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Hersey starts well against Highland Park

Jessica Schmidt's first-half scoring double helped breathe life into Mid-Suburban East champ Hersey as it handled No. 14 seed Highland Park 7-0 Tuesday afternoon in a girls soccer regional opener at Roland Goins Stadium in Arlington Heights.

Next up for the No. 3 seed Huskies (14-5-3) will be No. 6 Glenbrook South (16-4-3) in the finals on Saturday afternoon, after the Titans came from behind to beat Palatine 4-3 late Tuesday.

"Your biggest concern at this time of the year is what kind of energy and urgency your team will bring with them, and I have to say those concerns were alleviated with a pretty strong start against a team that played much better than its record during the first 10-15 minutes," said Hersey coach Darren Llewellyn.

Schmidt helped her club get off to a great start when she struck for her first goal just 11 minutes into the match before doubling the Huskies' advantage in the 19th minute.

"I thought we did well early on, got a couple of great saves from Grace (Quirk) but gave up a couple of quick goals, and that was the story today, much as it's been the entire season," said Highland Park coach Kate Straka, who played her college soccer at Duke University as the keeper there.

Quirk, who was recently named all-state and will play next fall at Wisconsin, flashed her D-I skills when she made a superb point-blank stop on Schmidt. Unfortunately for Highland Park, the the rebound spilled nicely to the Huskies striker who calmly finished what she started to make it 2-0.

"It's always good to be the first to score, and even better to put another one in to help keep our momentum going, so it was a good night for us, and now we get a chance to play for a regional title this weekend," same Schmidt, who leads Hersey with 11 goals.

The visitors played a high, tight off-sides trap during the first period, helping keep Hersey contained. But the constant defending by the Giants (1-14-2) and their inability to win balls in the middle slowly took its toll after the break. And then Hersey unleashed a 5-goal explosion, including three in a four-minute span.

Grace Kozurek collected a wonderful ball out of the back from Kayla Knauss and drove a left-footer past Quirk, who had come out to cut the angle in the 44th minute. Then Abby Wendell went into an open net 60 seconds later after Rachel Swift and Sara Magnuson drew Quick far off her line with some marvelous passing.

Wendell adding another goal in the 48th minute, and not long after, Llewellyn began to bring many of his starters off for a long rest.

Sophomore Gina Miklasz and Knauss added to the total with late goals.

"The confidence of Highland Park grew a little as they began to play and connect some passes during a nice sequence they had in that first half, but Jessica's two goals kind of ended that for them," said Llewellyn, "And after that you could see our work rate and effort begin to take over."

  Hersey's Gina Miklasz, left, and Highland Park's Robin Israel make contact as they pursue the ball during Tuesday's match in Arlington Heights. Joe Lewnard/jlewnard@dailyherald.com
  Hersey's Gina Miklasz directs the ball toward the net with a header during Tuesday's match against Highland Park in Arlington Heights. Joe Lewnard/jlewnard@dailyherald.com
  Hersey's Gina Miklasz, left, directs a header toward the goal in front of Highland Park's Maddie Andrews (22) and Claire Powell, right, during Tuesday's match in Arlington Heights. Joe Lewnard/jlewnard@dailyherald.com
  Hersey's Kelly Weyhrich, left, controls the ball in front of Highland Park's Lindsay Friedman during Tuesday's match in Arlington Heights. Joe Lewnard/jlewnard@dailyherald.com
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