Girls soccer: Jacobs graduates to sectional
The Jacobs girls soccer team hasn't been to a sectional since 2012.
For awhile Saturday, it looked as if the return trip might have to wait another year. Elgin and the Golden Eagles went scoreless through regulation and overtime in the final of the Class 3A Huntley regional, before Jacobs, which attended graduation ceremonies prior to the game, prevailed on penalty kicks.
Jacobs' Kelsey Medina drilled the final penalty kick into the left side of the net, giving the Eagles a 4-3 edge in PKs and setting off a wild celebration.
"I just grabbed the ball, I went, and for a second I was trying to figure out where I was going to shoot it, what I was going to do, but as soon as I got there I just let it all flow," Medina said.
Jacobs gets a rematch with Cary-Grove in the Rockford Guilford sectional on Tuesday night.
Jacobs dominated for 80 minutes, but couldn't bury the ball in the back of the net.
The Golden Eagles held a 10-3 edge in shots on goal during regulation and had the only 2 shots of the extra session as well. Elgin goalkeeper Joana Mercado made one spectacular save, first slowing the ball with one hand, then using a bicycle kick to knock it away from the net for good.
Jacobs failed to take advantage of several other scoring chances. The Eagles hit the post, they saw shots sail high and wide, and they couldn't quite pounce on a couple of loose balls in front of the net. But in the end, none of that mattered.
"We knew going into this game and I was tactfully telling them that anything is absolutely possible," said Jacobs coach Stephanie Schuck. "We cannot let our heads go down. You have to keep working, keep fighting. This team, they were so strong winning the 50/50 balls out of the air, and that's a crucial part of it. We needed to step it up and we really did."
Despite the offensive frustrations, the Eagles were determined to stick together and stay positive.
"We did get on ourselves a little bit but we know that when we're more positive we do better," said Jacobs' Caitlin Strong. "The second half is usually our time to shine. That didn't happen, so we knew that we needed to step it up during the overtime."
"We're very united," Medina said. "We did a lot of team bonding and also some of us have played together and played against each other, so we know how we play."
Elgin (11-8-2) was scrappy to the end.
"The girls worked really hard, they left everything on the field," said Maroons' coach Alicia Knoll. "They need to be proud of what they did and there was no holding back. We pushed it all the way to the limit and with 12 girls they held on."
Elgin gained the early advantage in the shootout when Kylie Graves buried her first shot and Mercado stopped Jacobs' Nicole Datka. But that proved to be Jacobs' only miss. Baylee Vincent, Dominique Anderson, and Madison Belo connected before Medina's clincher.
Meanwhile, Eagles' keeper Emily Pasetes stopped 2 Elgin shots.