Chicagoland Soccer

Porters blank another playoff foe, edge Tigers for regional title

By Curt Herron

After seeing his squad complete its 280th minute of scoreless play in regional competition, Chris Beal couldn't bring himself to witness what came next.

Following 120 minutes where neither squad could find the net, the outcome of Friday's Class 3A Joliet West Regional would be determined by scoring goals.

Knowing that anything's possible in penalties, the Lockport Township coach was too nervous to watch the dramatic end of his team's match with the hosts.

But one thing that Beal could be confident of was that his keeper, Sebastian Matoniak, had the ability to come up with some big stops in the tie-breaker.

And that's just what unfolded as the Porter senior stuffed a pair of Tiger PKs, including their final try, to give LTHS a 4-3 advantage and thus the win.

LTHS captured its first regional championship since 2007 as the result of its 1-0 victory over a Tiger squad that deserved a better fate on this evening.

In a tale of two squads who weren't expected to win a regional title when seeds were announced, the Porters emerged with a rare ticket to the sectional.

After opening the year with a 1-7-2 mark, the Porters have now won 10 of their last 13 matches to give them an 11-10-2 record heading into the next round.

That will kick off on Tuesday when LTHS meets the winner of today's Pekin Regional, either Normal Community or Moline, in the Normal Community Sectional.

In Class 3A's lone split sectional, the Porters will compete in Normal at 6 p.m. while two St. Louis-area teams will play at the same time in Granite City.

Tuesday's semifinal winners meet up next Saturday in Normal for the right to advance to the super-sectional, which will be played in Naperville or Normal.

But all of the upcoming excitement nearly eluded the Porters, who ended the regular season with a 2-0 win over West in Lockport just eight days earlier.

Coach Jeff Lundeen's Tigers (6-14-4) were determined to get revenge and an enthusiastic crowd at Klootwyk field pushed them on from the opening whistle.

While Beal knew that he had Matoniak and a staunch defense in his corner, the Tigers countered with David Solis, who played as well as his counterpart.

That led to a dramatic second half and four 10-minute overtimes which were filled with plenty of oohs and ahs as both sides looked for the elusive goal.

Perhaps not surprisingly, it finally came down to a dozen players, including Matoniak and Solis, who determined which side would ultimately move along.

On the final attempts, Louis Piccione converted while Matoniak denied Miguel Ramirez, producing a wild Porter celebration and heartbreak for the hosts.

"It just became a battle at the end," Beal said. "I think it was a testament to the hard work of both teams. Joliet West played a fantastic game and were tenacious and gave everything that they had.

"But it's also a testament to our boys that we're not conceding goals. That's now 280 minutes of open play in the postseason where we haven't conceded a goal because these guys are willing to fight.

"When it comes down to PKs, you feel sorry for the team since know one likes losing that way. I'll let you know right now, I didn't watch any of it. I was just too nervous and scared to even watch it.

"Sebastian deserves it since he's played so well all season and has been phenomenal for us. Our back four has been like a rock and they've been able to absorb everything that's been thrown at them.

"After losing 8-3 to Oswego East and later being 1-7-2, I didn't know what the rest of the year would bring. I would never have believed that we'd be regional champions and going to the sectional.

"Not that this team wasn't capable of it, since they were. It just took a bit of that addictive feeling of winning and how fun that was to motivate them, and once that happened, they started rolling."

The shutout performance marked the ninth of the season and fourth in a row for Matoniak, who has only gotten better as the year has progressed.

Much of the credit for that goes to his dependable backline, featuring Louis Halper, Luke Harnik, Jeff Milas, Matt Muszynski and TJ Buckley.

In the penalties, the Porters and Tigers each made their initial tries, with Halper and Lucas Stefanski both converting on their attempts.

LTHS gained the upper hand after Solis got a hand on Matthew Monte's shot but couldn't stop it before Matoniak halted a try by Eduardo Bernal.

Phil Tomas gave the visitors a 3-1 edge but Frank Spesia responded for the Tigers, who were suddenly revitalized when Solis stopped Robert Zieba.

A goal by Diego Alcantar evened things at 3-3 through four rounds of kicks, setting the stage for the drama involving both sides' final attempts.

"I have to thank God and my team for getting me through it," Matoniak said. "The defense did an amazing job, the offense fought through the entire game and we never gave up.

"We knew that it would be a hard game since they were playing at home after we just beat them 2-0 at our house. We knew that they would come back hard and be mentally strong.

"A PK is 20 percent that the keeper will get it and 80 percent that he'll make it. On their last try, I saw him look right, I read the left foot. It went right and I went right.

"At the beginning of the season we were mentally beat. We had a team meeting to try to turn things around. We went to St. Louis and took second place and our chemistry improved."

LTHS enjoyed the best opportunities in the overtimes, beginning with a header by Tomas that Solis grabbed off a free kick in the second session.

Milas and Piccione both sent shots over the net while Zieba was just wide during the opening couple of minutes of the third overtime period.

Later in that session, Michael Huffar was denied by Matoniak while Piccione's short try following a header from Zieba was halted by Solis.

In the final 10 minutes of extra play, Zieba lined a corner kick to the Tiger keeper and Miguel Ramirez was stopped on a free kick by Matoniak.

"We decided that we were going to turn our season around since we want to win," Tomas said. "After playing 40 overtime minutes, we were not going to lose this game.

"West was not going to give in. We had our PK takers and what can you say about Sebby? We finished our shots and luckily came out on top and as regional champions.

"We really started off the season badly and didn't have any chemistry. We also had some injured guys and some other stuff to deal with.

"But we got everything back and decided that we wanted to start playing together. We're hot right now and hopefully we can keep going for awhile."

The second half featured plenty of drama, beginning with Halper's free kick that was punched away by Solis, who also stopped a header from Zieba.

In the last quarter hour of regulation, Tomas had a liner deflected by the Tiger keeper, who also hauled in a corner kick from Kristian Cockburn.

West countered with a short try by Christian Gutierrez, a liner from Josh Lopez and an attempt by Alcantar, all of which the Porter keeper halted.