Frenzy of goals leads Libertyville

Updated: March 22, 2011 5:10PM

The opening of most soccer matches is the studying, or feeling-out period.

Teams look at one another and decide how and where to attack. Libertyville needed some 15 minutes to go in for the kill.

The Wildcats scored a three goals in a 2:14 stretch of the first half to control Maine West 4-1 in a Class 3A Supersectional at Loyola University's Hoyne Field Tuesday night.

"We'd never played this team before, so we were trying to find what their weaknesses were and how to attack them," said junior defender Sam Kaplan. His looping free kick from midfield started the scoring blitz with 26:02 remaining in the first half.

Libertyville (20-3-2) advances to play the winner of the Lyons-Naperville North showdown in the second semifinal Friday night at North Central College in Naperville.

"I wasn't trying to score there, just get it up to the top and hope one of our guys could get to it," he said. One minute and sixteen seconds later, senior forward Joey Ruppert had the ball on the left sideline and struck a shot at the Maine West goal.

Maine West keeper Jecsan Torres leaped and appeared to corral the shot. His momentum drove him backwards and as his body landed, the ball squirted from his grasp and curled inside the goal.

Senior forward Miles McNeir ended the first half scoring blitz by eluding Torres and drilled a shot into the right corner less than a minute later for a 3-0 Libertyville advantage.

"We came out ready to go, and we were able to take advantage of some of their mistakes," McNeir said. "On that first goal, it looked like the [keeper] just lost the ball in the lights."

With the 3-0 advantage, Libertyville did not lessen their aggressive style of play. They had multiple chances to pad the lead in the second half, but three shots hit the post.

Maine West finally got untracked about midway through the second half when freshman Nelson Herrera drove into the teeth of the Libertyville defense and made a perfect feed to sophomore Jerry Espinoza for a goal that closed the margin to 3-1 with 20:57 remaining.

"Once they got that goal, we started playing more defensively and keeping more people back," Kaplan said.

McNeir scored an insurance goal with just over two minutes remaining to thwart any final Maine West run. The Wildcats advance to the state finals for the first time since the 1996 team qualified for class AA quarterfinals.

"We're playing with a lot of confidence right now," Kaplan said. "We're ready to play at state."

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