Girls soccer: Szostak, Warren advance to sectional at Prospect's expense
Warren's stay in the soccer postseason was extended for another day thanks to a thrilling 2-1 win over Prospect on Saturday when junior Ellen Szostak converted her spot-kick to give the Blue Devils a 5-4 shootout advantage.
Next up for Warren (14-8-2) will be its North Suburban Conference rival Libertyville in a sectional semifinal at Palatine on Tuesday.
"You would expect this type of match when you have the Nos. 3 and 6 seeds playing," Warren coach Ryan McCabe said after guiding his group to its first regional title since 2007. "Although it's a tough way to decide who advances, it still was a very exciting and hard-fought game for both sides."
Both teams scored in overtime, with Warren striking first.
"I think we showed a lot of heart after we surrendered that goal late in the second overtime period and really fought back so well to get back even, just as we have all season long," said Prospect coach Tom Froats, who watched this club go from 6-14-1 a year ago to a sparkling 13-6-4 this season.
The Knights enjoyed the run of play during the opening quarter hour. They were in control thanks to the pace and high work rate of their young strike force up top, Shawna Stokes and Ella Marzolf. Stokes ended an enterprising run up the left side by rattling the near post with two defenders all over her in the seventh minute.
Just after the half-hour, Marzolf collected a wayward ball in the Warren end and with wonderful precision forced keeper Skylar Reilly to save a 22-yard attempt.
Stokes created a trio of corners, while her teammates generated a handful of deep throws during the first half to keep the Blue Devils under pressure. But with help of Natalie McNally and others, Warren kept the ball out of its net at the intermission.
"We were prepared for a tough game," said McNally, who won countless first and second balls in the middle of the park, while running from box to box and touchline to touchline to help the Blue Devils' cause. "Although we had a little bit of a rough start, I thought we fought hard during that first half and finally put them on their heels with a couple of good chances in the second half."
An offsides flag pulled the first goal of the day back after Ashley Welk scored for Prospect in the 45th minute. Minutes later, Marzolf found the post with her 24-yard free kick.
The game came to life with a handful of quality chances, the first coming when McNally connected with Szostak, who played a ball to Jamie Kwon, who unloaded a point-blank missile that Prospect keeper Mehgan Rickett turned around the post.
Rickett's 56-minute save kept things scoreless the rest of the way and through the first extra ten-minute session.
At 92 minutes, Kaitlyn Chomko ran alone onto a Aliyah Parker corner and drove her attempt past a helpless Rickett. But four minutes later, Ashley Welk's equalizer guaranteed this final would be decided in a shootout.
Once there, each club converted four of its five first-round kicks, before Rickett saved the first Warren attempt in the sixth round.
Szostak calmly sent her weighted attempt off the gloves of Rickett, who in full extension nearly stopped the game-winner.
"It wasn't a pretty 100 minutes of soccer," McCabe said. "But that's because it was a physical, hard-fought game that saw every tackle challenged very hard by both teams."