Fremd's Norenberg the saving grace in nets

Allison Norenberg's diving interventions were a saving grace for Fremd in Tuesday night's Class 3A girls soccer sectional semifinal at Palatine's Chic Anderson Stadium.

Two of Norenberg's four airborne stops of point-blank Mundelein shots kept the match scoreless in the first 17 minutes. Second-seeded Fremd (16-4-2) then scored three times in the last 17:51 of the first half of a 4-1 victory.

"I've had a couple," Norenberg said of similar efforts to Tuesday. "It's something I've worked on a lot in practice so I get used to it."

Fremd would take another one in Friday's 6 p.m. sectional final at Palatine when it gets a rematch of its 1-0 victory at the same stage last year with top-seeded Glenbrook South (22-4-4). The Titans beat No. 5 Hersey 3-0 in the first semifinal.

Norenberg, who is going to play at Miami (Ohio), also kept No. 3 Mundelein (19-3-3) off the board early in the second half when she snared Ashley Ekstrom's header in front off a corner kick.

"Incredible," said Fremd coach Steve Keller. "She saved it for us, basically.

"We talked at halftime about coming out strong and that puts them back in the game if she doesn't make that save. She was a big catalyst last year in our (supersectional) run."

And she was big in ending Mundelein's dramatic run of two triple-overtime regional wins en route to a program record for victories. Ashley Begrowicz was turned away after she powered through Fremd's defense for a 10-yard blast.

After senior scoring leader Stephanie Emery (28 goals) was taken down at the top of the box, her free kick was deflected and Norenberg stopped the rebound.

"That was huge," said Mundelein coach David Ekstrom. "If we put one or two of those in it changes the whole complexion of the game.

"It was just an outstanding job. When a keeper does that it not only stops goals but it energizes a team as well."

Keller wasn't sure if Norenberg necessarily had that effect but it did look that way. Fremd got its first goal when sophomore Kira Heggeland, who provided a spark off the bench with classmates Jenny Winberg and Rebecca Freeman, connected after Crystal Rohan's long blast caromed off the crossbar.

Elise Kotsakis scored in front off Freeman's cross and then they reversed roles to make it 3-0 with 4:57 left in the half.

Begrowicz got Mundelein's goal with 30:01 left when she eluded Norenberg at the top of the box and found the net through two defenders.

Fremd got that one back as the ball never touched the ground off Winberg's corner in front to Romano, who found Rohan for the final goal with 13:54 left.

"I told them we have to play better than today," Keller said of the search for more intensity and smarter play.

"I still think we can do a whole lot better," Norenberg said. "Especially the first 10 minutes, they were a little rough out there. They won every 50-50 ball and they were just dominating us and then we stepped it up."

This was also a nice step in the right direction as Mundelein loses only Emery, Lisie Garza and Molly Rohan to graduation.

"A lof of them played as freshmen and sophomores so I thought we'd be good," Ekstrom said. "We had an outstanding season."