Hersey produces another shutout
Not so long ago, Hersey's girls soccer team was adrift in the Mid-Suburban East, always a step or two behind Elk Grove and Prospect.
The Huskies had a phenomenal goalkeeper, a solid defense and not much offense.
Last year, things began to come together. Until then, Hersey had never gone to the Soccer Bowl to determine the overall MSL champion.
After defeating host Buffalo Grove 2-0 on Monday, Hersey raised its record to 8-2-2.
It was the Huskies' eighth shutout of the season. In their first 12 games, they have allowed just 5 goals.
"We've only let up 5 goals, but to be honest, this was not our best game," Abel said. "We did enough to win. I think we came out slow, a little bit lazy. Maybe we expected to win without trying to win."
That changed with about 10 minutes left in the first half.
"We moved Rosie White from defense to midfield," Abel said. "She added that spark that lifted us after halftime."
Scoring for Hersey was Jackie Drees about three minutes into the second half with Sarah Stoltzner getting the assist. It became 2-0 with 14 minutes remaining when Chelsea Santora headed in a long throw-in from Kirsten Gierman.
Buffalo Grove, which fell to 3-7-1 and 0-1 in the East, had a nice short-passing game going for most of the second half. But Hersey's defense wouldn't let the Bison anywhere near the box.
Most of BG's passes ended up broken up by the Huskies's defense.
"This whole year we've been playing well in midfield, but we need to be more aggressive, attack even more in the middle of the field," said BG coach Pat Dudle. "It just seems we are reacting instead of reading. We're one step slow, but we've still got time to change."
Palatine 2, Barrington 1: Morgan Bauer and Luting Sun scored goals off assists from Abby Brunks and Bethann Hamer in Palatine's MSL West victory. Nicole Clark had 7 saves.
Mary Kubiuk scored in the first half for Barrington.
Prospect 2, Wheeling 0: Sophomore Maureen O'Keefe and junior Fay Krewer scored goals and Marietta Smith had 8 saves for Prospect (3-1-2, 2-1-2) in the MSL East win.
Schaumburg 2, Hoffman 0: Sarah Seyffert had a penalty kick and assisted Jackie Larocco for Schaumburg in the MSL West win. Maggie Kostecki stopped 9 shots for the Saxons.
St. Viator 2, Vernon Hills 0: Katie Graff and Taylor Skala scored second-half goals for St. Viator in the nonconference victory. Mary-Kate Supplitt and Stephanie Shanahan split the shutout in goal.