Girls soccer: Libertyville learns from win against Prospect

Holding their ground against tough opponents and growing to become one of the better teams in the area has been Libertyville's gameplan through the first half of the girls soccer season.

And lately the Wildcats are finding ways to win against those quality foes.

Libertyville prevailed against visiting Prospect 1-0 in a nonconference game Saturday afternoon.

"Our final third needs to be cleaned up a bit," Libertyville coach Shannon Etnyre said. "It was a little disappointing today and the girls were a bit frustrated. Sometimes you need a game like that to grow. Sometimes if it's coming easy for you all the time, you get set in your ways. Now we understand what we need to do to be more successful.

"If we had been more successful in the offensive third, we would've scored more. (Prospect's) defense did a great job, but our girls could've done better. They had a great concept, with a good number of girls behind the ball, and didn't allow us to be as successful as we've been all season. It's a good idea to take these lessons and learn from them."

Libertyville (7-1) got its only goal in the 47th minute. Allison Tong dropped a ball off to her left for an unmarked Emma Manolovic, who lifted a shot into the back of the net.

"It's all about the teamwork," said Manolovic, who scored for the second time this season. "I was just was there at the right time. It was just luck."

The Wildcats have been making collective improvement each time out. Junior midfielder Savannah Winiecki has seen the gains over the last few weeks and sees it as the result of everyone doing their job.

"The team needs me to keep working and keep working," Winiecki said. "I don't let the small things get to me in working hard for the team. We've grown tremendously, we're very young and I'm excited to see what we can do."

For Prospect (7-4), it was the second game in less than 24 hours. The Knights suffered a tough defeat to Buffalo Grove 2-1 on Friday night.

Prospect though it had tied the match in the final seconds off a quick restart on their side of the field. The Knights sent a ball forward and apparently scored with six seconds left. But the goal was negated when it was ruled the ball didn't come to a complete stop before the free kick.

"I think back-to-back games against two quality sides, and we left a lot on the field (Friday)," Prospect coach Tom Froats said. "The match against BG was a tough conference game, and then taking a ride up here against a tough Libertyville side - I think it was a great challenge for us and it demanded a lot from us. Libertyville was a good side and tough in the middle third. They apply a lot of pressure with numbers."

The Knights got another strong defensive effort from a back line led by Ashley Erickson, Madalyn Ladd, Alexa Mitka and Helen Slavelis. Prospect goalkeeper Gianna Rossi made 7 stops.

"We were trying to keep them out wide because they're so strong in the middle," Erickson said.