O'FALLON, Mo. – No. 16 Parkland men's soccer had its season come to an end in penalty kicks in its Region 24 semifinal match against Illinois Central. Tied after two overtime periods, the Cougars outlasted the Cobras, 7-6, in penalty kicks to move on to Sunday's Region 24 Championship match against No. 1 seed Lewis & Clark. Parkland finishes the season with an overall record of 11-2-2.


O'FALLON, Mo. – No. 16 Parkland men's soccer had its season come to an end in penalty kicks in its Region 24 semifinal match against Illinois Central. Tied after two overtime periods, the Cougars outlasted the Cobras, 7-6, in penalty kicks to move on to Sunday's Region 24 Championship match against No. 1 seed Lewis & Clark. Parkland finishes the season with an 11-2-2 overall record and a sixth straight M-WAC Championship.

Box Score | Season Stats

"This was a game of massive emotional swings and momentum changes, as expected between two heavyweight opponents," head coach Mark Sikora said. "We played a very strong match, but just couldn't keep the door closed on them.  I am extremely proud of the effort put in today by every player that played a part, especially Naoto Uede.  It is not fair, however, to pick out one or two guys after a great performance like this. Getting to penalties is pretty much a coin flip and we just couldn't come out on top."

After the two sides battled through a scoreless first half, the Cobras drew blood first with a goal two minutes into the second half. Freshman Naoto Uede found the back of the net in the 47^th minute, scoring his 10^th goal of the season to tie Sasaki for most on the team.

The Cobras would maintain the 1-0 lead for the following 21 minutes of action before Illinois Central converted a pair of scoring opportunities within two minutes of one another. The Cougars tied the match in the 68^th minute, and then took their first lead in the 70^th minute, 2-1.

Trailing for the first time, Parkland continued to apply pressure to the Illinois Central back line, and broke through for the equalizer with 10 minutes left in regulation. Uede, again, was a part of the scoring, this time setting up centerback Mohamed Belakhoua for the match-tying goal in the 80^th minute.

With the score tied, 2-2, Parkland and Illinois Central again played 40 minutes of scoreless soccer. After the Cougars held a 10-8 advantage in shots on goal during regulation, the two sides each put three shots on frame between the two overtime periods.

Tied after 120 minutes, the match moved to penalty kicks where Illinois Central bested Parkland by converting all seven of their attempts, while Parkland made six of its seven shots.  

Friday's Region 24 semifinal matches were moved to O'Fallon, Missouri after rain forced the tournament to be moved from Godfrey, Illinois.

Despite featuring 16 freshmen, Parkland finished the 2018 season with an 11-2-2 overall record, its sixth straight Mid-West Athletic Conference Championship and were ranked as high as 11^th in the country. Individually, sophomore midfielder Zachary Gowlett's 12 assists rank 13^th in NJCAA Division I, while freshman forward Yu Sasaki led the team in points (30) and tied with classmate Naoto Uede for the most goals (10) on the team. Sophomore Jesus Reina finished second on the team with nine goals.