Girls soccer: Warren preps for playoffs with win over Deerfield

Warren's girls soccer team appears to be ready for the postseason after going unbeaten this week.

In their regular-season finale, the Blue Devils pushed past Deerfield 3-1 in a nonconference match Friday night.

Warren (18-1-2) had beaten Stevenson on Monday to finish unbeaten in the North Suburban Conference, its only blemish a tie with Mundelein. They went on to earn a 2-2 draw at Maine South on Thursday before topping Deerfield.

"We did have some battles this week," Warren coach Ryan McCabe said. "We've done this in the last few years, and I think all programs benefit from it. No doubt the game we played (Thursday night) felt like a playoff game - both teams didn't let up. Then against Deerfield, they had a really strong defense. It took us a while to break them down.

"I think we're pretty eager to get to the playoffs. The girls have some pretty high hopes to make a deep run into the state tournament."

Warren opens up the state tournament as the second seed in its own Class 3A sectional and will play first meet No. 15 seed Waukegan in a Stevenson regional opener at 6:30 p.m. Tuesday. Deerfield (8-9-4), playing as the No. 6 seed in its own Class 2A sectional, will meet No. 10 seed Grayslake Central in the Vernon Hills regional at 5 p.m. Tuesday.

Against Deerfield, the Blue Devils looked ready for the postseason.

First, Ellen Szostak scored the opening goal in the 38th minute for her ninth goal this season. Alissa Ramsden had the assist.

"I was staying wide as an option," Szostak said. "I saw my defender dropped back so far, but the rest of her line stepped up. So I had a wide open space that I ran into. I had a perfect ball right to my feet and I finished it."

Alliyah Parker then worked a combination play with Courtney Parker in the final third of the field; Parker scored the second Warren goal in the 50th minute.

Four minutes later, Courtney Chomko found the back of the net with an assist from her sister Kaitlyn for the 3-0 advantage.

Deerfield got a goal back in the 61st minute when Riley Halpern connected on a free kick outside the box into the top left corner.

"We had a pretty good performance and we knew that Warren was a pretty good team," Deerfield coach Rich Grady said. "(Warren) made some nice plays to break us down at times. We had some chances and we executed our game plan."