Glenbard South beats Fenton in 2 OT
After nearly 100 minutes of soccer, Glenbard South sophomore Dani Pitaro admitted her game-winning goal “felt awesome.”
Her tired teammates enjoyed it too.
Glenbard South needed nearly two full 10-minute overtime periods before defeating Metro Suburban Conference foe Fenton 2-1 Thursday in Glen Ellyn.
“It felt great to finish it off with a goal after all that,” Pitaro said. “It was definitely worth all the hard work.”
“We knew it was going to be a good battle, especially with Glenbard South being new to our conference,” Fenton coach Victor Ruiz said. “We knew it was going to be a competition. We knew the girls were quick and fast. But we prepared for them. We put pressure on them, disrupted their system and took our chances and let our game be the deciding factor. Almost had it.”
Glenbard South enjoyed the bulk of possession through most of the game and outshot Fenton 28-8, but the Bison (3-1-1, 2-1) seemed to grow more comfortable as the game wore on.
The Raiders (3-3-1, 3-0) finally broke through with a goal in the 63rd minute, when Olivia Bouchard’s pass through the Fenton goalmouth found Tara Zagone near the far post for the easy tap-in.
The lead lasted just a minute. The Raiders couldn’t clear a Fenton corner kick, which bounced around in front of the goal until Jaime Keller nodded it into the net.
“It’s a momentum killer for them,” Ruiz said.
“After we scored we kind of got ahead of ourselves and broke down a little, but everybody kind of put their heads back together, picked their heads back up and we finished up on a good note. That’s what we wanted,” Pitaro said.
The game remained tied at 1 until Pitaro’s goal, off a Carrie Hanley assist, ended it in the 98th minute.
“There’s a point at which you have to play past your body, and they started to show some of that desire to get it done,” Glenbard South coach Glen Eggert said. “I’m glad they were rewarded for their effort because it’s not always that you will be. Fenton, to their credit, were just playing them tough.”