserving group,” first-year Mustangs coach Christopher Whaley said. “It didn’t take any extra motivation. The seniors wanted nothing less than to beat Waubonsie and all the young girls, and we had many out there, just didn’t know better than to think they couldn’t win.”
Nemeth is a freelance writer.