Lightning struck twice.
For the second time in four days Hinsdale Central scripted a dramatic and thrilling story to its deeply satisfying conclusion involving main players Wes Bergevin and Will McGowen.
McGowen broke a shootout tie by going top bar and Bergevin made a superb block as No. 10 Hinsdale Central outlasted No. 6 Naperville North 1-0 on penalty kicks in a Class 3A Lewis Supersectional Tuesday in Romeoville.
Hinsdale Central defeated the Huskies 4-3 in the shooutout. The Red Devils advance to the lower bracket semifinal against Fremd Friday at Hoffman Estates.
Hinsdale Central (17-4-4) qualified for the state semifinals for the third time in school history and first since 2007.
The same two players performed identical roles in Saturday’s victory over top-ranked Morton, with McGowen producing the game-winner and Bergevin stopping a penalty kick in the final seconds.
Jack Baderman, Evan Floersch and Bryan Loebig also converted their penalty shots after the dyeaplhighly skilled teams played 100 minutes of scoreless action.
Bergevin recorded nine saves in establishing a program record with 25 career shutouts. He stopped the Huskies’ Matty Sylvester on the final attempts. “We have a lot of confidence with Wes in these situations, but really our whole team because we have a lot of skilled shooters,” Hinsdale Central coach Michael Wiggins said.
Bergevin angled quickly to his right on the game-winning action. “A lot of it is routine, a function of practice and knowing where to be,” Bergevin said. “I look at the shooters’ hands, that is a tell, and I looked at the last player’s hands and how he held the ball and that was important.”
Naperville North (16-5-3) played the Red Devils tight. In the best scoring chance, Chris Sulluvan hit the post.
“What a great Naperville North team that was,” Wiggins said. “We knew what we were up against and it was just a great match. They just dare you to beat them and it works.
“Coming into the game we did not want to overpossess without getting meaningful (scoring) chances and that is what we were able to do and play our style.”
Hinsdale Central had the slight edge with Bergevin. “We just treat every game like it’s a state championship,” McGowen said.
