Cary-Grove outlasts CL South on PKs

There was plenty of action and playoff-like intensity when Cary-Grove and Crystal Lake South renewed their Fox Valley Conference Valley Division rivalry Tuesday night. There just wasn't a lot of scoring.

After the teams played 100 scoreless minutes, Cary-Grove finally prevailed on penalty kicks, 5-4, to stay unbeaten in the Valley and move a step closer to wrapping up the division title.

Both teams were physical and the almost evenly divided crowd spurred them on.

"I guess the best word is they're epic battles that we have with two teams that are very competitive and have a lot of determination and desire," said Cary coach Ray Krystal.

The game wasn't decided until Liz Bart nailed the Trojans' final penalty kick. Alyssa Jacobucci, Kelli Anderson, Sally Tashjian, and Korey Kronforst also connected for the Trojans in the PK round.

Carly Juliano, Karley Mecko, Danielle McDonald and Casey Faure connected for the Gators. But South missed its third kick, opening the door for the Trojans.

"I think it was close to playoff (intensity), but we could have upped it a little," said Tashjian.

"They've been our major rivals, and every year it seems like it comes down to us versus them," said Anderson.

Until then, the night belonged to the goalkeepers, the Trojans' Alex Holland and the Gators' Jessica Taldone. Taldone made several acrobatic saves during a second-half push by Cary-Grove. Holland matched her save for save.

"The keepers put on a clinic today," said South coach Brian Allen. "We had chances early on and Holland came up huge. Then Jess kept us in the game."

Cary-Grove moves to 13-2, 7-0. South is 8-9, 5-2.

South had most of the scoring chances in the first half. The momentum swung to the Trojans after the break, but they couldn't connect either. Taldone twice stopped Jacobucci with athletic saves and dove to stop an attempt by Ashley Gustafson.

The teams then battled through 2 scoreless overtimes.