Wildcats upset by Vikings in Best of the West finals

By Eddie Burns

Neuqua Valley isn't accustomed to losing.

Soccer fans have to go back almost two years to find the last time the Wildcats lost in the regular season before Neuqua lost a 1-0 decision to Fremd in the championship match of the Best of the West Tournament at Naperville Central on Saturday night.

In fact, it was Oct. 11, 2008, inside the same Memorial Stadium where the Wildcats lost to Naperville Central by a 1-0 margin.

That match was for local bragging rights, but Saturday's match was for Neuqua's second straight Best of the West Tournament championship.

The Wildcats (4-1-1) won 28 straight games last season before losing to Lyons Township in the Class 3A supersectional.

"This might be a good wake-up call for our team," Neuqua senior defender Pat Kaindl said.

"We'll have to talk things over and make sure we're ready for Waubonsie Valley (on Tuesday). We have to learn from this and move on."

It is an old adage in soccer, but if a team is in and around the opposition's net and doesn't have anything to show for it, those misses will come back to haunt a team and that is exactly what happened to Neuqua.

The Wildcats, who did beat Lincoln Way Central earlier on Saturday by a 2-0 score, dominated play in the opening half and had a number of scoring chances, but they went either high or wide of the net or Fremd goalie Scott Sutarik gobbled up the attempt.

"In the first half we had a lot of opportunities, but we didn't finish them," Kaindl said. "You can't do that and expect to win."

Patrick Doody had a great chance in the 32nd minute when he played a cross from teammate Will Butler, but Doody's wide open shot was right at Sutarik.

"Doody's shot kind of caught me off guard," Sutarik said. "I wasn't expecting him to shoot it right at me. (Doody) is a great player – a Division I player as everyone knows.

"I wasn't expecting a shot right at me. I was expecting to make a full out save and it took me by surprise, but I managed to smother the rebound."

The Vikings (5-0-2) finally broke through in the 61st minute when Neuqua was whistled for a foul approximately 25 yards out from the Wildcats' goal.

Fremd was awarded a direct kick and Brian Hindle ripped a shot that got through the wall past Neuqua goalie Hunter Hollingshead.

"The free kick went through the wall, which very unlike us to make a mistake like that," Kaindl said.

"As a keeper, it is impossible to make a save when the wall breaks down. They got a goal because of our mistake and then we could find any offensive power after that."

Naturally, Neuqua became extremely aggressive in the offensive third. The Wildcats had several close calls including a few redirected headers by Jacob Brindle that forced Sutarik to make a number of diving saves.

Sutarik was not caught off guard by Neuqua's tactics.

"Brindle is a good player," Sutarik said. "It was one of those things, but I knew (redirecting headers) was their play and I just wanted to keep those chances out at all costs.

"I was lucky and fortunate enough not to give up a rebound on it because if I give up a rebound they would have like four people crashing the net."

Kaindl said Neuqua played out of character.

"We got outworked that second half, which is not acceptable for us," Kaindl said.

"What is most upsetting is that this is not how we like to play. We made dumb mistakes and a lot of them we caused ourselves. It is hard to find much positive from this match."

Kaindl said that Sutarik deserved a lot of praise for Fremd's victory.

"All credit goes to their goalie, but we had the ball way too much in our own half that second half," Kaindl said.

"We couldn't find our forwards and we made mistakes in our half that led directly to their counter attack and we weren't able to find our offensive rhythm and you can't have that happen.

"Some say it is better to lose in regular season, but I'd rather take a win than a loss anytime – no matter what game it is. You always want to win. We can learn from this loss and work on things and improve.The Wildcats travel to meet rival Waubonsie.

The Wildcats play at rival Waubonsie Valley on Tuesday before hosting California power Jesuit on Thursday.