Girls soccer: Prospect in its element with victory at Rolling Meadows

Fans of Prospect's girls soccer team were greeted by an unwelcome rain storm early during the Knights' match at Rolling Meadows on Friday.

The discomfort turned out to be worth it, as after a pair of weather delays Prospect came away with a 1-0 victory.

Shawna Stokes' game-winner came just before intermission when the sophomore finished helpers from senior Andi Marfilius and Ashley Welk to give the visitors a win in their Mid-Suburban East opener. Prospect improved its overall record to 2-1-0 in the early going.

"It was a good win," said Prospect coach Tom Froats, who watched his club open strong before falling back a bit after threatening weather blew in quickly in the 10th minute. "You're always concerned when a long delay comes about, especially when you're playing so well. And for us, it took awhile to find our form and get back to where we were before the delay."

Prospect put the hosts on their heels with plenty of pace and energy from its front seven, which included freshman Ella Marzolf and Marfilius, who led they way in playing quickly and keeping most of the action in the Mustangs' half of the field during the first half.

"We just were not very good," said Rolling Meadows coach Mike Drenth. "Obviously, some of that was with the way Prospect played - but a lot was on our shoulders today, and almost right from the start we just seemed to be playing at half speed."

Just when it appeared the Mustangs (1-2-0, 0-1-0) might go into the break with a scoreless tie, the visitors gained an all-important 1-goal advantage.

Marfilius' pass prefaced a shot from Welk. Keeper Kelsey Nallon turned it away, but the ball spilled back into the box, and an opportunistic Stokes drove it into the back of the net from 6 yards.

"I thought we began to get back to where we were at before the weather delay, but when we scored that late goal, it seemed to give us the confidence we needed to carry us over and into the second half," said Marfilius.

Sure enough, the Prospect goal set the stage for a fresh second half. And with the exception of scoring again, the Knights dominated the run of play, while the backline of Marissa Valenti, Natalie Marfilius, Grace Taldone and Grace Johannesen kept things in front of them nicely and far away from keeper Meghan Rickett.

"We did pretty well until the last two minutes when we had a little bit of a letdown, and we allowed (Rolling Meadows) to get into our end a couple of times," said Johannesen.

Prospect will be on the road next Monday at Schaumburg, while the Mustangs host Maine West at 4:30 p.m. Tuesday in a nonconference match here at Robert Hoese Field.

Palatine 2, Schaumburg 0: The visiting Pirates started Mid-Suburban West play with a shutout victory.

Kacie Filian scored a first-half goal with an assist from Lauren Ellis, and Sarah Clancy had an unassisted first-half goal as the Pirates (1-1-2) picked up their first win of the season.

Hoffman Estates 10, Wheeling 0: Hoffman Estates freshman midfielder Isabella Alansari scored 4 goals and senior Ena Sabanagic added 3 and had an assist in the MSL crossover.

The Hawks improved to 3-0-0 by putting 27 shots on goal, while Wheeling dropped to 0-2-0.