Vernon Hills and Wauconda settle for tie

Scoring goals seems to be at a bare minimum for many area soccer teams.

That's all because of the horrible spring weather and poor field conditions.

Vernon Hills and host Wauconda fought to a 1-1 draw Wednesday night in the North Suburban Conference Prairie Division opener for both teams.

"We need to find ways to score," Wauconda coach Terry Stevig said. "It's confidence. The girls have the ability to do it."

Vernon Hills (0-2-1) scored its first goal in three games when Mallory Feece connected off a Lauren Clatch assist in the 54th minute for a 1-0 advantage.

"Lauren did a great job to pass the ball back to me," Feece said. "It felt good to get it (goal) and we did it so beautifully. There's nothing really that could top something like that."

Wauconda (0-0-2) evened the score at 1-1 in the 69th minute. Margaret Cook scored off a Kaitlyn Llewellyn head flick in the box, which came from an Aimee Prudhomme free kick.

"Kaitlyn got it off a header and I was there to receive it on a back ball," Cook said. "There was an opening and I placed it right in."

Usually, Vernon Hills and Wauconda play each other later in the season. They are perennially two of the better teams in the NSC Prairie.

"The girls are learning to play," Vernon Hills coach Vince DeLuca said. "We lost a lot from last year. The kids have played hard and we're in a long stretch of three (games) in a row.

"Wauconda is a good team. We probably should've scored a few more, but that's how the game goes. This is always a tough place to play and we'll always take a tie."