Persistence pays as Fremd wins in shootout
Steve Keller could hardly believe what he was watching, but seeing was believing for the Fremd girls soccer coach. In the first 15 minutes on Friday, he figured his Vikings were in for a long and painful afternoon against Glenbrook South in Libertyville sectional play.
Instead, the Vikings, despite subpar play early, proved to be resilient against the No. 2 seed Titans, and after weathering a first-half storm Fremd got the better of the action and later stunned its opponent in a suspense-filled PK shootout in which keeper Allison Norenberg provided the heroics.
Norenberg, who made a pair of spectacular saves in regulation to help keep the Vikings (18-4-1) afloat when they needed it, stopped all-state striker Jannelle Flaws in the fifth and final round of the shootout and give Fremd a 1-0 victory and the Libertvyille sectional championship.
The win advances the Vikings into Tuesday's supersectional at Niles West, where it will face the New Trier-Loyola winner from the Evanston sectional.
"I thought the first 15 minutes or so we played so badly and that we were going to get crushed," said Fremd sweeper Danielle Romano. "I don't know if it was the fact that a lot of girls had prom tonight, or whatever the case, but we had absolutely no focus on this match and (GBS) could have put 2-3 in on us and it would have been over."
"It wasn't fun to watch," said Keller, "but when we finally woke up, we controlled play from the last 10-15 minutes of regulation and all the way through those 4 extra overtime periods."
Despite having little luck at stopping a Titans (20-2-4) club led by terrific midfielder Kelly Brait, the play in the middle of the park by both Alexis Tice and Kristen Kupstys helped the Vikings stay in this match. The duo were air-ball monsters for 120 minutes and seemed to win nearly every 50-50 ball while providing a spark or two in the Vikings' attack.
"Tice has been our MVP during the last month, and Kristen was a real force in the middle (today) along with Tice," said Keller.
Norenberg turned away a blast from Flaws at 57 minutes in the first and best scoring opportunity of the match, then read a potential dangerous situation and raced off her line to stuff a side-volley in close from Flaws in the 109th minute.
The Vikings nearly grabbed the win in OT if not for a brilliant save from GBS keeper Chelsea Watkins, who stopped a left-footed blast from Crystal Rohan with four minutes to go in the final OT period.
Once in shootout, the Vikings' Laura Mayer, Kupstys, Elise Kotsakis and Tice were perfect on their spot kicks, with Tice giving the Vikings their final lead at 4-3.
"I knew (Flaws) was going left, so I leaned and went that way to make the save," said Norenberg, who also stopped Brait in the second round.
"We had basically shut out our last two opponents in 240 minutes, yet came away with 1 win and 1 loss to end our season," said Glenbrook South coach Seong Ha.
"It can be a cruel sport, but at least the players decided the final outcome and I tip my hat to Fremd and to its victory."