Click here to view the full photo gallery. 

Ryan Murken

Your Prep Sports

DES MOINES – Owners of the longest active streak of state tournament appearances at 11 one of the greatest strengths for top-ranked Regina is a lineup stacked with postseason experience.

In Thursday’s Class 1A quarterfinal it was a state tournament newcomer that was the difference.

Freshman Alec Wick scored a pair of first-half goals as defending 1A champion Regina returned to the state semifinals for the third straight season with a 3-0 win over Treynor (13-6) at Cownie Soccer Complex in Des Moines

“He’s not your average freshman, he does some special things,” Regina coach Rick Larew said of Wick. “He is talented and he also has emotional maturity too.”

Wick scored twice in a span of five minutes in the opening half giving Regina a 2-0 lead just more than 20 minutes into match.

The two goals in the first state tournament match of his career give Wick 13 for the season, second on the team behind senior Nick Pechous who cemented the win with his team-leading 16th goal in the 58th minute.

“He’s an athlete, he was a starter on the football team and was a big key to that team,” Pechous said of Wick. “We knew from the first game that he would be something special.”

The two early goals from Wick provided all the scoring Regina would need as the Regals posted their fourth consecutive state tournament shutout.

Regina moved to 16-3 with its seventh straight win and will face No. 11 Gilbert (14-7) in the 1A semifinals at Noon on Friday. 

“We knew this was a great team coming in we just played our game and didn’t play their game,” Wick said. “We just did our jobs.”

Regina couldn’t capitalize on several scoring opportunities in the opening 10 minutes but got on the board when Wick found an opening and slipped a shot from the left side of the box past Treynor keeper Seth Young in the 16th minute.

“It was just a great ball in and I passed it to the back of the net,” Wick said. “It boosted our confidence a lot. It just helps us keep playing our game and keep our intensity up.”

Wick struck again just five minutes later.

Young got a hand on a Mason Welter shot from inside the box but the ball caromed right to Wick who rocketed in a shot to put Regina up 2-0 with 19:45 left.

“Mason hit a good shot and the goalie hit it back out,” Wick said. “I was able to put it back in.”

The two early goes accounted for all the scoring until Pechous put the finishing touches on the win with a breakaway goal in the 58th minute.

Pechous missed on a pair of one-one-one opportunities early in the game but converted his final attempt going back post to beat Young.

“It was a great ball from Anthony Knepper on the side there,” Pechous said. “I missed a few one on ones early in the game but as long as you make one it doesn’t really matter.”

Despite several missed chances early Regina still scored three or more goals for the fifth consecutive match.

Regina faces a Gilbert team in the semifinals that won a 1-0 double overtime contest over fifth-ranked Davenport Assumption in Thursday’s quarterfinals.

The Regals defeated Gilbert 2-0 in a regular season matchup on May 5.

“Some of our other guys missed some opportunities and Alec knocked them in and tomorrow it may be somebody else,” Larew said. “We are going to need to continuing playing well because we’ll have another tough team tomorrow.”