Wildcats have to like Pike

Welcome to high school soccer, Haley Pike.

The freshman has scored 2 goals in Libertyville's first three games.

Pike scored the game-winning goal Tuesday as Libertyville got past Oswego 1-0 on the artificial turf at Libertyville High School.

The Wildcats (2-0-1) now advance to the second round of the 32-team Showdown tournament. The No. 11 seed will next play No. 5 York at 5 p.m. Thursday at Elmhurst College.

Pike got her first goal last week in her first varsity game when Libertyville traveled to South Carolina during spring break and rolled to a 3-1 victory over Hilton Head Prep.

The Wildcats followed up by tying St. Vincent Academy (Ga.) 1-1 last Friday, as .

Pike scored in the 49th minute against Oswego.

"I've been trying to get (the ball) around the corner, just like we do in practice," Pike said. "I just tried to cross it so someone could play it and it just got into the goal."

Libertyville has been doing a good job possessing the ball, but continues to work on finishing scoring chances.

"I thought we played well, but we still need to work on our play in the final third," coach Scott Schinto said. "I thought we controlled the game, but we had a few mental lapses here and there.

"I'm very pleased knowing that we haven't been outside with the exception of the games we played in South Carolina."

Wildcats keeper Erin Waehner earned her first shutout of the season by making 4 saves, including a stop on a breakaway in the final five minutes.

Oswego (2-3, 0-1) made a long journey for the match and proved to be a quality opponent for Libertyville.

"We knew (Libertyville) would come out hard in the second half because we had a lot of possession near the end of the first half," Oswego coach Margaret Fehrenbacher said. "Libertyville was able to break down our flat for a little bit. They didn't score one of the prettiest goals, but it went in. It was a great program to play against with a good history. I thought we could've tied it up, but it was a good game overall."