As the final seconds ticked off the clock Tuesday night, junior forward Tyra King came up with a plan.
She was going to seek out her older sister, Justyce, and do some celebrating for Metea Valley.
“Yeah, she was doing so good and I just wanted to celebrate with her,” King said. “And I kind of caught her off guard.”
Yes, she did.
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As the Mustangs ran toward midfield in jubilation following their historic 4-1 victory over host Naperville Central, the King sisters collided with each other.
Justyce, a senior defender, ended up on the turf.
“She just tackled me,” Justyce said. “We’re so happy.
“We’re sisters, we love playing with each other, so we got to celebrate with each other. This is my last year playing with her, so we’ve got to cherish every moment.”
This also was a moment to cherish for the Mustangs (14-2-1, 5-0), who clinched their first DVC title, accomplishing the rare feat of beating Naperville North, Naperville Central, Waubonsie Valley and Neuqua Valley in the same season.
Tyra King scored two goals, including the winner. Junior forward Jordan Lange added two goals and an assist for Metea, which remained unbeaten against Illinois opponents.
“We’re playing in one of the hardest conferences, and winning conference, especially with my sister by my side, meant a lot,” King said. “It’s definitely going to be a moment I will cherish and remember for a long time.”
Metea dominated Naperville Central (14-2-1, 3-1-1) throughout. Tyra King tallied her 14th and 15th goals to give the Mustangs a 3-0 halftime lead.
Her first strike came at the 33:53 mark when she snuck behind the defense to receive Kaylee Bannack‘s long free kick and scored on a wide-open shot.
“I feel like it definitely did set the tone,” Tyra said. “It kind of gave us leeway to go for more and more goals. If you have one, you know you can get another one and another one.”
That’s exactly what happened.
Lange raced up the middle and scored on a breakaway nine minutes later, then set up Metea’s third goal with cross from the right corner to King, who one-timed a short volley inside the right post with 5:25 left.
“We have good chemistry, we connect really well and we’re dangerous up there,” Tyra said. “It definitely causes problems.”
Indeed, the Redhawks had all sorts of problems.
The final margin would have been much worse if not for senior goalkeeper Abby O’Connor, who made eight saves, including several incredible stops on Lange, Tyra King and sophomore forward Lucy Burk.
Northwestern-bound Megan Norkett converted a penalty kick to pull the Redhawks within 3-1 with 37:23 to go in the second half, but Lange buried a rebound for her 13th goal at the 11:52 mark.
The Redhawks had only one shot on goal in the run of play. Justyce King and Northern Michigan-bound senior Addison Wargo made sure of that, blocking three rockets in the first half.
“It’s all about mentality,” Justyce said. “We didn’t want them to score, so we tried our hardest to make sure that they didn’t get past us.”
The Mustangs and Redhawks could meet again on the same field in a sectional semifinal on May 24, but Metea coach Chris Whaley
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wanted to just savor this win.“They took it to us last year, so it feels good to get them this year,” Whaley said. “There is an argument that this could be the toughest conference in the state and we just won it.”
Justyce King is determined it won’t be the last win.
“We’ve got to work hard, keep playing how we’re playing,” she said. “This is just the beginning.”
Matt Le Cren is a freelance reporter for the Naperville Sun.