Falcons go long to beat Warriors
Tee it up, feel the confidence, and let it rip.
No, Wheaton North's Erin Strom doesn't play for the Falcons' golf team -- she's a soccer player -- but the 38-yard free kick she sent sailing under the crossbar Saturday required an approach similar to one that works well on a tee box.
It was also the third time this year that Strom has buried a free kick taken from no-man's land.
"It's all about practicing that shot and believing in yourself," Strom said after her squad's 3-1 win over Wheaton Academy. "Then once you make it a couple times, you have that confidence that you can do it again."
The top-seeded Falcons (7-1) beat the seventh-seeded Warriors (2-1) in third-round play of the 32-team Pepsi Showdown, hosted by Oak Park-River Forest.
The Falcons next play the winner between York and Maine South, with the winner advancing to the title game at Toyota Park on April 20.
The Falcons scored their first goal nine minutes in when freshman Ashley Oltman intercepted a Warriors clearing attempt and sent it ahead to senior Jaime Orewiler, who took a touch forward and scored from 15 yards out.
The teams battled well until Strom's perfect free kick in the 29th minute.
"Those first two goals we couldn't do a whole lot about," said Warriors coach Dave Underwood. "They were perfectly placed, and I think they were 3-for-3 in the first half.
"Our inexperience really showed today, but it's only our third game and I was happy that our girls showed some fight in the second half and created some opportunities."
The Falcons were, in fact, perfect on their three scoring chances through 40 minutes, the third coming when Orewiler sent a long diagonal pass to Erin Karner, who touched it ahead once before burying it inside the far post from 18 yards out.
"Erin Carner made the right run. Our outside mids are making runs behind the defense, and they're getting balls played to them," said Falcons coach Tim McEvilly.
The Falcons kept Warriors forwards Leah Fortune and Alexa Sharkey out of net, with Strom, Meredith Chase and Kristin Perrine putting in a good day's work.
"We made sure that one person was on Fortune all the time and another person was backing her up," Strom said. "Then our defense had to make sure to keep them both in front of us."
The Warriors' lone goal came in the 69th minute off the foot of Becca Long.
Orewiler was her typically relentless self, at one point racing back behind her entire midfield to steal a ball and send it back into the attack.
"She never stops moving," McEvilly said. "It's a work rate that you can't coach. She just has the ability to run forever."
"She's just an amazing player," Strom said of Orewiler. "There's no other way to describe her. She'll do anything and everything to get that ball."