Niles North makes 1 goal stand up against Maine West
Niles North made a goal in the 19th minute hold up — while Maine West (4-8-1, 0-1-0) failed to find a way through the Vikings defense.
The net result was a 1-0 Vikings victory in Central Suburban League action on a frigid Monday night in Skokie.
Berina Gradjan finished after a scrum following a corner from the Vikings (3-7-2) to give the home side all it would need to win. The Vikings ran their unbeaten streak to four games, including a 1-1 draw with Mundelein in their final tournament match of the Pepsi Showdown on Saturday.
“It looks like we’re finally getting a little bit more comfortable with the way we play and with each other,” said Vikings coach Dan Edminster, a former star player at St. Viator. “In the last two weeks, our defense has really come around, and we’re creating a few more chances up top as well.
“This was a good win for us, and hopefully, it will help build our confidence a little more as we go forward.”
Warriors coach Mike Divincenzo watched his offense sputter for nearly an hour before coming alive.
“I am not sure exactly what it is, but I can say for sure that our defense came off the field tonight absolutely beat, but our people up front still looked pretty fresh,” Divicenzo said. “I guess all I can say right now is that our work rate has to improve if we hope to be more dangerous, and, in turn, score goals.”
When the Vikings began attacking, it was likely because of the senior duo of Deobrah Steinberg and Tiffany Ebeling. They did not earn any rewards in the scorebook but were easily the Warriors’ best players for 80 minutes.
On their third corner of the first half, the Vikings put the ball past West keeper Sara Stepanovich.
The Warriors threatened when Annaliese Walsten sent her free kick from 25 yards whistling past the near post at 24 minutes. At 33 minutes, Lili Becerril send a nice ball over the top on which Ailish O’Connell nearly beat Vikings keeper Itzy Hernandez in a 50-50 challenge.
Moments later with the ball set down just outside the 18, Walsten’s strike crashed off the football crossbar.
“I thought we did a fairly decent job of controlling the play in the first half, especially in the back where the girls did very well as a group,” said Divincenzo about the work of a backline led by Kelly Cerri, Maggie McCabe, Bridget Burger and Shannon Sullivan.
Near the hour mark, the game began to open up. The Warriors’ midfield got quicker into the attack. The Warriors had a build up initiated from Rosa Gonzalez, Cara Franke, Jessica Gonzalez and Walsten stopped in the Vikings’ area.
“We needed to play with that type of energy and movement right from the start of the game,” said Rosa Gonzalez, one of three Warriors captains. “I think we were all happy to have the game moved from our field and (onto) turf, but we didn’t really take advantage of it until late in this game.”
“I know that this team is still very young and that we didn’t have an off-season with them because of when we took over the program, but we all have to work harder in order to improve,” Divicenzo said. “I have a lot of faith in these girls and really feel like we can be a scary team to play when the postseason rolls around.”
Conant 2, Buffalo Grove 0: Kelsey Foss scored on a penalty kick and Courtney Retzmin added a goal as Conant beat Buffalo Grove 2-0 in Mid-Suburban League crossover action. Keeper Lindsey Fillingim recorded the shutout.
Prospect 1, Hoffman Estates 0: Megan Hood scored the only goal as visiting Prospect edged Hoffman Estates in an MSL crossover match. Megan McCabe recorded the win in the nets with 6 saves. Hoffman keeper Sam Callaham stopped a dozen shots.