With 11:33 remaining in the game, senior forward Ameen Salako had a chance to score his second goal of the game and put the game out of reach for Maine South.

Cool, calm and collected, he stepped up to the task and buried the penalty kick to secure the regional championship for the Trevians.

“Before every penalty kick, it’s important to know where you want to place the ball,” said Salako.

“I just went up there knowing where I wanted to kick it, and I was just happy that it went in.”

Even though Maine South was higher ranked, these two teams matched up evenly.

New Trier and Maine South were co-conference champions of the Central Suburban South League and played a scoreless draw earlier in the season.

“Maine South plays a 3-5-2 which is an interesting formation, so we knew there would be a lot of space on the width to get forward,” said senior co-captain Matt Gallo, “They committed a lot of players in their attack when we first played them, so we knew we could score on the counter.”

Since the last game against Maine South ended with no goals, the Trevians knew it was important to try to play with a sense of urgency and make sure to bury the ball into the back of the net.

Salako opened up the scoring, and with about seven minutes left in the first half Salako bicycle-kicked a corner from Gallo to give the Trevians a 1-0 lead.

“The ball had very little pace on it that I knew we couldn’t score off a header, “said Salako, “All I could think of was the bicycle kick so I saw the opportunity and I went for it.”

“Ameen plays with so much grit and passion,” said Gallo, “he holds such high expectations for himself and he works relentlessly in practice and it pays off during the games.”

Head coach Matt Ravenscraft thinks the key to the team’s success is finishing their chances.

“We have a pretty solid defense, so it’s important that our forwards put the ball away when we have the chance.”

On the other side of the field, the Trevians’ rock solid defense led by seniors Cameron Zwick, Michael Summer, and Danny Ladik kept the Hawks scoreless and were credited with the clean sheet.

“Our defense is a brick wall,” said Gallo, “So we know if we can score early, we put ourselves in a good position to win.”

The defense pressured Maine South forwards throughout the game and barely let them even close to the goal, but the Hawks did not go down without a fight.

With 30 minutes left in the game Maine South was awarded a penalty kick and an opportunity to tie the game. Junior goalie and two sport fall athlete Sam Rutherford stepped up to the task with a huge save to keep the Hawks off the scoreboard.

According to Gallo, this win gives the team more confidence heading into their sectional semi final, “beating the team that held a share of the conference title is never easy.

“They were a good team and this win proves that we can play with the best in the sectional.”

Salako agrees, “We know that we are a good team and that we can beat other good teams. Things started to click for us at the right moment and now we just have to get the job done versus Evanston.”

“We had one of the hardest schedules in the state this year,” said Ravenscraft, “the regional championship is always a goal for us, but we know we can play with some of the better teams in the state. Clearly, Evanston is a huge game for us, but the way we have been playing, we are fairly confident going into that game.”

The Evanston-New Trier rivalry is one of the biggest in the state. Both teams play hard in order to win the hydrant and paint it their school colors.

Whoever wins the game gets to keep the hydrant until the next time the two teams compete, and the Trevians look to win back the hydrant for first time since 2014.