CHAMPAIGN, Ill. – No. 16 Parkland men's soccer won its Region 24 quarterfinal match against No. 6 seed Southwestern Illinois, 4-2, on Wednesday afternoon to Friday's semifinal round in Godfrey, Illinois. Freshman Ivai Warella scored the game-winner in the 26^th minute, and then sophomore Zachary Gowlett added two goals to seal the win.

"We started pretty slow, again, this time, but we kept them off the scoreboard, which was a pretty big difference," head coach Mark Sikora said of the difference between today and the two team's meeting last week. "It was nice to see, in a positive way, that we scored the first goal and kept building from there. It was an improvement because we scored first, and we just kept it under control and kept pushing it from there."

By defeating Southwestern Illinois, No. 3 seed Parkland will play the highest advancing seed from today's three quarterfinal matches. The Cobras will play either No. 2 seed Illinois Central, or the winner of the No. 4 Heartland versus No. 5 John Wood quarterfinal.

Defeating the Blue Storm for the second time in a week, the Cobras were able to strike first on Wednesday to keep from playing from behind as they did in last Wednesday's 3-2 win. The Cobras scored the first three goals of the match, two in the first half, and were efficient in their shots on goal with four of the seven finding the back of the net.

Defensively, the Cobras received quality goaltending from freshman goalkeeper Christian Contreras who was making his first start of the season in place of starter Lorenzo Giaretti.

"[Contreras] did a great job stepping up, and it's tough because Lorenzo [Giaretti] has gotten most of the minutes," said Sikora. "He works hard obviously and he's earned his spot. If it made any difference on the back line, or even with him, it didn't really show which was a good thing."

Despite the slow start that saw neither team put together quality scoring chances in the opening 25 minutes, Parkland were able to score first off of the foot of Ivai Warella. Freshman midfielder Josef Halcolmb set up Warella with a lofted pass over the top of the defense. With Warella converging with the Southwestern Illinois goalie as they approached the top of the box, Warella reached the loose ball first and deposited it over the goalie for the score.

As the match drew towards halftime, sophomore winger Zachary Gowlett doubled the Cobras lead in the 41^st minute. Pressuring a Southwestern Illinois pass beyond the midfield line, Gowlett picked off the pass, dribbled into the left side of the box and fired a shot past the goalie for the 2-0 lead.

Much like the first half, the Cobras began breaking down the Blue Storm back line midway through the second half to put the match out of reach. Still holding a 2-0 lead into the 72^nd minute, Gowlett put a shot on goal for the second time in as many minutes. After missing wide on his first shot, Gowlett converted his second attempt a minute later.

Parkland's assist leader (11), who ranks in the top-25 nationally, Gowlett recorded his first multi-goal match of the season on Wednesday. With the two goals, Gowlett now ranks second on the team with 25 points (7 goals, 11 assists).

"I liked that [Zach Gowlett] stayed aggressive," said Sikora of the two-goal effort. "You never thought you'd have to tell a guy to want to score and shoot, but that's kind of the way he's been since he walked in. He prides himself in assisting, and we've been trying to tell him 'you've been leaving a lot of goals out on the field if you just take the chances.' So, it was great for him to do that today, and hopefully it builds. And, if other teams try to take that away, then he can be the assist guy and set things up for other players."

The Blue Storm quickly answered Gowlett's second goal with a goal of their own in the 73^rd minute, and then had a corner kick four minutes later with a chance to cut the lead to one. However, the Cobras cleared the corner and quickly countered into opponent territory, setting up Ezekiel Nartey who knocked home his fifth goal of the season to push the lead back to three.

Southwestern Illinois would score once more with four minutes remaining, but weren't able to draw any closer.

Up next, the Cobras will travel to Godfrey, Illinois, home of Lewis & Clark Community College, for Friday's Region 24 semifinals. Parkland will face the highest advancing seed at 2 p.m. central time. The winner of the two semifinals will play Sunday, October 28, for the Region 24 Championship.
 
Region 24 Schedule

Friday October 26 @ Lewis and Clark
 
12:00 - Lowest Remaining seed vs #1 Lewis and Clark
2:00 – #3 Parkland vs. TBA
 
Sunday October 28 @ Lewis and Clark
2:00 - Championship Game