Hersey stays focused, wins East
With fans keeping one eye on the game and the other on any news coming from the Barrington-Rolling Meadows match, Hersey’s girls soccer players opted to play it safe and made sure to keep focused on the task at hand.
As a result, the Huskies (13-5-1) have nothing to worry about. Not after a 2-1 victory over visiting Fremd to clinch the Mid-Suburban East crown and earn the Huskies a fourth consecutive appearance in the MSL Soccer Cup on Wednesday against Conant. The Cougars finalized their berth with a 4-1 triumph over Palatine in the MSL West.
“I guess all I’ve ever known is to be playing in the Soccer Cup every year,” said an elated Eileen Zydek of Hersey, who will play in her fourth championship match when the Huskies host the best club in the conference in one week.
“This was a mighty win for us tonight, and one where all of our seniors contributed on senior night,” said Hersey coach Brad Abel. “Especially a player like Erin (Kinsella), who got us going early on with a terrific goal.”
Kinsella, one of seven Huskies seniors, was in Abel’s starting linep as he used this special night to honor his varsity veterans. It wasn’t long before Kinsella redirected a ball sent in by teammate Megan Boyle. The shot bounded up and over Fremd keeper Shannon Norris, who had little chance to parry the shot from in close.
“I told Erin that without her goal, we don’t win this game tonight,” said Abel. “She played with a lot of energy when she was out there, and that goal just seemed to be exactly what this team needed in order to play at a high level against such a quality team in Fremd.”
The Huskies greeted each 50-50 and second ball as if it were theirs to keep, with Boyle disrupting nearly everything at midfield and the backline of Zydek, Olivia Stasiuk, Stefanie Mueller and freshman Megan Brant taking turns to clear potential trouble and keeping Fremd standout Elise Kotsakis (23 goals this season) from doing damage.
“(They) effectively took Elise out of the match tonight, and from the very beginnig of this match, they outplayed at both ends, and played smart, composed soccer to earn their 2-0 lead at the break,” said Fremd coach Steve Keller.
The Vikings (12-3-0, 7-2-0) opened with a 3-4-3 formation in hopes of prying open a stingy Huskies defense.
“We were playing on grass for the first time this season, and we knew we couldn’t knock it around like we do on turf or play possession, but we tried to anyway, and it cost us,” added Keller.
Despite its rough start, the Vikings came alive just after the quarter hour, managing to find Michelle Mottonen, Kira Heggeland and Alexis Tice a little bit more.
Just when it appeared Fremd might be finding its pace, Zydek doubled the Huskies’ lead at 23 minutes off a dead-ball opportunity. Laura Gierman teed up a well driven free kick from the left side, which forced Norris to get full extension to her right to initially save the strike from going in. But the junior was unable to pull the ball under control and allowed a rebound at the far post; an alert Zydek thumped in her eighth goal of the year.
The Vikings responded immediately, but Hersey keeper Erin Reiff saved twice in the last 10 minutes of the first half to help her club maintain its advantage.
The second half was filled with plenty of breathless and frantic pace, as the Vikings at times left themselves dangerously exposed while pushing extra attackers forward. Knowing this, the Huskies looked to counter, while also keeping the pressure on when the opportunity arrived for deep throws, many of them coming off searing flip throws by Gina Giancola.
The best came after a Giancola toss fell just inside the 6. If not for a heady clear from Jennifer Freeman, the home side might have been celebrating another goal at the hour mark
Just moments later, Ashley McConnell ran down the left side and headed a Tice cross the other way and past Reiff to suddenly signal the alarm for both sides of a wild final 13 minutes of soccer.
The Huskies, though, tightened things up in their own end and allowed just a few quality touches in close, including a shot on frame by Nicole Obos which Reiff saved with ease.
Maeva Waterman, another Huskies senior, helped create consecutive corners in the closing minutes to help take 90-plus seconds off the clock, adding frustration for the Vikings down the stretch.
“They came to play tonight, and we didn’t, at least in the first half, so credit Hersey for coming out to play when they needed to,” said Keller.
“We had a really disappointing OT loss to Schaumburg the other night, but we responded well (to) it with a great first half, and now we’re playing in the MSL Cup next week,” said Boyle.