No loss for Vernon Hills, but no title, either
You've got to hand it to Vernon Hills girls soccer team. The Cougars were passing around high-fives as they scored a 5-goal outburst in the second half on Saturday.
Vernon Hills upended Highland Park 5-2 and went unbeaten at 2-0-1 in the Niles West Soccer Invitational.
However, the Cougars (6-4-1) missed out on the championship game. Glenbard West topped Lane Tech 4-0 on Saturday and earned an extra point for the shutout to get an edge on the Cougars in pool play.
"We're happy to go undefeated," Vernon Hills coach Vince DeLuca said. "We're a little disappointed not reaching the championship. We did do well against the teams we played. I'm also happy with our scoring. We were able to apply a lot of pressure."
Vernon Hills scored 5 goals in one other game this season, beating Wauconda 5-1.
The Cougars trailed 2-0 to the Giants on Saturday at the break. Julie Pecht scored a pair of goals to tie the game, and Lauren Clatch scored the game-winning goal on a header off an assist from Jessica Feece. Brigid Walsh and Carly Manso had the other Vernon Hills goals, and Jenny Manhard and Raquel Roos picked up assists.
Antioch (3-6-4, 1-1) missed its opportunity to reach the championship game, losing to Regina (4-5-1, 2-1) 1-0.
The Sequoits and all the other teams in the tournament had to leave the field a couple of times due to lightning.
"It was difficult to play, going on and off the field," Antioch coach Hannah Drye said. "We just couldn't get things going out there."
Antioch had its chances to score. The Sequoits missed on a penalty kick and had another shot go off the crossbar. The worst news of the day for Antioch was losing sweeper Jenna Krumpos to an ankle injury.
Glenbard West (9-4-2, 3-0-1) won the tournament for the second straight year with a 2-0 shutout of host Niles West (5-6-3, 2-1-1).
"I thought our bracket was a little bit tougher," said Glenbard West coach Maciek Kusmierz of playing Vernon Hills, Highland Park and Lane Tech. "The tie with Vernon Hills (Thursday) put us in a questionable spot for the finals.
"We were fortunate to get there. Give the girls a lot of credit with things going on - ACTs, five games in four days and prom (Saturday night) ... They had to deal with many obstacles to overcome."
Lauren Davis scored both goals for the Hilltoppers in the championship. The first one was unassisted in the 20th minute, and the other came in the 42nd minute with an assist from Kristen Papierski.
"It's coming from the outside midfielders. They're the ones putting the great through balls down the lines," said Davis, who had 5 goals in 4 games and 9 for the season. "We did have a good year last year and we were able to come back and win the tournament again this year."
Sarah Pinter earned the shutout and made 3 saves.