Wimberly's goal lifts Huntley over CL South
Crystal Lake South's joy quickly turned to despair when Huntley senior Jamie Wimberly scored the first goal of her career to help the Red Raiders to a 2-1 victory at home Tuesday afternoon and help distance her club from their Fox Valley Conference Valley Division rivals.
The Gators (13-7-2, 5-2-0) came within a whisker of sending the match into OT when Alison Agnes drew her club even at 74 minutes only to see Wimberly chip keeper Elizabeth Quinn 60 seconds later to end a wild match played in a howling crosswind on the Red Raiders (17-3-1, 7-1-0) home pitch.
"I am so happy that Jamie scored the game-winner today, especially after playing 4 years on the varsity, and it being such a big goal for us," said Huntley captain Taylor Henning-Fletter, who, along with her mates survived a less than sparkling first-half of soccer, only to come alive in time after intermission to grab the win.
"I don't know what our problem was in that first-half, maybe it was the wind, or our energy, but we were lucky not to give up 2-3 goals, and still come out ahead at the end," continued the senior.
The home side would never seize the advantage of wind in the first half, instead defending far more than it wanted to, while counting on several terrific saves from keeper Sara Hoffman, who was easily the Red Raiders' best player during this time.
"It was kind of a tale of two halves of soccer today, and, as always in this game, if you don't finish on your chances, you'll likely pay for it later on," said a disappointed Gators head coach Brian Allen, who was without one of his best in Ashley Ross, after losing another top-flight player to ACL surgery last week, Karley Mecko.
"We created three great chances to score, and just couldn't get into the back of the net, and like all good teams do, (Huntley) took advantage of just a couple of chances when they needed to."
The Gators' quartet of Christine Szocka, Kali Loescher, Kelsey Taldone and Vivian Qian would help the visitors dominate the run of play after both sides struggled in the early stages to solve the windy conditions, however this group did not have enough cutting edge in the Red Raiders end to get onto the scoreboard.
Agnes would have a go at 23 minutes, only to go wide of Hoffman, but a few moments later Hoffman, in full extension, would turn a Taldone blast around the post.
The best chance of the period fell to Loescher off the counter, but the Gators' top goal-scorer was stopped at the post by Hoffman once again.
"I told the girls at the break that there were plenty of their teammates on the bench, and unable to play, and just wishing that they could be out there, and that they had better go out in the second-half and remember that and to play with more of a sense of urgency," said Huntley head coach Kris Grabner, who would have the trio of Bre Burry, Corinne Wronski and Alyse Williams all sidelined with various injuries.
Grabner's' club would heed his warning, and it didn't take long after intermission for the Red Raiders (17-3-1, 7-1-0) to go ahead when Emily Konior would run unmarked along the right side to finish a Aimee Wronski helper.
Quinn would race off her line aggressively to smother a ball send in from Kelly Creager meant for Konior shortly thereafter, and on the other end, her counterpart, Kaytlyn Owens, brought on for Hoffman at the break, would do the same on a shot from Lauren Perrine.
With the end of regulation nearing, the Gators would throw everyone forward in hopes of equalizing off a deep throw from Taldone.
Agnes would bring the ball deftly down to her foot, and on the turn, found the far inside netting from just outside the box.
The Gators' faithful would have little time to celebrate when Wimberly carried close enough to Quinn to go just over the extended gloves of the keeper.
"It's a tough way to lose a match, after battling back to get even, but you have to credit Huntley for staying composed and finding the game-winner," said Allen.