Collective effort helps Buffalo Grove past Warren

Kelli Zickert can turn a soccer game around, but she's not the only threat on Buffalo Grove's team.

Zickert stepped her game up and got help from her teammates during a 4-goal outburst in the second half Tuesday night.

Their efforts allowed the top-seeded Bison to beat unseeded Warren 5-1 in the Round of 16 in the PepsiCo tournament in Buffalo Grove.

Buffalo Grove (11-0) will next play at No. 9 Metea Valley on Thursday. Metea Valley pulled off a 3-1 upset of No. 8 Lake Forest on the road.

Buffalo Grove and Warren were deadlocked 1-1 at halftime.

"It was a little sloppy in the first half," Zickert said. "We definitely had to make some adjustments to compete. We needed to be crisp with our passes, connect and make it plain and simple."

Zickert set up the tiebreaking goal with a move past a defender. She sent a ball from the end line back to the middle, where Allie Ingham found the back of the net in the 44th minute.

"You always want to go to the line to see what you can get out of it," Zickert said. "We have players in the box. The ultimate goal is to play the ball in there."

The Bison followed Ingham's goal with three more. Georgette Topalis scored at the back post off a cross from Sabrina Guercio in the 50th minute. Jessica Kovach finished Zickert's pass at the hour mark, before Zickert tallied herself in the 74th minute.

Colleen Zickert had opened the scoring for Buffalo Grove in the second minute, as she headed in a cross from Skyler Groth.

But Warren (4-2-1) maintained it composure throughout the first half and tied the game in the final two seconds. Katherine Schwede netted the equalizer, heading in a corner kick from Alliyah Parker.

Buffalo Grove was coming off a huge 3-2 win over Barrington Monday in snowy conditions.

"We were a little upset that (Warren) scored in the last seconds," Buffalo Grove coach Pat Dudle said. "We've got to be so mentally strong this week. We have conference games along with games in the PepsiCo tournament. Coming off a big victory over Barrington, it was one of those games that you circle on the calendar. It's a benchmark of our season. This is a great tournament that we're in and we want to be going further and further.

"Warren plays so hard and they're a good young team," Dudle added. "I thought we were smarter with our runs from our forwards (in the second half) and got under their defenders better. Credit Warren. They played a strong game."

Warren carried much of the possession throughout the first half, after spotting the Bison a goal.

"We were definitely building and you could feel the momentum starting to swing our way," Warren coach Ryan McCabe said. "That was after we gave up the early goal. The goal we got was well-earned. We deserved it. Usually when you get beat 5-1, you don't get too many positives out of it. We've got a young team. Being able to recover from the early setback and start to get the ball rolling again was really encouraging."