Iowa City Regina continues boys’ state soccer streak with shootout win over Solon

IOWA CITY — Solon stayed in the game this time. Iowa City Regina still was triumphant.

A little over a month after the Regals blasted the Spartans 7-1, the teams played to a 2-2 tie after regulation and two overtimes in a Class 1A substate final Wednesday night at Regina High School. The third-ranked Regals used a 4-2 penalty shootout advantage to reach their 13th consecutive boys’ state soccer tournament.

“We kind of embarrassed them (on April 17) and they took that to heart,” said all-state forward Alec Wick, who scored Regina’s two goals in a 28-second span in the first half. “They came out and played a hell of a game. They just fought and we had to fight back.”

No. 4 Solon (13-6) had to fight back first, after Wick’s flurry left him close to the hat trick he scored in the regular-season meeting and the Regals (11-7) close to rolling to another convincing win, up 2-0 in the 13th minute.

Gabe Yetley provided a quick answer, chipping the goalkeeper from distance not two minutes later to slice the lead in half. Eli Freerks took advantage of a slight miscue at the back to make it 2-2 just before halftime.

“Except when I’m playing them (Solon), they’re my favorite team,” Regina Coach Rick Larew said.

The Spartans turned to second-leading scorer Dillon Bruck (20 goals) in goal in this one. His athleticism and willingness to leave his line to safely clear balls away helped prevent the Regals from scoring a decisive goal.

But, in the shootout, Dylan Vittetoe got the better of him.

The sophomore Regina keeper who just went out for soccer this year saved Bruck’s attempt. Solon also had a miss over the bar, while the Regals made all four attempts. Freshman Kaleab Wendy put away the clincher.

“Never expected this game to end this way,” Vittetoe said. “Never expected this is how my year would go. I just believed in myself. I believed in my coaches, my goalkeeper coach. I just committed, and I got lucky.”

Regina enters next week’s Class 1A state tournament as a familiar contender, having won the last three championships. But this team is mostly new faces, with Wick the only starter back from 2019.

“This is the first chance for a lot of us,” Vittetoe said.

Larew said the team has grown the last two weeks against a challenging schedule that included multiple ranked Class 3A teams. Perfect postseason preparation.

“It was a great high school soccer game,” Larew said. “To be honest with you, I wish we hadn’t gone that far, but I think we’re going to be better because of it.”