The two most recent runners up in Class A will meet for the boys soccer state title Tuesday. Omaha South knocked off defending champion Westside Saturday in a 10-round shootout after the game started Friday evening and was suspended due to weather. Lincoln Southwest needed overtime Friday for the second game in a row and upended top-seeded Papillion-La Vista South 5-4.
Omaha South 4, Omaha Westside 4 (South wins shootout 8-7)
Riley Gomez did not hesitate to step up and take an attempt in the penalty shootout for Omaha South.
Gomez, who joined the Packer varsity team earlier in the week after playing the season on the junior varsity team, put his spot kick into the lower-left corner of the goal to give South an 8-7 shootout win over defending champion Omaha Westside and send the Packers to the state title game for the second consecutive year.
“We got down to the 10th guys, and I think some people were a little nervous, and Riley walked right up to me and said, ‘I got it, Coach,’ and the team was like put somebody else on, and I said, ‘No, he’s going, he wants to go,’ and he went in and he made it,” Omaha South coach Joe Maass said. “It was a great PK.”
As the shootout progressed into the 10th round, some South players were indecisive about who would take the next kick, and Gomez said he would do it.
“It’s really my commitment, my discipline to help the team get to the finals,” he said. “When I saw the player back down from it, I was like, ‘I got this.’ I make them in practice, so I was like, ‘I have to shoot it.’ It was like I have to, the team needs me at this time.”
Each side scored in the first seven rounds of the shootout. Packer goalkeeper Brian Franco, who did not play in regulation or overtime and came in only for the shootout, nearly stopped a Warrior effort in the fifth round, but the ball deflected off him into the goal.
The eighth Westside shooter put his attempt off the crossbar, giving the Packers the chance to win with a goal, but Warrior goalkeeper Lucas Noll made the save. Franco and Noll each stopped their respective ninth attempts, and Franco stopped Charles Oakes to start the 10th round, setting the stage for Gomez.
“Getting those two saves for my team, a big, huge help and went to a 10-point shootout, so it felt amazing,” Franco said.
Officials stopped the match Friday night due to weather in the 46th minute, and South (14-5) took advantage of the restart Saturday with two goals in just under four minutes to take its first lead of the game at 3-2.
Anthony Martinez Bautista tied the match in the 54th minute, and Ryan Kubiak gave the Packers the lead in the 57th minute when he dribbled into the middle of the field and buried a shot from 22 yards out.
“To come back another day, it was almost like having a fourth game against them,” Maass said. “And so, I mean, they obviously beat us (Friday) night, but we felt like we could come back and recover from that.”
Miles Oksman scored for Westside (12-6) in the 74th minute to tie the match at 3-all. Noll denied South’s Yerai Vargas Rodriguez twice in the final five minutes to send the match to overtime.
Each side scored in the first overtime session, with Kubiak scoring on a penalty in the 83rd minute to restore South’s lead, and Oksman equalized in the 87th minute. Neither side scored in the second overtime to send the match to the first shootout of this year’s state tournament.
Joshua Orea made five saves for the Packers, while Dylan Holden added a goal and an assist.
Noll made eight saves for the Warriors.
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Lincoln Southwest 5, Papillon-La Vista South 4 (OT)
Lincoln Southwest forward Miguel Solano entered the Class A Boys Soccer State Championship with the goal of leaving a legacy, and thanks to his efforts Friday, the Silver Hawks will play for a state championship.
Solano scored four goals, including the eventual match-winner a minute into the second overtime session, to lift the fourth-seeded Silver Hawks to a 5-4 win over No. 1 seed Papillion-La Vista South in the first Class A boys semifinal at Morrison Stadium.
“Just knowing I had to get the job done for my team,” Solano said. “It is my last year, so I want to leave a legacy.”
Noah Schroeder set up Solano’s match-winner after the Silver Hawks (14-3) earned a free kick. Schroeder played the ball for Solano along the sideline, and he dribbled toward the goal and snuck a shot just inside the post in the 101st minute.
“We’ve run that play before; sometimes it doesn’t work out, sometimes it does,” Solano said. “I said Noah’s name, he wasn’t looking at me, so I just kind of put my trust in him, and he played the ball and I finished it.”
“He’s hitting peak form right at the best time for us,” Lincoln Southwest coach Derek Scheich said of Solano. “I think (four goals) almost doubled his season total nearly. He’s been such a phenomenal player since the postseason started.”
Five of Solano’s 12 goals have been scored in two state tournament games.
Lincoln Southwest opened the scoring in the 12th minute when Messi Alwadi ripped a shot from 30 yards out into the upper left corner of the net.
Two delays stopped the match for nearly 80 minutes soon after Alwadi’s goal. A leg injury to Papio South’s Caden Erwin stopped the game for 10 minutes, and then lightning delayed the game for 69 minutes soon after.
The Silver Hawks scored immediately after the restart when Solano scored off a corner to push Lincoln Southwest’s lead to 2-0 in the 13th minute. The goals were 45 seconds apart in game time but 80 minutes apart in actual time.
The Titans (17-3) scored a pair of goals in the final six minutes of the first half to get within one at the half. Kailer Fry struck from just inside the 18-yard box in the 34th minute, and Morgan Macke found the back of the net with 19 seconds left in the half to make it 3-2 Silver Hawks at the break.
Solano twice scored on quick answers for the Silver Hawks. After Fry’s goal, he scored 83 seconds later to push the Lincoln Southwest lead to 3-1. He added his third goal of the night in the 44th minute, less than two minutes after the Titans had tied the match, to put the Silver Hawks in front 4-3.
“All season our guys have dug so deep,” Scheich said. “We talked to the boys before state started, it’s kind of about who can make the least amount of mistakes, who’s willing to suffer, and (Friday) that ended up being us.”
Macke’s second goal of the night tied the match at 4-all in the 61st minute.
Schroeder finished with three assists for the Silver Hawks.
Lincoln Southwest has played 200 minutes in two matches as both have gone to overtime. The Silver Hawks beat Elkhorn South 4-1 in overtime in Monday’s quarterfinal.
“Shout out to our training staff, Crystal (Kjar) and Rebecca (Townssend),” Scheich said. “They’ve done such a phenomenal job keeping our guys held together this year, talking about nutrition, hydration, sleep, all those things, and they’re so important for our success this season.”
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