Dundee-Crown outlasts Jacobs in PKs

Freshman Samantha Christensen entered the 2015 season with high expectations.

The first-year player was expected to be a major contributor for Dundee-Crown's girls soccer team.

A broken bone in her hand sidelined Christensen until late April but she's been making up for lost time since.

Christensen's penalty kick goal gave the Chargers an exhilarating 5-4 win over District 300 rival Jacobs in Fox Valley Conference Valley Division action in Algonquin Tuesday night. D-C outscored Jacobs 4-3 in penalty kicks.

"It is an amazing feeling," said Christensen. "I didn't think about the shot and the importance of the shot. I just placed the shot where I thought it should go. We have had a tough season but this is a great win against our rival."

D-C coach Sebastian Falinski is happy to have Christensen for the next 3 years,

"Samantha has battled through a lot this season," said Falinski, "You are going to hear a lot from Samantha in the future. She is a talented player. She showed a lot of poise in a pressure situation."

Payton DeLuga, who scored 2 goals in regulation time, scored the Chargers' (4-13-1, 1-4) first goal of the penalty kick session.

"Payton's leadership was tremendous," said Falinski. "She made sure we didn't lose."

Also scoring on penalty kicks for D-C were Healy Ramirez and Alyssa Moreno.

Jacobs (4-14-1, 1-4) received penalty kick goals from Caroline Craig, Heather Hoffman and Maddie Belo.

The Golden Eagles, who outshot the visiting Chargers 20-11, dominated play in the first half and led 3-1 after 40 minutes.

Actually, D-C struck first as DeLuga scored on a penalty kick with only 1:17 elapsed in the game.

Jacobs scored 3 unanswered goals 1 each by Caitlin Strong, Hoffman and Mikaela Thomas.

But the resilient Chargers refused to quit as Moreno scored with only 35 seconds gone in the second half.

The Golden Eagles looked to be in good shape when Thomas scored with 24 minutes left. DeLuga and Ramirez scored for the Chargers to tie the score at 4.

During the last 20 minutes of regulation and 20 minutes of 2 overtimes, neither team scored.

"I told the kids at halftime to not let up with a 3-1 lead and get comfortable," said Jacobs coach Stephanie Schuck. "We let up and gave them that early goal to start the second half. The effort was tremendous. It would have been nice to get another conference win."