H-F is in its element, edges Stevenson in OT

Stevenson's girls soccer team faced several obstacles Saturday afternoon in the Sweet 16 of the Pepsi Showdown at Olympic Park in Schaumburg.

First, there were the windy conditions, which made it difficult to control the ball. Secondly, there was the prospect of playing into the teeth of that same wind in both the second half and overtime. And third, perhaps, was a quality foe in unbeaten Homewood-Flossmoor.

The unseeded Patriots fought through all the adversity, playing toe-to-toe with H-F (10-0) before losing 5-4 in overtime.

"We were unlucky," said Stevenson coach Mark Schartner, whose team drops to 3-2. "When you give a team like (Homewood-Flossmoor) two penalty kicks, it's tough to come back. And we came back three times. The fight in these girls to keep coming back, and even against the wind - it was a spectacular effort.

"We can build on this all season."

The Vikings got their game-winning goal in the 85th minute as Melanie Coderre, with her third goal of the match, took a pass from Kelly Lewers and scored on a one-time shot.

"It was nice to see that combination for the last goal," Homewood-Flossmoor coach Todd Elkie said. "We did have the benefit with the wind in the overtime.

"(Stevenson) is tough. It's a sign of a good team when you keep coming back, coming back. I thought whoever had the wind would win it in overtime."

The Patriots took a 3-2 advantage on Austin Gregorcy's free kick, which curled under the crossbar in the 61st minute.

But the Vikings got unanswered goals from Coderre in the 63rd minute and again at 74 for a 4-3 lead.

Stevenson fought hard for the equalizer and got it off a corner kick in the 78th minute. The ball bounced around in front of the goal until Alex Low lined a kick into the corner and tied the game.

Jackie Wynn scored on a 40-yard free kick for the Patriots with the wind in the first half and Nicole Sodomire had the other goal off a touch pass from Missy Loretto.

"It was hard to judge the ball, even when we had the wind," Wynn said. "We just took as many shots as we could and tried to get the free kicks on goal.

"I thought we did well against the wind (in the second half) and tried to keep the ball down. We had a lot of girls moving off the ball up front."

Homewood-Floosmoor's Andrea Baffes had the other 2 goals, both on penalty kicks.