Metea Valley wins postseason debut

Metea Valley played its first postseason girls soccer game Tuesday night.

Thanks to Jenna Kentgen and Kristina Tomaras, the Mustangs won’t have to wait a year to play another.

Kentgen scored a first-half goal off an assist from Tomaras, then returned the favor in overtime, setting up Tomaras for the historic game-winner to lift first-year program Metea Valley to a 2-1 victory over Lockport in the Class 3A Naperville North Regional semifinals.

The Mustangs (12-9-1), who have no seniors and just five juniors on their roster, will take on Naperville North, which beat Oswego 3-0, in the regional title game.

“It was nice to win because we were really excited for this game,” said Tomaras, a junior midfielder. “Being our first year of varsity ... it is really nice to prove that we won’t lose in the first round of the playoffs. We knew we had to come out here and work hard to prove to everyone that we could do it. We have a lot of talent.”

Kentgen, a fleet-footed freshman forward, started the decisive play when she got the ball in the middle of the field 45 yards out. She quickly looked up and sent a perfect pass to Tomaras streaking unguarded up the right wing. Tomaras took the ball in stride and fired a 17-yard shot inside the left post with 7:51 left in the overtime.

“I actually was surprised she was open,” Kentgen said. “I heard her call for it but I didn’t know if I could get it to her, so I just tried to play it to her.”

Tomaras, who in regulation had missed a shot to the near post, knew what to do with her chance.

“I just saw the run open on the wing and I just took my space and I knew there were only 10 minutes (in the period), so I knew we had to work our hardest for those 10 minutes so we didn’t have to go into the second overtime,” Tomaras said. “The goalie was near post, so I looked far post and just shot it.”

That proved the Mustangs, who are seeded seventh at the brutally tough Waubonsie Valley Sectional, know how to listen to their coach.

“The first 20 minutes our midfield was wide-open and we were taking advantage of the numbers,” Metea Valley coach Pat Feulner said. “And I told them at half, you’ve got to find that open mid again. Well, we found her at the right time.”

Metea had grabbed a 1-0 lead at the 24:19 mark of the first half when Tomaras sent a long lead pass ahead to Kentgen, who sprinted free of the defense and scored on a 20-yard shot to the top shelf.

“She moves really well off the ball and it’s really easy to get it to her because she’s so fast,” Tomaras said of Kentgen. “She just blows by everybody and it’s really nice to have that advantage.”

No. 10 seed Lockport had the advantage in the second half. The Porters (13-6) tied it on a beautiful goal by Lexi Cozzi with 35:18 remaining. A pass from Maddie Lardner sprung Cozzi on a breakaway from 35 yards out.

Metea’s sophomore keeper, Megan Geldernick, played it perfectly, rushing 15 yards off her line, but just as she was about to take the ball away, Cozzi alertly dribbled to her right into space and scored from 12 yards out.

Lockport created several other scoring chances after that, but Geldernick made four of her six saves down the stretch, including a point-blank stop on a volley by Cozzi off a 28-yard free kick from Jessica Liutkus.

“They’re a physical team,” Feulner said. “They were knocking us around. We’ve just got to get a little tougher, a little stronger.

“We knew coming in they had beaten (Naperville) Central, so we knew that they would be on a high coming in and realistically we thought it would be a pretty even game.”

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