Libertyville’s Patrick Graham whipped his skull cap off the field early in the second half Saturday.
Graham wanted a relief from the biting cold temperatures, which were compounded by a driving rainstorm.
“I had it on at first, but one of my eyes, I couldn’t see,” Graham said. “So I had to take it off.”
Ten minutes later, Graham took off by scoring the decisive goal, leading the Wildcats to a 5-3 victory over Mundelein in the Class 3A Palatine Regional championship game.
The Wildcats (15-2-3) overcame two deficits in the first half to advance to play at 4:30 p.m. Tuesday against Fremd (13-1-4) in a Libertyville Sectional semifinal.
In essence, the Wildcats’ quest to live up to their national ranking by winning the program’s second state title has been bogged down by early difficulties.
Libertyville opened the playoffs with a scare in the regional semifinals, defeating Palatine 4-3 in double overtime.
The Wildcats entered the playoffs motivated to take it a step further following back-to-back state runner-up finishes.
“That game opened all of our eyes on how we need to play,” Graham said of beating Palatine. “We have to come out strong. Our team is fighting.
“The teams we’ve played our playing to our level. It’s about getting through these games. We learned a lot in that first game. That was probably the scariest game I’ve played in.”
Mundelein (10-7-4) seized an early lead Saturday on the first of two goals by senior defender Camden Kowalski, the team’s leading scorer.
“We came in confident, and I think they were scared of us,” Kowalski said. “They looked shaky, especially after we scored that first goal.”
Graham sparked the a turnaround with a hard 20-yard shot to give the Wildcats a 3-2 lead. Five minutes later, Mickey Reilly converted around the near post for his second goal, padding the advantage to 4-2.
Reilly said the Wildcats, the top seed in the sectional, received a wake-up call in the regional semifinals. It helped them against the aggressive Mustangs.
“We’ve had it rough so far, made some mistakes,” Reilly said. “But I thought overall we had our best game of the season against Mundelein.
“I was 100 percent confident the whole time, even when we were down. We have a tough team next in Fremd, but we should be ready. I think we have some good momentum after this.”
The Wildcats also used an unorthodox approach by playing three goalkeepers against the Mustangs. Hunter Lynch, Michael Krukonis and Quinn Kurland all split time in the net.
“I’ve never done that in my life, using three,” Libertyville coach Kevin Thunholm said. “But Michael came up with some big plays. The boys trust him, which is big for a goalie.”
Bob Narang is a freelance reporter for the News-Sun.
