Big second half leads Vikings past Bison
It's all in the way you look at it.
At Friday night's Mid-Suburban League crossover soccer match, Buffalo Grove coach Pat Dudle, in his first year there after spending the last few years in charge at Wheeling, saw his team playing up to the level of host Fremd for most of the contest.
Steve Keller, who finally got his first chance to play on his own field, saw it a little differently in his team's 4-1 victory.
"The best we played this year was the first half against Lake Zurich," Keller said. "In the second half, they were all over us. We beat Prospect, but I was not pleased with that game. Tonight's game we played good the last 15 minutes."
"I thought we played even with Fremd for the first 60 minutes," Dudle said. "They scored the first goal and we lost confidence in ourselves. Of course, any time you play Fremd, it's a challenge.
"I thought that for the first three quarters of the game you have to do that, then Fremd capitalized on our mistakes. But we've been taking steps forward and we hope to continue."
Despite the weather this spring, the Bison have played 7 games so far and have compiled a 2-4-1 record.
It has been tougher for Fremd to get on the field. Friday's game was the first on the Vikings' field and the win boosted their record to 3-0.
The worst spot on the field was the midfield, which added difficulty to play.
"It was messy but we got used to it," said Fremd midfielder Kaitlyn Kinsella, who assisted on the first goal of the game, scored by Allison Casey, and on the Vikings' third goal, which was put into the net by Laura Mayer with 12:39 left in the contest. "Everyone's first touch was sloppy. We wanted to control the midfield. We just had to keep the midfield organized."
BG made it 1-1 at halftime on a goal by Kim Gerlling, assisted by Jaimee Shearn.
Fremd began pushing up at the start of the second half and that produced positive results. Arianna Foster broke the tie and scored the eventual game-winner on an impressive goal.
Foster took the ball down the right side across midfield. She cut across the top of the box with two defenders chasing. Then she sent a hard shot into the far right side of the net with 19:10 remaining.
Stevenson 1, St. Viator 0: Scoring goals can be a challenge.
Ask Stevenson.
Against St. Viator in Arlington Heights on Friday, the visiting Patriots hit a crossbar and a couple of posts and saw a defender clear a ball off the line.
Despite the tough breaks, Stevenson (2-1) pulled out a 1-0 victory, handing the Lions their first loss.
Freshman Melissa Loretto scored the goal in the 41st minute.
The Patriots' Kelley Moran lofted a ball that ricocheted off the corner of the goal frame. Laura Schroeder then kicked the rebound off the legs of St. Viator keeper Mary-Kate Supplitt. Loretto pounced on the ball, maneuvered around a defender in tight space and buried a shot for her first varsity goal.
"I think when I got the ball, I just switched it," Loretto said. "The ball was on my feet and I just kicked it in."
One of best saves of the day happened 15 seconds before halftime.
St. Viator's Meghan McGrath came back on defense and made a sliding kick to clear a ball off the goal line. McGrath ended up in the goal, but the ball amazingly stayed out, keeping the game scoreless.
"The ball was coming across and going to the goal," McGrath said. "I just kicked it as high as I could. It spun out away from the goal and out of bounds. I didn't think I had a chance for it. I just made it."
Patriots keeper Courtney Levy made 5 saves in earning her second straight shutout.
St. Viator (5-1-1) had trouble controlling play almost from the get-go.
"I thought we were ragged and started out slow," St. Viator coach Sam Donnelly said. "We did play well the last 20 minutes of the game. We just couldn't get the last touch.
"I think we played better than Stevenson expected us to play. We're probably one of the more skillful teams that Stevenson will see all season."
-- Rusty Silber