Girls soccer: Cella, Evanston frustrate Fremd

Fremd's girls soccer team opened pool play in the 19th annual Naperville Invite with a 2-0 loss to highly regarded Evanston on Thursday afternoon at New Trier Stadium.

Junior Maia Cella was the scoring hero for the Wildkits (11-1-2) first finding the back of the net at five minutes, and then again 10 minutes from time.

Just two weeks ago, Evanston fell 2-1 in OT to the No. 1-ranked Trevians, which remains the Wildkits' only loss to date.

The Vikings (3-4-4) had little time for recovery after going late into the night on Wednesday before defeating Hoffman Estates 2-1 in overtime. The match finished well after 11 p.m. after several weather delays.

"While it's true it seems like we just finished that our game with Hoffman and didn't really have an opportunity to get enough rest, it's still no excuse for the way we played in that first half when Evanston came out and completely dominated play," said Fremd keeper Kelsie Stone, who sharp throughout and had terrific saves on 3 attempts to help keep her team in contention. "Coach (Keller) told us at the half that our effort was not what it had to be, and after the break that's one thing where I saw some real improvement. And it showed because we finally began to play, putting some pressure on Evanston - which was a very good opponent."

The Vikings had no answer for the pace and energy displayed by Cella and Alex Berkley. Also key were freshman Hadley Bushala the Wildkits' outside-backs, who freely got forward to add to Fremd's concerns.

"They were a very athletic team, and they were beating us to nearly every ball in that first half," said Stone, who had no chance on Cella's first strike from close range. "We struggled with their speed and effort."

Stone made the first of her three sensational stops in the 27th minute against Berkley after a well orchestrated build-up helped put the senior in close.

Just after the intermission, Stone was at it again, this time with a acrobatic save which required her to get horizontal to turn around a Vanessa Eljaiek smash.

"Kelsie had a great game for us today," Keller said. "She saved us three times and gave us the chance when it stayed 1-0 for so long to pull one back and make it a game."

Around the hour mark, the Vikings' attack showed some life as the back line of Courtney Baker, Kellie Halloran, Marta Cholewa and Jennifer Josten kept a talented Evanston attack under wraps.

Despite enjoying the run of play, the Vikings were unable to put anything dangerous on frame before Cella doubled the Evanston advantage in the 70th minute.

"We had such a dynamic start to this game and really could have had two or three more to make it easy on ourselves," said Evanston coach Maurizio Grillo. "But their keeper made some terrific saves, and our attack wilted after 25-30 minutes. We're a little tired right now, and it doesn't get any easier for us with two more games this weekend, giving us six in seven days."

Next up for the Vikings will be Hinsdale Central at noon Saturday.

Maine West 0, Niles North 0: Eighty minutes could not separate Maine West and Niles North Thursday night as the teams played to a scoreless draw in a Central Suburban North contest in Skokie.

The outcome wasn't quite satisfactory for Maine West coach Jeff Bishop.

"If we had played half as well as we did the other night against Deerfield, one of the best in our conference, we could easily have come out of here with a win tonight," said Bishop, whose club lost to Deerfield (9-3-0) Tuesday 2-1.

"I don't know what it was with us," the coach said. "We always seemed a second too slow on getting to 50-50 balls and with our passes, which we just missed connecting. And on the other side of things, you have to credit their keeper (Nina Yonen), who probably took 2 or 3 goals away from us with some great saves."

Yonen's performance was a beauty.

"Nina is our best player, and you saw how important she is to our team," said Niles North coach Paul Elkins, who is the head coach of the boys program at Prospect during the fall. "But the girls put forth a lot of effort in this game, and I really felt it was a fair result in the end."

There was nearly a 20-minute period during the first half when it was all one-way traffic for the Warriors (2-4-1), who played with speed, purpose and confidence.

Rachel Kolling and Dorothy Calba had control in the midfield, both generating chances for forward Ally Block and Julie Garcia to work against Niles North (2-4-1).

"We just weren't sharp enough in their final third, and if it wasn't that, it was our inability to connect our passes which led to us not finishing our chances," said Calba, one three captains for Bishop.

Both Kolling and Calba were denied by Yonen during the first period. But the Vikings senior had an easier time of it after the break, despite most the play still being in Niles North's end.

The Warriors created plenty of half chances, with all sent wide or over the bar. Calba ran freely onto a well-placed ball sent though from Garcia, but it resulted in a side-footed one-timer going well over Yonen. Carly Hart combine with Vanessa Reyes to force yet another save from Yonen, and in the 74th minute, Allie Webb had a shot hit the post.

"It was such a frustrating night and result," said Bishop. "We did some good things, only to have their keeper and sweeper (Rose Zubeck) come up with some big plays. But again, it was such a big drop-off following the effort against Deerfield."