St. Viator 1, Prospect 0
With the bright sun and light-colored jerseys of each team, St. Viator coach Sam Donnelly felt the players had a hard time distinguishing their teammates from opponents on Wednesday.
"Had I known, I would have tried to have worn our navy jerseys," Donnelly said.
Regardless, the No. 8 seed Lions (15-7-1) will continue to wear their girls soccer jerseys this spring.
They advanced with a 1-0 win over No. 9 seed and visiting Prospect (11-5-5) in Viator's Class AA regional opener and will face top-seeded Fremd (15-3-1) at 1 p.m. Saturday for the title.
The Lions broke through in the ninth minute of the second half. A heads-up play by Jackie Tumberger gave the Lions the winning goal.
It started with a perfect corner kick by sophomore Brenna Fitzpatrick, who lifted the ball into a crowd in front of the net.
"Brenna has done a great job with corner kicks," Donnelly said.
The ball deflected off the back of a Knights player, and rolled toward Tumberger.
"It was a perfect set-up for me," Tumberger said. "No one was by me and the ball rolled right to me."
And the sophomore, who had already scored 5 goals including three against Providence, knew just what to do with it. She put a 12-yard bullet to the lower right side of the net.
"I did a bicycle kick (side kick)," she said. "I just kicked it right away."
Lions senior goalkeeper Mary Kate Supplitt made a terrific leaping two-handed save on Danielle Brucci's free kick bullet in the 22nd minute of the first half.
"I can't be more proud of all my seniors (Marietta Smith, Maggie Fettis, Michelle Pappas, Kelly Johnson, Alex Moxley, Laura Chlapaty, Megan Franck and Kathie Barkan)," the coach said. "Overall, it was a terrific season and we continued to build."
Sophomore Susie Lello (sprained knee), junior Rachel Lenke (collarbone) and freshman Caroline Aubry (knee) were out for Prospect.
At Lake Zurich: No. 3 Hersey (16-2-4) had no cakewalk as it needed 2 second-half goals to beat No. 14 Wauconda 3-0.
Jackie Drees scored in the 16th minute off a Sarah Stoltzner cross.
"(Stolzner) put it right on my feet and I had a good shot," said Drees of her 14th goal of the season.
Kristen Gierman scored off a free kick and Eileen Zydek off Chelsea Santora's corner kick in the last 20 minutes.
Hersey will play for its first regional title at 5 p.m. Friday against No. 10 Lake Zurich, which upset No. 6 Barrington 1-0 in triple overtime on Kate Tarquino's free kick from 35 yards.
Barrington (13-6-2) lost scoring leader Mary Kubiuk in the fourth minute with an ankle injury.
"The effort from both teams was incredible," Barrington coach Ryan Stengren said. "We had our chances to win it, but we didn't finish. (Lake Zurich's) keeper (Maggie Eisenhuth) kept them in the game.
"Without Kubiuk, it hurt us with our possession and the ability to finish. As the game went on, we learned to play without her.
"It was a tough one to swallow, but we'll be back."
-- Rusty Silber
At Larkin: Sometimes a mishit is good enough to get the job done.
Rachael Zolper's "shot" Wednesday certainly did.
Zolper's tough-angle goal 14:40 into Wednesday's Class AA Larkin regional semifinal gave No. 7 Schaumburg (7-6-4) the only goal it needed in a 4-0 win over Larkin at Memorial Stadium in Elgin.
"I guess you can say that (it was shot)," a laughing Zolper said. "It was more meant to be a cross. I was trying to play to the far post so someone could head it in."
Schaumburg will play at 6 p.m. Saturday for the regional title against No. 2 Conant (15-3-1), an 8-1 winner over South Elgin as Brittany Bodziak scored 4 goals.
Rachael Kahan scored 2 goals and Elizabeth Tapia had a goal for Schaumburg.
-- Brian Schaumburg
At Jacobs: Taylor Fritz, in her third game back from ACL surgery, scored and assisted freshman Alex Partipilo's 11th goal as No. 6 Rolling Meadows (7-9-3) scored twice in the first eight minutes of the second half of a 2-0 win over Burlington Central.
Katie Odon had 5 saves as the Mustangs will play for a third straight regional title at 7 p.m. Saturday against No. 3 Huntley (19-1-3).
At Lake Park: Chrissy Tooren scored 2 goals and Brittany Calendo had 4 saves as No. 5 Hoffman (5-10-1) beat Maine West 4-0. Hoffman plays No. 4 Lake Park, a 1-0 winner over Dundee-Crown, for the title at 6 p.m. Friday.
At Elk Grove: Rachael Sloan scored twice as No. 8 Elk Grove broke away from a 2-2 halftime tie for a 5-2 win over Streamwood. The Grens will play top-seed Maine South, a 9-0 winner over Maine East, at 3 p.m. Friday.
At Vernon Hills: No. 7 Palatine beat No. 12 Buffalo Grove 3-1 to advance to Friday's 5 p.m. title against No. 2 Lake Forest, a 1-0 winner over Vernon Hills.
At Downers South: Mayra Garcia scored off Amanda Kostic's feed 3:27 into overtime to give No. 9 Leyden (9-7-1) a 1-0 win over No. 8 Morton. Leyden plays at 6 p.m. Friday for the title against No. 1 Downers South, a 9-0 winner over Guerin.