Fremd wins MSL crown

Make that four in a row for Fremd.

Not just four Mid-Suburban League championships, but four consecutive seasons without a loss to an MSL foe.

The Vikings emphatically made their case as being the best team in the league by handling Prospect 13-2 in Wednesday’s league title game in Palatine.

Fremd (21-4) led 7-0 at the half, and 13-0 with less than three minutes left.

Key to the Vikings’ success was the matchup involving hole-set defender Emily Orlowski and Prospect senior standout Meg Dix.

Dix had battled flu-like symptoms on the way to the game, but the Knights’ career scoring leader was able to stay in the water for the entire game.

Orlowski’s steady defense was too much, at least on this day. While Prospect was able to run its spread offense and get the ball to Dix with some frequency near the goal, the results just weren’t there.

“We knew it would be a physical game, and one of the keys when that happens is to not retaliate,” said Orlowski. “I just wanted to play clean, and let the officials know I was playing clean. It worked out pretty well.”

Frequently, after an unsuccessful Prospect possession, Fremd found an edge in transition. The primary beneficiary was Sam Del Prado, who led the Vikings with 5 goals. Sam Matuszewski had 3, Megan Kennedy and Emily McCarty had 2 apiece and Lauren Zambelli had 1.

Dix found the net late in the fourth quarter, alertly scoring after an Orlowski ejection.

“I thought we could have made it close, should have been able to be in the game,” said Prospect coach Alfonso Lopez, who had been hoping to use the matchup as a measuring stick of sorts as sectional play approaches but was so disappointed by his team’s play that he advocated just “throwing this one into the garbage.

“I don’t know if it was the enormity of the game or what, but we’ve just got to move on.”

Fremd, meanwhile, will savor another season of dominance in the MSL.

“I think the key for us was just to play our game, and not theirs,” said Del Prado.

Fremd coach Brian Newby favorably compares this team to his last three groups, each of which qualified for Elite Eight play in the state tournament.

“I think these girls wanted to prove something,” Newby said. “We have a really balanced team. We don’t have that one incredible scorer — I think Sam Matuszewski leads us with about 50 goals — but we have a group of girls that knows how to play the game. They’ve worked hard and they deserve this.”