Rolling Meadows’ 2nd half does in South Elgin
Second-half play was a concern of Rolling Meadows girls soccer coach Mike Drenth going into the first game of the South Elgin tournament, but his Mustangs proved they could play for all 80 minutes Saturday afternoon.
The Mustangs (3-2) defeated South Elgin 3-1 in the ongoing tournament at Millennium Field in Streamwood. The Mustangs had control of the ball for most of the second half, and broke open a 1-1 tie with 2 goals.
“We’ve been talking a lot about (our second-half play)” said Drenth. “We talked about really concentrating on keeping the pressure up, and this was the first time we’ve really done that.”
Midfielder Ann Marie Lynch got things started three minutes into the half with a shot that deflected off the hands of South Elgin freshman goalkeeper Jourdan Valkner into the goal. Forward Maggie Moran sealed the deal with a goal with four minutes to go in the game.
“I just tried to stress to the girls that we have to keep pressure on (South Elgin),” Drenth said. “I have some very skilled players up top in Lynch, Moran and (midfielder Jackie) Kemph, and they did a nice job once we won the ball.”
South Elgin sophomore Savanah Uveges scored the lone goal for the Storm (2-3) in the first half on a shot from the left side that bounced in off the crossbar 27 minutes into the game and was answered six minutes later with a goal from Kemph shot into an open let side of the net past a diving Valkner. Valkner finished the afternoon with 7 saves, while Mustangs goalkeeper Ashley Ingolia notched 6 saves.
Storm head coach Tiffany Disher would have liked her team to come out swinging in the second half, but there were still plenty of positives for her to take into their next matchup Monday at 11 a.m. against Streamwood.
“When we came back out (after halftime), it seemed like we came back out slightly flat,” Disher said. “We had such a solid, quality first half with our passing, connecting and dropping the ball back. Several of our girls can play in many different positions on the field, and being able to move them around and see that they’re talented at every aspect is nice.”