McGuinness header gives Lyons state title

The irony was lost on no one.

Star defender Billy McGuinness, the man who made a name for himself by preventing countless goals over the past four years, scored the goal that gave Lyons its first boys soccer state championship Saturday night.

McGuiness dove in front of a corner kick from Zach Pearsall and deflected the ball into the net with his chest with 6:39 left in overtime to give the Lions a pulsating 2-1 victory over Lake Zurich in front of an enthusiastic crowd at North Central College in Naperville.

Pearsall began the play by sending the ball toward the crease to Chris Meingast, who let the ball go through to McGuiness, who somersaulted toward the goal to score for just the fourth time this season.

“It’s kind of ironic, but I love irony so it’s a great feeling,” McGuinness said. “It’s pretty big for me, but for the program, for the team it’s unbelievable. I’m so happy to be able to experience this with all of these guys.”

The Lions (26-3) are glad they had McGuinness, who anchored a defense that gave up only 19 goals this season and held a Lake Zurich offense that had scored 92 times this season to just five shots on goal.

“You really can’t script it better,” said Lyons goalie Sully Fox, who made four saves. “He completely deserves it. Billy has always been ‘The Man’ on this team. For him to get up and attack and make the difference on the offensive end, there’s not another guy I would want to see get the glory like that.”

After neither side mustered a shot in the first half, the two sides treated the crowd to a great display of soccer in the second half. Neither team had appeared in the championship match before but both deserved to win.

The Lions struck first when Horacio Sanchez ripped a 35-yard shot inside the right post with 28:30 left in regulation. It was the 14th goal of the season for Sanchez, who scored in six of his team’s seven playoff games.

But the Bears (21-5) didn’t go quietly. Tim Kreutz hit the crossbar two minutes later and Lake Zurich tied the game 1-1 at the 20:58 mark when Eric Pothast headed a Kreutz throw-in off the underside of the bar for his 13th goal.

But the Bears were not able to get anything else past the wall of McGuinness, Meingast and Dan Wielgos.

“[The Bears] are a handful,” LT coach Paul Labbato said. “They’re as good as anyone in the state but we knew [the Lions] could take care of themselves. It’s so appropriate that Billy is able to do this for us. It’s a testament to what a great player he is.”

In the third place match, 2008 champion New Trier (19-7-3) received goals from Gavin Craig and Ben Beaver to beat Edwardsville 2-1 in a rematch of last year’s title game. Beaver, who assisted on Craig’s goal, converted a penalty kick with 34:08 left in the second half for his 13th goal of the playoffs and 40th of the season.

“Third place for us is an amazing accomplishment,” said Beaver, one of only three returning starters for New Trier. “At the beginning of the year we didn’t think we were going to get down here. Once we lost [Friday] night we knew we wanted to go out on a win and we were going to do whatever it took to get that win.”

Cameron Lauchner scored with 1:10 left for the Tigers (18-5-4).