The talking heads on sports-talk radio would probably call this an instant classic.
Call it what you will, but Wednesday night’s 3-2 double-overtime boys soccer victory by Libertyville over host Round Lake certainly was a wonderful ending to the 16-year series of North Suburban Conference championship games.
Libertyville (10-3-1) won it with a little more than two minutes left in the second 10-minute overtime on Tucker Goebeler’s second goal of the game. It completed a comeback from a 2-0 deficit.
Round Lake (14-3-0) grabbed an early 2-0 first-half lead on goals by Freddie Ramirez. He scored in the 12th minute and in the 17th minute, the latter coming on a penalty kick. He now has 22 on the season.
But Libertyville regrouped, and Goebeler’s first goal made it 2-1 at halftime. Libertyville got even on Luke Sanderson’s goal with 10 minutes to go in regulation.
Each year since 2000, the winner of the NSC Lake and the NSC Prairie have matched up to crown a true league champion — a game that will no longer put a punctuation mark on the regular season.
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Starting next fall, the NSC Lake simply will be the North Suburban Conference, while the NSC Prairie has split off and will become the North Lake County Conference.
And so, Wednesday was it. The Wildcats and Panthers made sure the series ended in style.
During the 16-year series run, Libertyville was the top team, winning the NSC title five times. Lake Zurich (4), Warren (3), Stevenson (2), Lake Forest (1) and Lakes (1) were the other schools to win league titles. Lakes was the only NSC Prairie team to win, beating Lake Forest 4-0 in 2013.
Round Lake played in the title game six times — all in the past eight years — and lost every time.
The final North Suburban Conference Championship Game in boys soccer was a classic, with Libertyville rallying from a 2-0 deficit to beat Round Lake 3-2 in double overtime Wednesday night.
Girls golf: Libertyville junior Simone Mikaelian shot an 80 to take medalist honors Wednesday at challenging Bittersweet and lead the Wildcats to the team title in the Warren Regional.
The Wildcats shot a four-girl, 18-hole score of 348. Carmel (351) and Warren (372) were the other teams to qualify for next Monday’s sectional at Sportsman’s in Northbrook.
In golf, the top three teams in the regional and the top 10 golfers not on a top-three team advance. The scores of the individual qualifiers ranged from 86-100.
Megan Sturonas of Libertyville shot 81 to finish second, and Warren’s Izzy Cordova and Carmel’s Kayla Ryan each shot 83 to tie for third.
Jennifer Dimitriou was best for Mundelein at Bittersweet with an 86. KiLynn Gold shot 86 to lead Grant, and Hannah Cook shot 92 to lead Antioch.
Boys golf: Tyler Anderson of Carmel shot a 71 at Bittersweet in Gurnee to take medalist honors in the Class 3A Warren Regional.
Lake Forest (309), Mundelein (314) and Warren (320) finished 1-2-3 and qualified for Monday’s sectional at Elliot Golf Course in Rockford.
In addition to the top three teams, also advancing to the sectional were the top 10 scorers not on a qualifying team.
That list included Tyler Anderson, Mike Roy, Jack Herron and Riley Ley of Carmel; Mitch Kenston, George Frangos and Jacob Mueller of Libertyville; Mike Murdy and Mike Sisk of Grayslake Central, and Adam Baker of Grayslake North.
Boys golf: Highland Park shot 293 at Buffalo Grove Golf Club to win a Class 3A regional.
Barrington (295) and Stevenson (296) also qualified for Monday’s sectional in Rockford.
Highland Park’s scorers were Noah Fishbein (70), Ben Udell (71), Ari Herzog (76) and Max Golding (76).
Eric Schaeffer of Fremd was medalist with a 68.
Boys golf: Vernon Hills shot 309 at Nippersink Golf Club in Wisconsin to win the Class 2A regional hosted by Richmond-Burton.
North Shore Country Day (315) and the host Rockets (350) also qualified for Monday’s sectional in Freeport.
Justin Park of Vernon Hills was medalist with a 72.
Among area golfers qualifying for the sectional as individuals were brothers Adam and Ian Nuxoll of Lakes, and Braden Ward and Nick Farino of Antioch.
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News-Sun staff contributed.