Girls soccer: Warren soaks up a winning regular-season finale

On senior night, there wasn't much that could dampen the spirits of Warren's girls soccer team.

The Blue Devils made a splash during their 2-0 nonconference win over visiting Deerfield on a rainy Friday in Gurnee. Alliyah Parker lead the way with a goal and an assist in the regular-season finale, while Ellen Szostak returned from a stress fracture and scored the game-winning goal.

Szostak missed five games before scoring a goal and assisting on another in Thursday night's 3-3 tie with Maine South. When she was sidelined, she wore a boot on her right foot and was left to root for her team from the bench.

"I had a stress fracture in my fifth metatarsal on the outside of my foot," Szostak said. "I got it from the amount of soccer that I had been playing recently. The high school season has been nonstop with just Sundays off. I just put too much pressure on (my foot) and after one game, it just swelled up. I knew it wasn't right so I went to the trainers. They said, 'We hate to do this, but you need to get an X-ray and you might have a fracture.' "

Szostak's return to the lineup has been welcomed by her team, which struggled at times without her. In her two games since she's been back, her play has been solid and her foot has been fine.

"It felt so good to come back. I had so much energy," Szostak said. "I feel like I have everything under control. My touch is 'on' and it feels really good. It's a mindset after sitting out. It gave me a new perspective on the game. I feel a lot more prepared."

Szostak's return up top has provided a spark for the Blue Devils (12-8-2).

"It's great to have her back," Warren coach Ryan McCabe said. "With the injury she had, we were worried about working her back too quickly. She looked good (against Maine South) with a spring with her step, so we gave her more time (against Deerfield) to see how she would hold up. I thought she handled it well."

Szostak scored the game-winning goal in the 29th minute against Deerfield (16-6-1). She found the back of the net with a volley off a perfect cross from Parker for a 1-0 Warren lead.

"I saw Alliyah taking the ball outside," said Szostak, whose goal was her ninth goal of the season. "I knew that I had to make the run into the center. I put myself right on top of the six. I saw her go past her defender, the ball came in (to me), and I just turned my body toward the goal like I needed to and finished it."

Parker scored the other Blue Devils goal of an assist from Julia Hansen. Parker beat a defender and fired a shot into the goal in the 46th minute.

Skylar Reilly made 5 of her 8 saves in the second half for the clean sheet.

"I thought we generated some chances and got forward," Deerfield coach Rich Grady said. "I thought it was an even game. We didn't mark very well on the first goal and lost the girl in the middle. It was kind of the same story on the second one. It was two lapses and (Warren) punished us. Good players do that."