Fremd finds its offense
Fremd’s girl soccer team put its recent scoring woes behind them with an 7-goal explosion Friday night at the expense of an injury-depleted squad from Hoffman Estates in Mid-Suburban West play.
The Vikings (2-2-0, 1-1-0) raced to a 5-0 lead at the break, then cruised to their first divisional victory while sending the host Hawks to their third straight defeat.
“We’ve really struggled to score goals in the early part of the year, so it was good for us to finally put a few (in) tonight, and hopefully it help get that part of our game going after spring break,” said Vikings backline star Emily Basten, who got into the back of the net in the 12th minute to increase the visitors’ lead to 3-0.
“We no longer have a top-flight finisher with Elise (Kotsakis) gone and playing at Butler, and in addition to her, we lost three others who could attack and get forward, and create for the others,” said Fremd coach Steve Keller, who led the Vikings to a fourth-place finish at the state tournament last June. “There’s a lot of work ahead for us, but we’ll continue to work and see where we are in another couple of weeks.”
The visitors took full advantage of nine Hawks players either on the injured list or gone for spring break.
Rebecca Freeman converted a PK from the spot just four minutes into the match, and the Vikings never looked back.
Kira Heggland ran freely to the back post to finish Jessa Rizzo’s serve from the near flag. Then it was Basten’s one-timer in close before Jessa Corso was allowed to run onto a loose ball given up when Hawks’ keeper went high into the air to push away a serve from Freeman from the near flag.
“We’ve just been torn apart by injuries, many of them concussions,” said Hawks head coach Ralph Tooren. “So right now, we’ve got players in spots they normally don’t play, and we’re just asking everyone to keep their heads up through this bit of bad luck we’re going through, playing as hard as they can — which they have.”
The best looking goal of the first-half went to varsity newcomer Cassie Etelemaki, who took the ball from 30 yards and tricked her way through the Hawks’ defense before firing into the net in the 32nd minute.
The Hawks had a spell when they seemed to find their pace with all-area striker Mary Pettit and sophomore playmaker Natalia Pene. But it didn’t last long as Basten, Freeman and Courtney Norenberg were air-tight, never allowing either keeper, Rachel Tenuta and Christine Piasecki, a nervous moment en route to the shared shutout.
“We started by playing four in the back, and recently went to three,” said Basten, “but I know that (Keller) will be tweaking our formation a few more times before we finally settle in for good.”