Girls soccer: A very special senior night for Wauconda
Senior nights are created specifically so players have an opportunity to remember the great times they've spent together in competition.
On this particular senior night, Wauconda's girls soccer team added a few more winning memories to their collection.
The Bulldogs won an outright league championship for the second straight year in the Northern Lake County Conference with a 5-0 shutout over visiting Grayslake Central on Tuesday night.
Counting the Wauconda's Prairie Division win in the final year of the two-tier North Suburban Conference, that makes it three straight conference titles for the program.
More good memories: Bulldogs keeper Jill Rejczyk broke the school record by recording her 28th career shutout, in just two years of play. The previous mark was set by Sarah Maness 13 years ago.
Rejczyk made 5 stops for her 13th shutout this season. She has only allowed 5 goals in 16 games for a miniscule goals-against average of .31.
"It's really special and nice to be able to do something in my senior year," said Rejczyk, who will play soccer next fall at Trine University in Angola, Ind. "It's nice to make an impact with this team. It's crazy to think about all the hours of practice, and it's finally paying off. It's the whole team, and everyone plays a part in it. I give a piece of the victory to every one of them."
The main defenders on the back line include Savannah Johnson, Olivia Kuch, Annalyse Maze and Sarah Rizzo.
"They are the ones with me every single day," Rejczyk said. "My team is really great, and they make it easy for me. It all starts with communication and the save has to come when it comes. If I don't have a save, then there will be a goal. It starts with the communication and ends with a save."
Wauconda again finished unbeaten in the NLCC at 7-0 and improved its overall record to 14-1-1.
"The girls definitely wanted the outright championship," Wauconda coach Beau Shogren said. "They weren't going to be satisfied with anything less than that. They showed it tonight and they really came with a great attacking effort - lots of girls running into the box and finishing off goals."
Kayla Wisniewski scored a pair, giving her 16 this season. Abigail McHugh, Oceanna Pfeiffer and Johnson had the other goals. Wisniewski assisted on a goal, while her sister Rosalie picked up an assist. Morgan Lung and Kayla Llewellyn had the other goals.
Grayslake Central dropped to 8-6-1 overall and 3-3 in the NLCC and will be looking ahead to the postseason over the next week.
"I thought we had a pretty good effort," Grayslake Central coach Daniel DePaz said. "We need to put together a full 80 minutes."