PLATTEVILLE — The Platteville/Lancaster boys soccer team clinched its first regional soccer title since 2007 with a 5–4 shootout victory over fifth-seeded Sparta Saturday afternoon at PHS.
After a scoreless tie through 90 minutes of regulation and 20 more minutes of overtime, the winner was determined by penalty kicks.
Ying Xiong, Hans Chavez, Dillon Shinee, Nick Mewhirter, and Josh Zauche made all their penalty kicks to lift the Hillmen to a tense shootout victory.
Shinee also made nine saves in the shutout to get the Hillmen to the penalty kicks round.
“We’re still buzzing about making it through to sectionals,” said Hillmen head coach Brandon Pink. “This level has been something of a glass ceiling for us. We’ve had great teams in my time here, but we also have an amazingly tough sectional. It seems like we always run into the state champs in the regional championship. We knew we had the right combination of talent and work ethic to make a run this year, but all credit to the guys for going out there and making it happen.”
The Hillmen (15–3–2) advance to face top-seeded and defending Division 3 state champion Mount Horeb in Thursday’s sectional semifinal match at Mount Horeb High School at 7 p.m.
The Vikings (15–4–1) won their regional with a 6–1 victory over Dodgeville/Mineral Point on Saturday. Mount Horeb has ended Platteville/Lancaster’s season each of the past two years in the regional finals.
“I don’t think there’s any doubt that Mount Horeb has been the best D3 program in the state for a while now,” added Pink. “They’re the defending state champs and they’ve got an absurd track record of success in the postseason. With that being said, we’ve been closing the gap on them for several seasons and we really like our chances going into this game.
“The guys are looking forward to going out and making something happen on Thursday.”
With a win, Pink’s Hillmen would advance to face either second-seeded McFarland (17–3–1) or sixth-seeded Belleville/New Glarus (13–8–1) in Saturday’s Edgewood Sectional final at Madison’s Redden Park at 4 p.m.
Last Thursday the Hillmen advanced with a 6–1 victory over 13th-seeded Jefferson in a rugged regional semifinal contest. The Platteville co-op scored just before halftime to break a 1–1 tie then added four second half goals to pull away.
WIAA Division 3 regional final
Platteville/Lancaster 1, Sparta 0
(from Saturday, Oct. 22 @ Platteville)
Sparta 0 0 — 0
Platteville/Lancaster 0 0 — 0
(Platteville/Lancaster wins in shootout 5–4)
First half — none.
Second half — none.
Shootout scorers — P/L: Ying Xiong, Hans Chavez, Dillon Shinee, Nick Mewhirter, Josh Zauche; S: not available.
Saves — P/L: Dillon Shinee 9; S: Brennan Burkhardt 13. Shots on Goal — P/L: 13; S: 9.
