Fremd maintains momentum
A long night of tournament play in the Naperville Invite was forced into shootout after Fremd and St. Viator were unable to score after 80 minutes Thursday.
After watching Palatine outlast St. Charles East 4-2 in shootout in the previous match, the host Vikings finished on all 4 of their spot kicks to replicate the outcome of the previous contest and defeat the Lions 4-2.
Fremd (5-6-2) will play its final consolation match of the tournament against the Sandburg-Lyons Township winner at 2 p.m. Saturday at Naperville North, while the Lions take on the loser of the same match at noon.
“We played a very bad first half against Buffalo Grove (Wednesday) night, but came back to play a really good second half of soccer, and I think we all took that second half and applied it to tonight — especially in the first half — to play a better overall game against St. Viator,” said Vikings junior midfielder Bri Frys, who along with teammates Bekah Bostrom and Jenna Rizzo helped inspire Fremd on both sides of the ball while providing the type of work rate needed to neutralize their counterparts from St. Viator.
“It was a better effort all the way around than what the girls gave on Monday against Nazareth,” said St. Viator coach Mike Taylor, referring to a disappointing tie against the Lions’ East Suburban Catholic Conference rival.
It took nearly a quarter hour of soccer before either side could generate quality in the attack, but once Frys and company began connect with each other and finding forward Caroline Wagner with more regularity, the Vikings were able to keep the Lions pinned in their own end for most of the first period.
Fremd kept keeper Morgan Hess alert and busy during this time, with Bostrom sending a couple of well-aimed free kicks in on Hess. Senior Emily Basten also had a go from in close with headers.
“We’re able to work up and possess in our opponent’s end, but the story all season long is that we can’t finish what we start, and when you cannot score, it puts a lot of pressure on the rest of your team and overall game,” said Fremd coach Steve Keller.
With the wind at their back, and an extra word or two at the break from Taylor and his staff, the Lions (7-5-2) opened the second half with renewed vigor.
Fremd keeper Shannon Norris made a brilliant point-blank stop in the 49th minute on Megan McCollum after the sophomore striker was put through with a sensational ball from Katelyn Hammarlund.
Just before the Norris heroics, Basten went over the bar, with a nice turn from in close.
Later, the Lions had another terrific chance to get on the scoreboard, but Katie Gavin veered her attempt up and over the crossbar as well.
The Vikings pushed hard in the final 10 minutes of regulation, first, with Basten and Rizzo working a nice 1-2 combination, which resulted in the Rizzo, a junior, missing high over Hess. Then at 80 minutes, it was another well struck free kick from Bostrom that saw Hess push up and over to send the match into shootout.
Once there, the two clubs matched each other’s conversions, with Hammarlund opening the first round by easily finishing her spot kick, followed by Rebecca Freeman driving home her shot.
Gavin and Basten, the two top defenders of the night, went past the keepers to make it 2-2 before the Lions’ Molly McMahon crushed her shot off the post, and Bostrom steered past Hess to give the Vikings a 3-2 advantage.
After Maria Petrillo went wide to begin the fourth round, Wagner struck the winner.
“We were just awful against Nazareth, but it was good to see us come back and play hard tonight, and hopefully (get) ourselves back on track, and ready to go for the final weeks of the season,” said Gavin.