Metea Valley believed, achieved state title
By Curt Herron
NAPERVILLE -- As Metea Valley and Barrington squared off to see who would capture the IHSA Class 3A championship Saturday night, it would have made sense to favor the more experienced program.
After all, at the previous four state finals, Barrington had won two titles, just missed winning another, finished fourth and was guaranteed of bringing home its fifth-straight piece of hardware from the Final Four.
The other choice was a school making its initial state final appearance and had never previously advanced beyond the sectional finals before this season.
But when the announcer asked the new Class 3A champion to step forward to accept its trophy, it was Metea Valley taking that short walk.
The Mustangs ended the season without a loss against an Illinois team, won their own regional title over a Plainfield North team that gave them their only tie earlier in the season. Then Metea Valley claimed its second victories during the campaign over conference rivals Neuqua Valley and Naperville North in the sectionals. Supersectional upstart Edwardsville fell next.
The Mustangs players had plenty of confidence heading into the Saturday final. Their resolve was only boosted after claiming a 2-0 semifinal win over a Lincoln-Way Central team that had posted 21 shutouts.
They showed their confidence was justified when they navigated 100 scoreless minutes against 23-3-0 Barrington and then prevailed 6-5 in an epic penalties showdown that lasted a state-record nine rounds.
Each side had the same result in each of the initial eight rounds, which was another first in a state championship match.
Metea Valley victory capped a 22-2-1 campaign for coach Chris Whaley and completed a great sports year for the Aurora school, which won its first IHSA championship in the fall when its girls volleyball team finished 40-2 after rallying to capture a three-set title thriller over perennial power Mother McAuley.
Whaley, who is 102-48-18 in seven seasons and celebrated his 100th victory with the triumph in the supersectional, liked his team's chances to capture a state title in their initial final appearance, a feat that had only been done by eight other teams since the first tournament in 1988.
Senior goalie Julia Straub made a pair of saves in the shootout that highlighted an impressive nine-save performance in the run of play. Senior Abbey Ondrus converted on the final penalty attempt in her first action of the game, and the Mustangs prevailed over the Fillies, who competed for a championship for a record-fourth time in penalties. Overall, eight matches have been decided in that dramatic fashion.
"We knew that this team was good, but I didn't know if we were ready for this," Whaley said. "I knew that we could do it, and they knew that they could do it; but actually making it happen is not easy.
“Holy cow, did they show a lot of fight to get here. And they deserve it. All of those struggles made us better, last year, the year before and the year before that. Because it built our mentality and the way that we approached things every day with the girls. I wouldn't have changed any of that for anything.
"It's tough, no doubt. You have to beat really, really good teams to get out of our sectional. And Barrington tonight was an awesome team, and they were so competitive. But these girls have been working for it, and that tough competition all year helped us today.
"In the whole playoffs, Julia is by far the MVP. She's the best goalie in the state, and she showed why, game-in and game-out in the last two weeks. She deserves all of the credit in the world.
“And the girls that stepped up and buried their shots, like Abbey Ondrus at the end, it was just unbelievable determination. They did it together."
Metea Valley is one of 11 programs that didn't lose a match against an Illinois team during the regular-season. The Mustangs' only two losses in 2022 came on a trip to Missouri where they fell to Lafayette (Wildwood) and Nerinx Hall (Webster Groves). Following those defeats, they won their final 14 matches.
Other big wins that the DuPage Valley Conference champions claimed in the regular season came against Class AA runnerup Benet, Class 3A sectional champion Glenbard West, Class AA sectional champion Glenwood, Class 3A sectional finalist Sandburg and Class AA sectional finalist Crystal Lake Central as well as 3A regional champions Batavia, Maine South, Wheaton Warrenville South and Naperville Central, which was a top 10 team all season.
The team's three senior captains, Leanne Barrett, Jocelyn Grabow and Addison Wargo, were all confident that their squad could be state champions in their initial state trip, a sentiment that was prevalent among the squad's eight seniors, which also included Ella Johnson, Justyce King and Lucy Quarles.
"Since the beginning of the season, I knew that this was going to be the team that would go to state," Barrett said. "Every single person on this team deserves to be here. They work so hard, and everyone wants to win. This is just a group of best friends, not teammates, best friends.
"It feels so good, and we worked so hard for this. It wasn't easy. Every single day we came to practice. We worked our hardest, and it showed up in games.
“Obviously in the beginning (of a state title match) you have all of the nerves, but when we play our game, that's when we win. That's what we did today."
Grabow and Johnson were the other players who competed on the Mustangs' 2019 squad that went 11-9-2 and lost 1-0 in the sectional semifinals to Naperville North, a team that they had beaten 1-0 earlier in the season and who went on to become the state champions by beating Barrington in penalties.
A year ago, Metea Valley went 12-8-1 and lost 2-1 to Naperville Central in the sectional semifinals. Other players on that squad who would be on this year's championship team are Kaylee Bannack, Lucy Burk, Tyra King, Zoe Kirkman, Jordan Lange, Alyssa Parrilli and Riley Strcic.
"It's an exhilarating feeling, and we deserve it," Grabow said. "We had an amazing season and have talent all around the field and great chemistry and great friendships. Everything is awesome all around. They've (Barrington) done that in the past but this year we did this, and that's what matters, this moment, right now.
"Julia is amazing. And we've been practicing penalties, so every time someone went, we were saying to each other that, 'They got this.' It was just believing in our teammates and believing in yourself under all of that pressure. It's our heart. Every single person goes on the field and plays with their heart. They play for one another, and it's really special."
Metea Valley also recorded its eighth-straight regional title this season.
Prior to the title, the Mustangs' best advancement was to the sectional finals, which they did each year from 2014-17. In chronological order, they lost 2-0 to Waubonsie Valley, who took third, and fell 2-0 to Neuqua Valley, which placed second. They dropped the match to Naperville North in 2016 and 2017.
The future definitely looks bright for the Mustangs. Despite graduating eight seniors, Metea Valley returns five juniors, five sophomores and two freshmen from the championship squad.
Other team members are Cydnie Bayless, Alyssa Gluting, Olivia Hernandez, Kyleigh Jannisch and Isabelle Leofanti.
"This feels absolutely amazing," Wargo said. "Every single person on this team deserves to be here; we all did this together. It was a team effort. We couldn't come here without each other. We knew that it was going to be hard, but we never did anything different than just play our game, and that's how we got here and that's how we won state.
"We knew what we were getting into when we got here. We knew that Barrington was going to put up a fight, and they did. They were probably the best team that we played this year and when it came down to business, we were just able to finish it. I liked our chemistry. This is more than just a team, it's a family. It's ridiculous how close we are. I would give everything for them."
By Curt Herron
NAPERVILLE -- As Metea Valley and Barrington squared off to see who would capture the IHSA Class 3A championship Saturday night, it would have made sense to favor the more experienced program.
After all, at the previous four state finals, Barrington had won two titles, just missed winning another, finished fourth and was guaranteed of bringing home its fifth-straight piece of hardware from the Final Four.
The other choice was a school making its initial state final appearance and had never previously advanced beyond the sectional finals before this season.
But when the announcer asked the new Class 3A champion to step forward to accept its trophy, it was Metea Valley taking that short walk.
The Mustangs ended the season without a loss against an Illinois team, won their own regional title over a Plainfield North team that gave them their only tie earlier in the season. Then Metea Valley claimed its second victories during the campaign over conference rivals Neuqua Valley and Naperville North in the sectionals. Supersectional upstart Edwardsville fell next.
The Mustangs players had plenty of confidence heading into the Saturday final. Their resolve was only boosted after claiming a 2-0 semifinal win over a Lincoln-Way Central team that had posted 21 shutouts.
They showed their confidence was justified when they navigated 100 scoreless minutes against 23-3-0 Barrington and then prevailed 6-5 in an epic penalties showdown that lasted a state-record nine rounds.
Each side had the same result in each of the initial eight rounds, which was another first in a state championship match.
Metea Valley victory capped a 22-2-1 campaign for coach Chris Whaley and completed a great sports year for the Aurora school, which won its first IHSA championship in the fall when its girls volleyball team finished 40-2 after rallying to capture a three-set title thriller over perennial power Mother McAuley.
Whaley, who is 102-48-18 in seven seasons and celebrated his 100th victory with the triumph in the supersectional, liked his team's chances to capture a state title in their initial final appearance, a feat that had only been done by eight other teams since the first tournament in 1988.
Senior goalie Julia Straub made a pair of saves in the shootout that highlighted an impressive nine-save performance in the run of play. Senior Abbey Ondrus converted on the final penalty attempt in her first action of the game, and the Mustangs prevailed over the Fillies, who competed for a championship for a record-fourth time in penalties. Overall, eight matches have been decided in that dramatic fashion.
"We knew that this team was good, but I didn't know if we were ready for this," Whaley said. "I knew that we could do it, and they knew that they could do it; but actually making it happen is not easy.
“Holy cow, did they show a lot of fight to get here. And they deserve it. All of those struggles made us better, last year, the year before and the year before that. Because it built our mentality and the way that we approached things every day with the girls. I wouldn't have changed any of that for anything.
"It's tough, no doubt. You have to beat really, really good teams to get out of our sectional. And Barrington tonight was an awesome team, and they were so competitive. But these girls have been working for it, and that tough competition all year helped us today.
"In the whole playoffs, Julia is by far the MVP. She's the best goalie in the state, and she showed why, game-in and game-out in the last two weeks. She deserves all of the credit in the world.
“And the girls that stepped up and buried their shots, like Abbey Ondrus at the end, it was just unbelievable determination. They did it together."
Metea Valley is one of 11 programs that didn't lose a match against an Illinois team during the regular-season. The Mustangs' only two losses in 2022 came on a trip to Missouri where they fell to Lafayette (Wildwood) and Nerinx Hall (Webster Groves). Following those defeats, they won their final 14 matches.
Other big wins that the DuPage Valley Conference champions claimed in the regular season came against Class AA runnerup Benet, Class 3A sectional champion Glenbard West, Class AA sectional champion Glenwood, Class 3A sectional finalist Sandburg and Class AA sectional finalist Crystal Lake Central as well as 3A regional champions Batavia, Maine South, Wheaton Warrenville South and Naperville Central, which was a top 10 team all season.
The team's three senior captains, Leanne Barrett, Jocelyn Grabow and Addison Wargo, were all confident that their squad could be state champions in their initial state trip, a sentiment that was prevalent among the squad's eight seniors, which also included Ella Johnson, Justyce King and Lucy Quarles.
"Since the beginning of the season, I knew that this was going to be the team that would go to state," Barrett said. "Every single person on this team deserves to be here. They work so hard, and everyone wants to win. This is just a group of best friends, not teammates, best friends.
"It feels so good, and we worked so hard for this. It wasn't easy. Every single day we came to practice. We worked our hardest, and it showed up in games.
“Obviously in the beginning (of a state title match) you have all of the nerves, but when we play our game, that's when we win. That's what we did today."
Grabow and Johnson were the other players who competed on the Mustangs' 2019 squad that went 11-9-2 and lost 1-0 in the sectional semifinals to Naperville North, a team that they had beaten 1-0 earlier in the season and who went on to become the state champions by beating Barrington in penalties.
A year ago, Metea Valley went 12-8-1 and lost 2-1 to Naperville Central in the sectional semifinals. Other players on that squad who would be on this year's championship team are Kaylee Bannack, Lucy Burk, Tyra King, Zoe Kirkman, Jordan Lange, Alyssa Parrilli and Riley Strcic.
"It's an exhilarating feeling, and we deserve it," Grabow said. "We had an amazing season and have talent all around the field and great chemistry and great friendships. Everything is awesome all around. They've (Barrington) done that in the past but this year we did this, and that's what matters, this moment, right now.
"Julia is amazing. And we've been practicing penalties, so every time someone went, we were saying to each other that, 'They got this.' It was just believing in our teammates and believing in yourself under all of that pressure. It's our heart. Every single person goes on the field and plays with their heart. They play for one another, and it's really special."
Metea Valley also recorded its eighth-straight regional title this season.
Prior to the title, the Mustangs' best advancement was to the sectional finals, which they did each year from 2014-17. In chronological order, they lost 2-0 to Waubonsie Valley, who took third, and fell 2-0 to Neuqua Valley, which placed second. They dropped the match to Naperville North in 2016 and 2017.
The future definitely looks bright for the Mustangs. Despite graduating eight seniors, Metea Valley returns five juniors, five sophomores and two freshmen from the championship squad.
Other team members are Cydnie Bayless, Alyssa Gluting, Olivia Hernandez, Kyleigh Jannisch and Isabelle Leofanti.
"This feels absolutely amazing," Wargo said. "Every single person on this team deserves to be here; we all did this together. It was a team effort. We couldn't come here without each other. We knew that it was going to be hard, but we never did anything different than just play our game, and that's how we got here and that's how we won state.
"We knew what we were getting into when we got here. We knew that Barrington was going to put up a fight, and they did. They were probably the best team that we played this year and when it came down to business, we were just able to finish it. I liked our chemistry. This is more than just a team, it's a family. It's ridiculous how close we are. I would give everything for them."