Wildcats conclude regular season with pair of victories

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Photos courtesy of LuAnne Hollingshead

From staff reports

Neuqua Valley closed out the regularly-scheduled part of its schedule with a pair of nonconference wins over good squads.

On Saturday, the Wildcats (13-3-3) won 3-2 over Conant in Hoffman Estates, giving coach Tony Kees a triumph over the school that he coached before coming to Neuqua.

Two days before that, Neuqua defeated Larkin 4-0 in the final home match of the regular season.

The Wildcats hope to play two more matches at their home field, however, since they'll be hosting a regional tournament this week.

On Tuesday, Neuqua hosts rival Waubonsie Valley at 4:30 p.m. Whoever prevails takes on the winner of Wednesday's Plainfield South-Wheaton Warrenville South match in Saturday's 2:30 regional final.

In Saturday's win over the Cougars, Jacob Brindle scored a pair of goals and had an assist while Patrick Doody chipped in with the other score.

Sammy Diab assisted Brindle on the first goal while Will Butler and Brindle contributed assists on Doody's score, which gave the Wildcats a 3-1 lead.

Against Larkin, Brindle collected three goals while Diab also connected to give the Wildcats the early advantage.

Doody assisted on Brindle's second goal while Connor Domek handed out an assist on the Wildcats' final goal of the match.

Hunter Hollingshead recorded the shutout in goal, which was his team's ninth clean sheet of the season.