There is no good way to lose in the playoffs.
Senior goalkeeper Abbey Brown and her Huntley teammates made possibly the most agonizing type of exit.
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The Red Raiders saw a 2-1 lead vanish with 1:19 left in regulation Friday, and then surrendered a lead in the ensuing penalty-kick shootout for a 3-2 loss to Hononegah in the championship game of the Class 3A Huntley Sectional.
“You just can’t think about the what ifs,” Brown said. “You just think that you put your best out there and did everything you could for you team.”
Huntley (10-8-2) got goals from Brenna Keegan and Tayah Owens in regulation, then received a big save by Brown in penalty kicks, but lost 4-2 to Hononegah (13-9) in the shootout to conclude a game held entirely in a downpour.
“I have no words right now,” Keegan said. “We knew we had to keep up the intensity and keep working hard. It just didn’t go in our favor.”
When Brown stopped the first shootout attempt after a scoreless overtime, a fourth straight sectional title by Huntley seemed entirely possible.
“You’re not expected to save anything in a shootout, so I guess that gives me a little bit of sanity,” Brown said.
Keegan and Owens scored for Huntley in the shootout, but Hononegah’s Alyssa Darling went on to stop two shootout attempts and then kicked in the clinching goal herself.
“It’s a growing experience,” Huntley coach Kris Grabner said. “That’s what it is.”
Huntley had only five seniors on a roster of 21. Inexperience may have been a factor after taking a 2-1 lead on Keegan’s rebound goal with eight minutes remaining.
“Our age came out a little bit,” Grabner said. “We’re young, we’re inexperienced. Because of that we tend to shut down every once in a while just for a split second.”
Hononegah ran a perfect play to set up a cross to Claire Miller for her second goal with 1:19 left to for the tie. Hononegah then had a goal wiped out by offsides in the overtime.
The shootout finish ended a comeback year for Brown, who plans to attend Dominican. She suffered an ACL tear last year in basketball and could only watch as the Red Raiders finished fourth in the state in soccer.
“It’s been more fun than anything, just being able to play with everyone again after sitting out last year,” Brown said. “That was horrible.”
Grabner called Brown a leader and lauded the efforts of fellow seniors Owens and Lauren Talesky.
Brown won’t be surprised to see Huntley back in a sectional or beyond next year.
“They have a lot of potential for following years and they’re very young and very talented,” Brown said. “I definitely saw improvements in every single one of them.”
Twitter @genechamberlai2