It wasn’t a surprise that Mount Carmel goalkeeper Sergio Valencia became the hero when Friday’s Class 2A state semifinal game against Jacksonville went to a shootout.
How it happened, though? The sophomore could have never predicted that.
Valencia kept the shootout alive with a save in the fifth round, then scored the winning goal in the ninth round as the Caravan topped the Crimsons 8-7 to earn a 2-1 win at Hoffman Estates.
“It feels awesome,” Valencia said. “It’s the first time at state for Mount Carmel, and now we’re playing in the championship game. It’s a great experience. Hopefully we can take it all.”
The Caravan (19-3-1) will take on Latin (23-3), a 1-0 overtime winner over Benet, at 1 p.m. Saturday in the championship game.
The last Southland school to win a boys soccer state title was Sandburg in 2002.
Valencia calmly delivered on his penalty kick, bouncing a shot inside the left post.
“I’ve never really shot in a shootout,” he said. “I was kind of nervous, but I blocked out all the noise and everything and concentrated on the shot. I picked the lower-left side.”
Mount Carmel coach Antonio Godinez has seen Valencia do the same thing in practice.
“He’s confident on the ball so I needed guys that are confident and willing to take a PK,” Godinez said. “He had the confidence to put his team on his back and finish it.”
After Valencia scored, things got crazy.
Jacksonville (21-5) appeared to have its final chance to extend the match thwarted when Valencia stopped Zack Belford’s shot.
However, after the Caravan began celebrating, the referee called Valencia for leaving his line early, giving Belford another chance. Valencia said he agreed with the call.
Belford then ripped a shot off the bottom of the crossbar and out, sealing Mount Carmel’s spot in the final.
The Crimsons had a chance to win it in the fifth round of the shootout, but Valencia dove to deny Jack Racey’s shot inside the left post.
Salvador Valencia, Cesar Cosio, Jaylen Anderson, Manuel Cerritos, Giovanni Vargas, Axel Gongora and James Flowers also scored in the shootout for the Caravan.
Cosio, who scored the game-winner in overtime in the supersectional victory over Washington, came through again. He gave Mount Carmel the lead with 9 seconds left in the first half.
Vargas took a free kick from 37 yards and found Josiah Ash at the far post. Ash chested it down to his feet and slipped a quick pass to Cosio in the middle of the box, where he finished.
“I know Josiah’s good in the air,” Cosio said. “He dropped it off for me and I was there to finish. I know my teammates are always going to make plays and put me in position to score.”
Jacksonville, at a possession disadvantage to the Caravan in the first half, fought back in the second half and got the equalizer from Steven Albers with 12:02 to go.
“We came out really strong, but we kind of rested on our laurels in the second half,” Ash said. “We’re lucky we got out of it with a win, but defensively we got the job done.”
Brother Rice 49, St. Ignatius 13: Xazavian Vallady had TD runs of 2 and 66 yards and Ricky Smalling caught scoring passes of 12 and 20 yards to lead Brother Rice (9-2) in the Catholic League Playoffs.
Men’s Basketball
St. Xavier 91, Carlow (Pa.) 74: Keating Rombach totaled 25 points, seven rebounds and six assists to pace St. Xavier (1-1) in the Indiana East Classic. Kyle Huppe (7 assists) and Quinn Niego (9 rebounds) tacked on 19 and 17 points, respectively.
Women’s Basketball
St. Xavier 97, William Penn (Iowa) 78: Kara Krolicki shot 8-for-9 on 3-pointers en route to a game-high 32 points for St. Xavier (1-0) in the Olivet Nazarene Classic. Maddie Welter added 15 points, while Mikayla Leyden had 14 points, six steals and five assists.
Women’s Volleyball
Lewis 25-25-25, Truman State (Mo.) 22-13-22: Elizabeth Hyland posted 10 kills and 13 digs as Lewis (20-6, 13-1 GLVC East) reached the 20-win plateau for the 11th consecutive season.
Steve Millar is a freelance writer for the Daily Southtown. Freelance writer Josh Krockey contributed to this story.
