Girls soccer: IC Catholic Prep seniors take it a step further
As freshmen in 2014, five current IC Catholic Prep seniors fell a goal short of reaching the Class 1A soccer semifinals.
On Tuesday that group and their current Knights' teammates flipped the script.
Behind a first half goal by Grace Fuller, IC held on for a 1-0 victory over Chicago University High School among rainy conditions at Concordia University in River Forest.
The Knights (21-5) advance to play Peoria Notre Dame at 7 p.m. Friday at North Central College. The team will be making its first appearance in the state semifinals; in 2008 IC advanced to state but lost in the quarters.
"It's tremendous," said IC coach Tom Schergen. "There is a group of seniors on this team who as freshmen went to the supersectional. They got to experience what a supersectional loss feels like. Those seniors on the field knew that feeling and they had that extra gear at the end.
"They got it done. They did what they had to do to preserve that one goal lead."
Fuller's goal came with just less than four minutes remaining in the first half. The junior beat a couple of defenders and then sent a hard shot that the U-High goalkeeper couldn't handle.
"I guess it was a good shot, it went in," Fuller said. "The conditions made it better, I think it slipped through her hands."
The Knights made that goal stand up, thanks in large part to a pair of great diving saves by goalkeeper Rochelle Spizzirri on breakaways. On both of those attempts, the junior came way off her goal line. Defender Kaitlyn Grady also saved a potential goal in the second half by kicking the ball out of bounds when Spizzirri was beaten.
"I second guess myself sometimes," said Spizzirri, when asked about venturing out away from her goal. "And sometimes I've paid the consequences for that. So I was watching the ball and when I knew I had to go at them, I just had to do it and not second guess myself. Because at that point, it's too late.
"This is a great accomplishment. We put this out at the beginning of the year as our main goal."
IC will take a 10-game winning streak into the state semifinals.
"I definitely wanted to end my career at North Central," said senior Tessa Langan, who leads IC with 31 goals. "We've built up a lot of chemistry. And I think the big difference this year, everyone on our team really wants it."