Jacobs blasts past Dundee-Crown

As it has done many times this season, the Jacobs girls soccer team got off to a hot start Monday evening.

The Golden Eagles scored twice in the first 7 minutes and cruised to a 5-1 victory over Dundee-Crown in Algonquin.

“We knew that we need to go all out,” Jacobs junior Lauren Grady said. “I think that gives us a lot of confidence so we can play the rest of the game with a little more finesse.”

Grady gave the Golden Eagles (10-3, 2-1 FVC Valley) the lead 5:02 into the match as she put home a cross from Shannon Grady following a long ball into the D-C penalty area. Less than 2 minutes later, Lauren Grady’s shot in close was stopped by Chargers goalkeeper Ali Sanders, who finished with nine saves. The rebound went right to Mel Duda, who scored for a 2-0 lead.

“The last couple of games, aside from Saturday (a 3-0 loss to Glenbrook South), we’ve been getting early goals,” Jacobs coach AJ Cappello said. “It really helps our momentum and gets us excited to play.”

Amy Rigby increased the Golden Eagles lead to 3-0 with 18:14 remaining in the first half.

D-C (3-7, 2-1) struggled to get many offensive chances until the final 10 minutes of the first half and cut the deficit to 3-1 with 5:00 left on a Stephanie Letheby goal.

“The first three goals (by Jacobs) I thought were our own mistakes,” Chargers coach Sebastian Falinski said.

Lauren Grady added her ninth goal of the season 4 minutes into the second half. Margaret Rivera capped the scoring with a right-footed blast on a 20-yard free kick with 18:19 remaining.

“We work really well together,” Lauren Grady said of the team’s chemistry. “We have each other’s backs. We know we can be good. We’re just so excited to keep moving together forward and I think that’s a big part of our wins.”