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ºüÀêÊÓƵ University High was down but never out of the Class 4 District 3 boys soccer championship game Saturday afternoon.

The host Junior Billikens rallied from a two-goal halftime deficit — coming up with the tying goal with just 1:19 left in regulation — and then prevailed to win 3-2 in penalty kicks against visiting John Burroughs.

With its first district title since 2016, SLUH (15-6-3) advanced to the quarterfinals, where it'll take on the winner of Monday's game between St. Dominic and Liberty on Saturday, Nov. 16. Burroughs, which finished fourth in Class 4 a year ago, wrapped up a 14-8 campaign.

"I'll be honest, that's obviously not the way we wanted to start, but we know how Burroughs likes to play,'' SLUH coach Bob O'Connell said. "They're very disciplined, they play direct and they're outstanding on free kicks and throws. We came out of that first half feeling extremely frustrated because, minus their restart goals, we felt like we'd played some pretty solid soccer."

The Bombers grabbed the lead with about 13 minutes to play in the opening half by capitalizing on a series of corner kicks. SLUH managed to defend the first two corners, but on the third from senior Craig Urano, Burroughs senior Lachlan Guthrie scored on a flick-on header at the far post.

Then, with just two minutes to play before the halftime break, a long throw-in from Burroughs' Cooper Desloge banged around the penalty area before the Bombers' Alden Chao knocked it in for the 2-0 lead.

SLUH opened the second half playing with a purpose, but Burroughs stayed organized and in control. The Junior Bills' Andrew Wolf created a trio of chances early in the second half but to no avail.

Midway through the half, SLUH's Carson Hall set up Javi Vigil for a chance. The ball was mishandled slightly by Burroughs goalkeeper Carter Deken, but the Bombers defense scrambled to clear the danger.

The Junior Bills finally broke through with just under 9 minutes left in regulation when freshman William Journagan scored off a corner from Henry Sanders.

"Getting that first changed everything,'' O'Connell said. "To that point, it was getting frustrating. But my assistant coaches, Chris Kenny and Jay Zaber, kept it positive. They knew that at 2-1, we were in position."

Burroughs' Thomas Urano tested SLUH keeper Cole Chambers with about 5 1/2 minutes to play.

With time winding down, SLUH's pressure attack earned a late corner kick. The cross was cleared to Junior Billikens junior James Barry at the top edge of the box. He scored on a one-timer that sent the match to OT.

"We were a little panicked, no question, because the clock was winding down,'' Barry said. "But with everybody crashing the goal, the ball popped out and I was right there. I didn't hit it as well as I wanted, but I got lucky and it ended up in the goal."

Overtime started slowly, but Burroughs came on strong late in the first 15-minute period, creating a great chance for Craig Urano off a Desloge throw that went just wide. In the second OT, a strong header from Burroughs' Thomas Urano was stopped by Chambers.

"I really liked the way our guys responded," Burroughs coach Alan Trzecki said. "We were down about letting the 2-0 lead get away from us, but we created some decent chances in OT. I'm not a big fan of PKs, but we've rehearsed them and we were prepared."

The shootout started with SLUH's Chambers making a stop on Burroughs' first shooter.

"That was huge,'' said Chambers, a sophomore whose No. 1 sport is baseball, "I'm not going to say too much about my thought process on PKs, but every goalie has an idea on how to read the shooters. I took a chance, made the save and I think that set a tone for the rest of the shootout."

SLUH would go on to make all four of its attempts, getting successful PKs from John Hasemeier, Wolf, Sanders and Vigil. Burroughs, which also had a shooter go over top of the goal, got successful kicks from Guthrie and Craig Urano.

"I'd rather not see PKs as part of regular-season games, but that's how games at all levels of soccer are decided,'' O'Connell said. "At the start of the season, I talked about this being a fun group to work with. We don't have that one guy who leads us, but I feel like our collective effort was the reason we won this game."

For Burroughs, this one will hurt for a time.

"At this point, there's a lot of pain,'' Trzecki said. "We were up 2-0 and weren't able to close it out. At this level, you play 80 minutes for a reason and you gotta play every second of it."