Girls soccer: Libertyville advances, at Mundelein's expense

Getting past the regional final has been a tough task for the girls soccer teams from both Libertyville and Mundelein in recent years.

In the regular season this spring, Mundelein defeated Libertyville, thus keeping the Wildcats from a shot at the North Suburban Lake title.

Friday night, it was payback time as second-seeded Libertyville surged to victory with a pair of goals late in the first half and rolled past seventh-seeded Mundelein 4-1 in the Class 3A Buffalo Grove regional final.

Libertyville (12-4-2) next meets the winner of Saturday's matchup between No. 3 Prospect and No. 6 Warren winner at 7 p.m. Tuesday in a Palatine sectional semifinal.

"We played really well and had a lot of good opportunities," Libertyville coach Andy Bitta said. "The main thing is that we finished.

"Mundelein was very competitive, and they play very good defense. We had a couple of nice shots and scored. I think those two goals broke their back before the end of the half."

For the Wildcats, it would appear everything's coming together at the right time. Libertyville has scored 14 goals in two regional games.

"I hope we're peaking at the right time," Bitta said. "We're finally starting to score some goals. We had about 160 minutes without scoring anything, and now we're starting to score."

On Friday, Mundelein (12-6-4) had the first good shot, which went off the crossbar in the fifth minute.

Libertyville scored in the next minute, as Jackie Widmark sent a service down the right line. Maddie Olson controlled the ball and chipped it into corner for a 1-0 lead.

The Mustangs tied it in the 33rd minute after a foul outside the penalty area. Janeece Ader placed the ball into the top corner off a free kick.

But the Wildcats took over the lead for good in the 37th minute. After Mekenna Yoor was tripped in the penalty area, Widmark followed up with a penalty kick into the low left corner.

"I just had to focus, pick a spot and stuff it in," Widmark said. "The goal did get the momentum back and that helped us."

Libertyville added another goal a few minutes later in the final 11 seconds before the break, as Julie Neiweem delievered a free kick from long range for a 3-1 advantage.

"I thought we played well in the first half," Mundelein coach Ernie Billittier said. "Janeece (Ader) buried the ball into the back of the net to tie. But when you're playing a quality team with a quality coaching staff, you can't afford to give up 2 goals in the last few minutes in a half. Instead of going in 1-1 feeling good, you go in down 2 and scratching your head trying to find solutions."

The Wildcats added another insurance goal in the 63rd minute. Annie Thompson took a throw-in from Yoor, made a move off the end line, beat a defender and found the back of the net for the 4-1 lead.

Though the Mustangs were denied advancement, for the last four years they have reached the regional final and program continues to generate double digits in victories.

"I'm proud of my girls, especially our seniors that have set a high standard here," Billittier said. "They've won close to 40 games in their varsity career in the last three years. We've got to get over the regional hump."