Elk Grove shuts out Rolling Meadows
Buoyed by a 2-0 win over division-leading Rolling Meadows on Monday night in girls soccer, Elk Grove’s hopes of climbing the MSL East ladder remain bright.
Senior Carin Fearing struck twice, and the hosts’ back line proved watertight against the high-scoring Mustangs as Elk Grove grinded out a much-needed victory to inch closer to Meadows in the divisional race.
Hersey fell to Palatine 2-1 on Monday to help keep Meadows’ East Divison lead over the Huskies at 2 points.
“Right off the whistle tonight, I really felt like we came to play, and for the first time in a while, I thought we initiated some strong physical play, which we’ve been missing ever since our 2-1 loss in OT to New Trier earlier this month,” said Grens coach Dan Klaus. “Our back line was strong in its tackles and in its passing, which allowed them to connect with each other as well as our midfield. And we came out in the second half and played hard, and had most of the run of play against a very good opponent in Rolling Meadows.”
The Grens (6-5-2, 2-3-0, 7 points), who have now gone just 1-4-1 since the New Trier match in the Pepsi Showdown, held their own against the visitors’ high-powered attack, featuring Ann Marie Lynch, Maggie Moran and a freshman duo of Jackie Kemph and Mary Collins who have shown they can pressure opponents with speed, quickness and endless energy.
On this night, though, the Mustangs (11-2-0, 4-2-0, 12 points) sputtered at times and never found their pace long enough to create many dangerous opportunities on Grens keeper Melissa Solorio.
“We just weren’t very sharp, right from the beginning,” said Meadows coach Jeff Adkins, whose team hosts Conant on Wednesday afternoon before traveling to Hersey on Friday for an important MSL East match in Arlington Heights. “Credit Elk Grove for much of our troubles tonight. We played hard and never gave in, right up until the very end, but we just had an off night.”
Klaus was thrilled with his back line of Katie Naughton, Emily Wary and Sarah Stram for their 80-minute effort, but he was also quick to suggest that the trio of Fearing, Rachel Prium and Anne Klancnik were also a key.
“Rachel just worked so hard for us today in the middle, and both Carin and Anne really helped set the tone for the way we played, doing a lot of the dirty work, and really putting forth the type of work rate that we’ll need from here on out.”
After a goal-less first half, the Grens got into the back of the net when a Prium corner initiated the first Fearing goal.
“I thought in that (first) half, both teams worked to created some counters here and there,” Klaus said. “Nothing really came of it for either side, but I also thought both sides played very hard.”
The Mustangs’ depth was tested after the break when all-area defender Alex Partipilo left the match with an injury. Also missing were defender Amanda Gunn and Moran, who was less than 100 percent healthy before the match, according to Adkins.
“We found ourselves a little shorthanded when those three had to come out, so that kind of put us in a difficult situation at the time as well,” said Adkins.
The Mustangs’ faithful roared their disapproval when Lynch was brought down from behind in the final quarter-hour, but instead Adkins was carded.
“We began the second half well, but after 10 minutes or so, our play fell off, and that was about it,” said Adkins.
Fearing doubled the Grens’ lead at 78 minutes after Kelli Hubly carried to the end line, and from an impossble angle put a ball low to the turf to Fearing, who slotted past Mustangs keeper Emily Haeger.
“Maybe we’ll be able to look back at this result and say it was the game that got us going,” said Klaus, “but we’ve got a long way to go until we can actually say that.”