Girls soccer: Warren measures up against WW South

Warren's girls soccer team was eager to find out if it was ready to face top competition, and the second-seeded Blue Devils knew they'd find out in the opening round of the PepsiCo tournament.

Warren let a 3-goal, second-half outburst that covered eight minutes tell the story as it claimed a 3-0 victory over No. 15 seed Wheaten Warrenville South at Olympic Park in Schaumburg on Saturday morning.

Alliyah Parker scored twice and Rebecca Pineau had the other Warren goal, while Kaitlyn Chomko, Maddie Gryzik and Jessica Dietzen each picked up assists.

Keeper Skylar Reilly made 4 stops earning another shutout for Warren (7-0), which has outscored its opponents 31-4 in seven games.

Warren next hosts North Suburban Conference rival Lake Forest at 7:30 p.m. Thursday. The No. 10 Scouts blanked No. Glenbard East 3-0 on Saturday.

"It's odd, but it's OK and I'll take it," Warren coach Ryan McCabe said. "The girls got that first goal, it was kind of a fluky goal. We had the run of play and it kind of was deserved. Then you get a little shot of confidence, and then you get another one. It kind of snowballs from there."

McCabe says there's no substitue for getting positive feedback against quality foes.

"We had played some good games in St. Louis, then we had some good teams come against us (in Illinois)," he said. "It definitely builds confidence for our girls to continue to where we're at throughout the season."

Warren had the daunting task of playing against a stiff wind in the first half but still managed to keep Wheaton Warrenville South (3-2) off the board.

The Blue Devils scored in the 61st minute. Pineau, who hadn't scored since the opening game of the season against Lakes, found the back of the net after taking a pass from Kaitlyn Chomko.

"It was a struggle to get it, but one of the things the coach tells us is to envision ourselves doing it." Pineau said. "That's all I was thinking about. When the ball was coming to me, I just wanted to do it and it felt so good to get it."

Parker added scored about 90 seconds later after taking a pass from Dietzen. Parker scored again in the 68th minute, this time with an assist from Gryzik.

"We kind of got deflated and that was disappointing," Wheaton Warrenville South coach Guy Callipari said. "That's when we gave up the first one. (Warren) had the wind at their backs, and we made a mistake. After that we were on our heels a little bit.

"Give credit to where it's due, (Warren) was very well organized, very strong on the ball, they kept the ball moving in and out. We just got tired and a little soft, and we allowed (Parker) some good looks and she finished twice on us. I thought this was the best team we've played so far."

Metea Valley 5, Libertyville 1: Libertyville, seeded 14th in the PepsiCo tournament, hadn't played a match in 2½ weeks.

It seemed to make a difference against Metea Valley, which was coming off recent top competition in Missouri's Parkway Showcase along with narrow losses to Neuqua Valley (3-2) and Naperville North (1-0).

Metea Valley (4-2-2) rose to the occasion, scoring three times against the wind the first half before breezing past Libertyville 5-1.

"The style of soccer that we play - the wind really doesn't have much of an impact, unless you're shooting or clearing the ball," Metea Valley coach Chris Whaley said. "It was nice, but it took five to six minutes for us to get settled in. Once we did, we were able to keep it in (Libertyville's) end of the field to get some big shots.

"We had a tough week and a half, playing some of the toughest teams in the state. We were anxious to see some good results."

Sophia Majher opened the scoring in the 20th minute with an assist from Sophia Senese.

Then Michigan-bound Nicki Hernandez scored her sixth goal of the season after taking a pass from Maeve Riorden in the 24th minute for a 2-0 advantage. Taylor Rohm made it 3-0 in the 34th minute.

"We were able to connect with our midfielders," Hernandez said.

Libertyville (1-2) managed to get a goal back about a minute later, as Makenna Yoor sent a shot under the crossbar assisted by Mary Murphy to make it 3-1.

Metea Valley added second-half goals from Abby Severson and MaKenna Schoolman.

"We've only been outside three times and haven't had a chance to play," Libertyville coach Kevin Thunholm said. "This was a smaller field then we're used to. So we didn't play our game. We didn't have a good first half - played better second half, but ran out of gas. (Metea Valley) was really good up top and it was a lot to handle."

Crystal Lake South 2, Carmel Catholic 1: As the No. 5 seed, Carmel Catholic entered Saturday's matchup with Crystal Lake South intent on living up to its position.

The 12th-seeded Gators had other ideas, though, and emerged with a 2-1 victory.

Crystal Lake South (4-0-1) came from behind in the second half, as Brooke Dunteman scored the game-winner and Courtney Sengstock had the other goal. Carmel's goal was scored by Skylar Thomas.

The Corsairs (1-2-1) played the game without senior midfielder Abby Potter, who was lost for the remainder of the season after suffering a torn ACL on Tuesday night against Warren.

Crystal Lake South was pleased with a ground-breaking result.

"It's the first time we've gotten a win in the first game of this tournament," Crystal Lake South coach Jay Mueller said. "This tournament has beaten us up the last couple of years. So it's good to come out and advance in the bracket for once.

"I like how the team responded, the way we bounced back - I'm happy about it."

After a scoreless first half, Carmel took a 1-0 lead in the 43rd minute as Thomas scored off a pass from Lily Sykes.

The Gators tied it with a little help from the wind. Keeper Annika Sevcik sent a punt aided by the wind that landed outside the Corsairs box. The ball took a big bounce and Sengstock caught with and scored, tying it 1-1 in the 45th minute.

Crystal Lake South got the go-ahead goal in the 53rd minute from Dunteman, a sophomore, positioned in front of the goal.

"I was going to the far post," said Dunteman, who picked up her first goal of the season. "I knew the ball wouldn't go to far. So I was able to play the ball away from the goalie to the right side, and it ended up going in."

Carmel is looking for better consistency defensively, and the Corsairs also want to generate more scoring chances. But they were pleased to have at least earned a led in this one.

"We didn't take advantage of the wind in the first half, and it really wasn't our style," Carmel coach Ray Krawzak said. "We got the lead but we gave it up on the lack off physicality. (Crystal Lake South) was stronger than us for a few moments. We didn't keep things together and our shape fell apart."