Kaneland comes back, beats DeKalb

After a series of lopsided victories, Kaneland coach Scott Parillo was anxious to see how his team would respond to a challenge.

He received the answer he was hoping for in Thursday's physical Northern Illinois Big XII East contest at DeKalb.

The hosts Barbs struck first midway through the opening half, but the Knights regrouped and answered with a pair of goals to collect a hard-fought 2-1 win.

"That was good. We had to have that. We had to go down and face adversity," Parillo said. "The farther you go in the playoffs the more you get scored on. We have to figure how we're going to deal with a team when they score on us and we did it today."

In the 19th minute, Kaneland (13-2, 4-1) nearly got on the board when Emily Grams' long lofting shot against the wind caromed off the crossbar and Madison Jurcenko fired high on the rebound.

Two minutes later, DeKalb's Sam Myers-Miller answered with a blast off the crossbar. Freshman McKenna Wallin gathered the rebound and slotted it past Knights' keeper Emily Chapman.

With 12 minutes left in the half, Kaneland caught a break and found the equalizer. Sprung by Holly Collingbourne, Courtney Diddell made a nice run down the right sideline and her cross went off DeKalb defender Riley Bauling into the net.

"I didn't think it was going in to be honest, but it went off their girl and thankfully it got us a tie," Diddell said.

The Knights came out invigorated with the wind at their back to open the second half.

Kiandra Powell broke free down the middle after stealing a clearing attempt, then trickled in a shot off keeper Lauren Hagelstein's hand into the right corner with 31:22 left.

"As soon as I hit the ball off my leg I knew I was going for the corner," Powell said. "It's redemption because I went right over the goal last year."

DeKalb (11-6, 3-2) made a strong push and came within inches of tying the game when Caitlyn Hottsmith hit the crossbar with 12 minutes left.

"They're just like us. Nobody wants to lose, especially a conference game," Parillo said. "Our last three games with DeKalb we've won by one goal. This prepares us for the playoffs. This was fun."