St. Edward's Gnan, Streamwood's Carroll shine on cloudy day

For different reasons, St. Edward and Streamwood enjoyed good days Saturday at the St. Edward girls soccer tournament in Elgin.

Led by 5 goals from Tawny Carroll, Streamwood claimed the program's first tournament championship with a 5-0 win over Harvest Christian.

It was a record-setting day for St. Edward senior forward Chelsea Gnan, who became the school's all-time leading goal scorer (including boys) with her 76th career goal.

She broke the record of 75 goals previously held by Allison Kruk, who graduated in 2014.

St. Edward (6-7) finished 2-1 in the tournament with a 2-0 win over Westminster Christian.

Carroll's dominance led the Sabres to the title.

She scored 4 goals in the first half as Streamwood (7-7) led 4-0 at intermission.

She added her fifth goal of the game in the second half.

"We had three good wins in this tournament and we were finally able to beat St. Ed's," said Carroll, a senior. "It is great to win this tournament."

Streamwood coach Matt Polovin was impressed with Carroll's performance.

'She is certainly one of the best forwards in the state," said Polovin. "Tawny is fun to watch."

Streamwood, which outshot Harvest Christian (5-5) 14-1, received assists on Carroll's goals from Esmeralda Navarro, Alondra Blanco and Vanessa Campos.

Harvest's best opportunity to score came on a 10-foot shot from Taylor Keeran with 23:12 left in the game but Streamwood goalie Nathalie Guindon made the save.

"We were a bit outmatched today," said Harvest coach Jason Acres. "We like playing

higher competition and it gives us something to aspire to. Tawny is a strong player. She was too quick for us."

St. Edward, which was scoreless in the first half, got on the scoreboard with 28:58 left on an unassisted goal by Cece Kochanek.

Gnan's record-breaking goal came off an assist from Taylor Gredzieleski with 17:07 remaining.

"I was really trying to get the goal earlier in the game," said Gnan. "I had some good

chances in the first half but over shot the goal. I definitely had some nerves."

St. Edward coach Tim Brieger was glad to see Gnan get the record-breaking goal.

"The girls were trying so hard to get her the goal," said Brieger. "She was relieved when she got the goal."

Westminster (5-5) stayed in the game because of the play of goalie Savannah Dutcher, who had 12 saves.

"Savannah is so tall she scares opponents from shooting," said Westminster coach Erik Schwartz. "She made some great saves."

Streamwood 3, Westminster Christian 1: Tawny Carroll scored twice and Alondra Blanco added a goal to lead the Sabres. Shanoli Pierce had 2 assists in the win and Nathalie Guindon made 2 saves in goal. Mattea Huerta scored Westminster's goal and Savannah Dutcher had 12 saves in goal.