Young Glenbard South ready for prime time

Glenbard South spent the girls soccer season preparing its many freshmen for postseason play.

Consider the Raiders ready.

After giving up an early goal, the Raiders rebounded to finish with a 6-1 victory Saturday afternoon in the Class 2A Glenbard South regional final.

"I put them through the ringer the whole season long so that when they get into playing 2A teams it should be easy for them," coach Glen Eggert said of his 6-10-4 Raiders. "They've fought with some of the strongest teams in the area and have been in those matches. The only issue for them is whether or not they believe in themselves because it's a very young team.

"Hopefully, this will be another step toward that direction."

Briana Borsellino had the fourth-seeded Broncos (8-7-1) feeling good after scoring in the third minute on the game's first shot. The good feelings were short-lived.

"I was happy," Borsellino said. "We never really start with the lead, so I figured maybe it was going to change things up for us. Oh well."

Instead of the Broncos winning their first regional crown, the No. 7-seeded Raiders, who started five freshmen and brought two more in from the bench, won their second regional.

First junior Olivia Bouchard scored off a corner kick from freshman Kathleen James in the 11th minute. In the 19th minute a Bouchard cross found junior Alyse Cates in front of Montini's near post for a tap-in goal, the culmination of a quick buildup following a Montini goalkeeper punt.

"You position yourself well, you can just tap it in," Cates said. "That's what I did a couple of times. Nice crosses. Real nice crosses."

Jillian Janss scored in the 27th after Montini turned over the ball in its own penalty area, and junior Erin Hoffman made it 4-1 just before halftime with a left-footed blast from the top of the penalty area after Montini tried to clear a corner kick.

Cates finished her hat trick with 2 more goals in the second half, off assists from a pair of freshmen, Tara Zagone and Dani Pitaro.

"She brings a lot of players onto herself in the middle, and yet we still could find her in a post-up situation," Eggert said of Cates. " She's a scrappy player. You're going to get goals in there."

Glenbard South advances to the Nazareth sectional semifinals Tuesday against the host school. Montini saw its season come to an end.

"Tough season," Borsellino said. "Tough loss. But it's better than we've ever been in a while, so things are looking up. We're not losing that many seniors. Hopefully, next year we'll come back out."