Fremd wins a classic
Fremd is heading for the girls soccer Final Four this weekend after defeating Mid-Suburban League rival Barrington 2-1 Tuesday night before a big crowd at the Fillies' home pitch.
The home fans watched their team push Fremd to the limit in the final quarter-hour, only to fall short for a third consecutive year.
The Vikings, meanwhile, are back in the Class 3A semifinals after a two-year absence. Coach Steve Keller's club will face Granite City at 7 p.m. Friday at Naperville Central High School in the second of two semifinal matches that day. Conant will meet Naperville North in the preceding contest at 5 p.m.
“That was like a state final out there tonight,” said a relieved Keller after his club weathered considerable pressure as the Fillies (17-7-1) searched in vain for the equalizer following Molly Pfeiffer's brilliant free-kick strike at 58 minutes brought Barrington back into the match. “Ryan should be very proud of his team right now, because they played so hard and with so much heart. And in a game like this which can go either way, that's about all you can ask for from your team.”
The early exchanges were naturally cautious, with both sides wary off the other's striking force — notably Elise Kotsakis of Fremd, and Pfeiffer and Emily Hyde of Barrington.
The Fillies did well marking Kotsakis, a 35-goal scoring all-state senior, mostly with Emmelie Hirdes. But they were unable to control the middle of the turf, where Alexis Tice, Michelle Mottonen and Jessa Rizzo (on the outside) were nearly perfect in the 50-50 and ball-winning game. That didn't go unnoticed by Fillies coach Ryan Stengren, nor his keeper Kelly Pedersen, who in her final prep match was outstanding.
“We really struggled to win balls in the midfield, and that's one of the reasons they enjoyed the run of play in the first half and were able to pressure us for long periods,” said Stengren, who has led Barrington to three straight supersectional appearances.
“(Fremd) has a player in Alexis Tice who is just everywhere in the middle,” said Pedersen, “and she wins everything in the air or on the ground, and she almost makes it look so easy the way that she does it.”
Despite the fact that 75 percent of the play was in the Fillies' end during the first half hour, the hosts started coming into the game when they were able to find Hyde in space along the outside, where the silky smooth senior was able to create threats off the dribble. Her effectiveness forced Keller to move Ashley McConnell over to mark the all-area senior after the break.
“We knew throughout preparation for this match that if we got the lead, that Ashley would defend Hyde, and she would end up doing a very good job on her in the second-half after (Hyde) caused us problems later in the first half,” said Keller.
Barrington was hemmed in at times with a barrage of Fremd dead-ball opportunities and corners. The Vikes converted on one of them when Jen Freeman's corner from the far flag invaded the box with plenty of pace and swerve, creating a scrum near the 6. When the ball fell free to the left of Pedersen, Kira Heggeland went the other way with her shot, which nestled just inside the far post.
“It was so important for us to score the first goal and to build some momentum from it — and all we talked about at the half was we needed to do whatever we had to for 40 minutes to hold Barrington in order to go the state tournament,” said Tice.
Kotsakis, who was held to just a few shots on frame during her 80 minutes, held a ball from out of the back, then cut to her left and fire a left-footed cracker off a Barrington player and over the endline for a corner at 52 minutes.
Freeman, as she has throughout the playoffs, sent another well-aimed corner to the head of Emily Basten, who ran freely in to thump the Vikings (18-3-2) ahead by 2 goals to none.
The Fillies responded and immediately tested Fremd keeper Shannon Norris by way of a shot from Aimee Pierce from the left end line. Moments later, the Fillies faithful were brought out of their seats when Pfeiffer bent her free kick from 22 yards around the Vikings wall and into the upper right corner.
“Molly is such a great player, and her goal off that free kick was exactly what we needed at the time,” said Pedersen.
The goal sparked the Filies into life, and the players also seemed boosted by the home crowd as well.
“The goal really helped us get back into the game, but it took us nearly an hour to get anything dangerous going, and (Fremd) really did a good job of keeping our chances to just a few before and after we scored,” said Pfeiffer.
“We had our chances to go up 2 or 3-0 in that first half, but when they closed to within a goal, we knew we were in for a frantic final 20 minutes of regulation,” Keller said.
Pedersen made sure her mates where still in it when on consecutive attempts from in close, she turned away Michelle Mottonen's free kick and Caroline Wagner off the rebound in the 63rd minute.
Stengren pushed Pfeiffer up to join Pierce and Hyde for the final quarter hour, but just as most of the first half would go, it was more of the same when the Fillies had hoped to get forward as the Vikings produced a pair of deep throws, one corner and another 3 free kicks down the stretch. That took precious minutes off the clock and kept Barrington's attack from getting started.
The Vikings stayed water-tight in the final minutes, then raced out into the center of the park to enjoy the moment, before accepting the silverware to officially send them through and into the 3A state semifinals.
“If you had told me beforehand that we would have kept Elise out of the back of the net, I would have said we would have had a great chance of winning tonight,” said Stengren. “But (Fremd) has been playing very well and deserved their result, so good luck to them this weekend, and I hope they go all the way.”