Hersey's 3-year run comes to end

Hersey's girls soccer program had no postseason history just three years ago.

Seniors Julia Fredian, Kathryn Korff, Andrea Perkins, Katie Drees and Maddie Swan helped change that for the Huskies. They made three straight trips to the Mid-Suburban League championship match and won three straight regional titles.

The run ended with Tuesday night's 3-0 loss to top-seeded Glenbrook South (22-4-4) in a Class 3A Palatine sectional semifinal at Chic Anderson Stadium. But they also started a legacy for the future.

"I think it was an awesome three-year run," said Drees of a program that reached the supersectional her sophomore year. "No one every thought Hersey could do this until now. Now people see us getting here three years in a row should respect us."

Glenbrook South, which set the single-season school record for wins and tied it for shutouts 16), certainly did as it advanced to Friday's 6 p.m. sectional final against No. 2 Fremd.

Particularly when it came the record-setting goalkeeping of Fredian, the potential for big runs from the back by Korff and the coaching of Brad Abel for the fifth-seeded Huskies (13-5-5).

"Brad is such a tactician," said GBS coach Seong Ha. "It's a chess match every year with him."

One that was a stalemate the first 36:37. Then Illinois-bound senior Jannelle Flaws delivered a devastating strike from in front and past Fredian in the right corner.

"I thought our whole team was dominant in the first half," Drees said.

"That goal hurt us," Abel said. "It took us a little bit to get settled in but the last 20 minutes (before it) we had the flow of the game. It was a great goal and a great touch."

Ha called it an "emotional back-breaker" as Flaws also converted a penalty kick 8:13 after halftime.

Flaws' 40 goals broke her single-season record of 38 last year and put her at 142 for her career.

"I related it to the movie 'Miracle,'" Ha said of the film about the 1980 U.S. Olympic hockey gold-medal winning team. "If you score on Julia you'd better save the ball because it doesn't happen much."

But making it to this stage and beyond is now a reality rather than a wild dream at Hersey.

"After we graduated five all-conference seniors three years ago, they were able to take the ball and run with it the last two years," Abel said of his five seniors. "They've been absolutely phenomenal for this program."