Girls soccer: Adjustments benefit Buffalo Grove
Girls soccer
Second-half goals from Savannah Larsen and Quinlan Libit helped ensure 3 important points for host Buffalo Grove in the Mid-Suburban League girls soccer standings as the host Bison defeated Hoffman Estates 4-1 on Thursday.
The 4-goal outburst was BG's biggest of the season, and comes at an important time with coach Pat Dudle's team at division-leading Prospect on Friday.
"With us chasing Prospect by a few points, you don't want to get too far behind, so not only was it nice to see us put 4 into the back of the net, it was good to get 3 points, which we really need," said Dudle.
The coach recently remodeled his starting lineup. Among the changes were the switch of freshman Bridget Reynolds from her outside-back position to one of his center-backs - alongside sophomore Kendra Lee.
"Those two give us a lot of options in the middle of our back line, not only as strong defenders, but also as two players who can join our attack or provide service from out of the back," said Dudle.
While the Reynolds-Lee duo kept the Hawks (0-4-0) from putting anything dangerous on frame during the first half, a teammate on the outside, Zoe Robertson, did her part with some strong tackling, in addition to connecting with Libit and Larsen in the middle of the park.
Macy Floro opened the scoring in the 13th minute with a terrific individual effort.
Tess Vasilakos, Pam Bolis and Larsen each tested Hawks keeper Elise Psonak before the half-hour. Bolis eneded up doubling the Bison advantage just before the break when she burst free of the defense to score.
"We didn't have much to show for our effort in that first half," said Hoffman Estates coach Jeff Bird. "But I was proud of the way we came out after the break to get close at 2-1, then created a couple of chances, but come apart when they got those two goals later on in the second half."
The visitors pulled one back with style when freshman Avery Panek scored from close range in the 48th minute. On the play, the Hawks forward brought down a Molly Salerno corner, turned and slotted under Bison keeper Jackie Molloy.
Moments later, Salerno also got close and looked to strike the equalizer from a Panek helper, only to have the assistant referee have his flag raised to signal offsides.
"Molly, her younger sister (Christina), Panek and Vanessa Bonilla, who came back to play her senior year, each gave us some terrific soccer tonight," said Bird. "Having Vanessa as our holding-mid in our 4-2-3-1 formation has helped us be in every game this season, except for Barrington, so we're happy to have her back."
BG's third goal of the game arrived at 72 minutes when Libit helped Larsen drive in her close-range attempt. Larsen returned the favor with a superb ball to Libit, whose run off the ball allowed her to get enough space to steer in goal No. 4.
- Mike Garofola