Second-half surge lifts Libertyville past St. Viator

Libertyville, a high school girls soccer team with several experienced players, has high expectations this season.

One of those proven athletes is senior Annie Thompson, who's seen the program grow quite a bit since her freshman year. And she's a vocal reason for the high expectations as well.

Against visiting St. Viator on Tuesday, Thompson scored on a header and also assisted on a goal as Libertyville scored 3 second-half goals to prevail 3-1 in nonconference play.

"This year, we have the most team chemistry out of any year," Thompson said. "We really want to work for each other, and we set our goals high. We would like to make the state tournament this year."

The Wildcats are off and running after winning their season opener.

"We're off to a good start," Libertyville coach Andy Bitta said. "I thought we could've scored more, but the girls got all their jitters out. We did work on a lot of things for the first game."

Bitta said it might be the best group he's had since returning to coach the girls program at Libertyville a couple of seasons ago.

Libertyville dominated play in the opening half but didn't have anything to show for it. The Wildcats kept sending shots on goal, but Lions keeper Colleen Gallagher made 9 of her 11 stops in the first 20 minutes to keep it tied at 0-0.

Thompson broke through with the first goal in the 43rd minute, gaining possession of the ball from a defender and scoring on a headball.

"We were knocking on the door the entire first half," Thompson said. "There was a lot of frustration after that first half. So, to score on that was really relieving. I was really surprised to see it go in."

Taylor Underwood made it 2-0 in favor of the Wildcats in the 53rd minute. She received a service off the leg of Emily Olson from near midfield. Underwood got the ball under control, beat a defender and scored.

"I just tapped the ball over the defender," Underwood said. "But after missing a number of shots, I knew I had to put this in. I just aimed for the corner."

The Wildcats got an insurance goal in the 64th minute for a 3-0 advantage after finishing a well-developed play from the back. Julia Neiween sent a long ball down the right side; Thompson received it and then connected with Natalie Jaroch for the shot.

St. Viator (1-0-1) got on the board with a late goal in the 71st minute. Maggie Leazer scored off a corner kick from Lauren Kohn.

"It's the beginning of the season and you play tough teams," said St. Viator coach Mike Taylor, whose team tied Buffalo Grove 1-1 on Monday. "(Libertyville) was far more athletic than us. We do start 6 or 7 new kids. It's going to take us a little while to find our feet. I thought our keeper (Gallagher) played well in the first half to keep us in it. She did a nice job and made some nice saves.

"We did keep a good shape in the first half. Second half, for some reason, we lost it a little bit. We will get better as the season goes on."