Girls soccer: Wauconda starts new win streak

Wauconda started its season with a seven-game winning streak, which was stopped by Wheaten Warrenville South in the PepsiCo Showdown semifinals last Thursday.

The Bulldogs intended to get back on the winning track in opening up their Northern Lake County Conference schedule Tuesday.

Wauconda got a goal from Oceanna Pfeiffer, and that was good enough for a 1-0 shutout over visiting Antioch.

"We did talk before the game about trying to get our swagger back, and getting back into the win column," said Wauconda coach Beau Shogren whose team is 8-1. "We knew it wasn't going to be easy. (Antioch) was very disciplined in the back and they've got an excellent goalkeeper (Monica Wilhelm, 6 saves) that stopped a few of our chances in the first half.

"The second half was trying to get the ball in the mixer, and eventually we put one in. It wasn't the prettiest goal in the world but we'll take it."

Wauconda played without Kayla Wisniewski for the second straight game because of a pulled hamstring.

"She's getting closer and doing well," Shogren said.

Pfeiffer came up with the game-winner in the 60th minute off a corner kick that was bouncing around in the box.

"It was a scramble in there," said Pfeiffer, who picked up her second goal this season. "Rosie shot it and it hit a defender. I just smashed it. I just saw it bouncing and wanted to get it in the goal. I'm glad that I was able to help the team out."

Jill Rejczyk earned her sixth clean sheet with 7 stops, including one in midair.

Antioch (5-3-2, 1-1) had been playing very well and was riding a seven-game unbeaten streak after starting the season with two straight losses.

The Sequoits were right in this game but just couldn't find the back of the net.

"We were a little intimidated at first, knowing their history and our history with (Wauconda)," Antioch coach Marni Polakow said. "Once we settled into the game, we became very aggressive, we calmed down and we were able to create offensively. We settled in nicely. It was a great defensive effort, some moments of some great tackles. We executed and made some adjustments at halftime. The high pressure put (Wauconda) under trouble, and we just couldn't finish.

"Overall, I'm proud of our girls. We're playing good, solid team soccer for about a month now. We knew we would get there, and it's nice to see that were there."