The girls’ soccer team destroyed the opposing school, Neuqua Valley, 8-1 at home this past Friday. After winning state last year and currently being ranked first in Illinois, the girls’ soccer team, with an 18-0-3 regular season record, plan on taking the championship title back-to-back.

Throughout the game, the stands were packed with Metea supporters, both students and families. At every play, they were there to support the Mustangs. 

“There is a lot of excitement that comes with these games, especially at home with your fans. The girls were just excited and ready to play and prepared well,” head coach Chris Whaley said. 

Early in the game, Metea showed dominance over Neuqua on the field. With the Mustangs scoring three goals in the first half only, the win was pretty much guaranteed. Metea scored another five goals before Neuqua got one. 

“The girls finished their chances early, scored early. The first goal was early enough to take control and settle some nerves,” Whaley said.

Metea has been on a roll, both offensively and defensively, late in the season, scoring a total of 26 goals in the past five games.

“We were able to pass the ball around with one or two touches, and that was able to speed the game up and let us play around them,” holding center midfielder sophomore Daniela Tomassini said.

Though the whole team worked together for this win, there was one player that stuck out from the group. Senior Tyra King was Metea’s lead scorer for the game with four goals. King plays center forward and has scored 18 goals this season with an average of 1.2 goals per game. 

“Offensively we broke down their back line and made those three runs and finished our opportunities,” King said.

Metea displayed stellar defense throughout the game but also throughout the whole season as well. Junior goalie, Alyssa Gluting, has made 92 saves out of the 108 shots on goal and has had nine shut-out games. Metea controlled the game by keeping the ball on Neuqua’s side of the field which was the reason why they scored so many goals and only allowed one. 

“As a team what worked well was that we were playing quick. We were covering for each other and stayed pretty strong in the defense,” King said.

The girls will move on and play against Lockport Township High School on May 23. Lockport is currently ranked number 13 in the state.