Girls soccer: Adept Adrian aims game-winner into net for Fremd
Missy Adrian netted a brilliant goal, and the collective defensive effort from her teammates from Fremd were enough to lift the Vikings' girls soccer team past Neuqua Valley 1-0 on Thursday.
The victory sends Steve Keller's club into Friday's semifinals of the Naperville Invite. The Vikings (11-1-1) will face No. 1 Naperville North at 5 p.m. at Naperville Central.
The Huskies defeated St. Charles East 1-0 in overtime.
"That was a fun and entertaining game just to watch, but let me tell you, Neuqua Valley is an excellent team," said Keller, who held his breath in the first quarter-hour while the Wildcats showed marvelous speed and a first-class attack led by senior Jenna Lafferty.
"I thought we came out well at the start," said Lafferty, who will play next fall at Loyola Marymount in California. "But we didn't finish the chances we created. And after (Fremd) scored and began to play a little more direct, we had trouble with that."
"No. 7 (Lafferty) and No. 13 (Ryan Gareis) gave us so much trouble right from the start," said Keller, "but after we weathered the storm, and began to settle in a little bit more, the game slowly turned in our favor - (with) a lot of the credit for that going to our back line and our keeper, Kelsie Stone."
Stone had plenty of praise on the teammates in front of her: Julia Szylke, Lauren Burk, Jennifer Josten and Marta Cholewa. Stone, Julia Leonard and Adrian were all in agreement that Cholewa deserved player-of-the game honors.
"Marta was amazing tonight," Leonard said. "She tackled everything in site, and didn't let anything get behind her."
Two of the best soccer clubs in the state looked the part at various times at Hildebrandt Field. The visiting Wildcats (6-3-3) were a technical wonder when on the attack, while the hosts stayed composed and defensively solid.
Stone made a couple of fearless clearing efforts in the first half.
She elevated high above traffic in her box to punch dangerous balls sent in by the Wildcats, while showing plenty of confidence in the air when required.
After a goal-less 40 minutes, the Vikings enjoyed a little bit more of the run of play to begin the second period.
But it some quality ball movement from Erin Sweda and Veda Tappin led to Haley Singer having a go at Stone in the 46th minute.
Moments later, Sweda orchestrated another chance, this time from Alyssa Bombacino. If she would have been able to bring down a lovely ball from Tappin, there would have been in a one-on-one opportunity in close with Stone.
Ten minutes later, Adrian struck the eventual game-winner with a superb individual effort after Leonard sprung her free up the right side.
The senior used a burst of speed to get a step on her defender. Then at full speed, Adrian made a move to go inside that gave her even more space before steering her shot past Kasey Gillespie.
"It was just a great goal, and after that, we just did all that we could to frustrate Neuqua defensively by keeping everything in front of us, and staying really organized along the back," Stone said.
"I thought our overall play in the first half wasn't anywhere near what it should have been, but in the second half we played so much better,' said Neuqua Valley coach Joe Moreau. "But Steve's team defended well, especially after the first goal, and hopefully we learned something from that."
The Wildcats will meet St. Charles East on Friday at Naperville North.