Girls soccer: Hersey, Prospect battle to an MSL draw
Hersey rescued a point from its Mid-Suburban League girls soccer opener with Prospect on Friday night when Gracek Kozurek fired in the equalizer in the 46th minute, leading to a 1-1 draw at Roland Goins Stadium in Arlington Heights.
Prospect coach Tom Froats' team controlled much of the match, and perhaps deserved at least another goal in the first half besides an Ella Marzolf strike at 23 minutes. But a resilient Hersey side fought hard to earn its second draw of the season.
"Prospect is going to be a very good team, but the girls played with a lot of heart, and the effort was way up there tonight," said Hersey coach Darren Llewelyn. "And with a young bunch that we have, that's a good thing for us to take away from this game."
Hersey slipped to 0-1-2 overall and 0-0-1 against the MSL.
"We have to keep reminding ourselves that we've played just 2½ games thus far," said Froats, "with two of them coming in the last two nights - so we're still a little rusty, and need to sort a few things out."
Prospect picked up its first MSL win by topping Hoffman Estates on Thursday.
The Knights looked sharp during the early exchanges, and a succession of trips into their opponent's end presented a big challenge to a brand new backline which is still finding its way in the early going.
"We'll eventually have a very good unit along the back, but it's going to take some time in order to get there," Llewelyn said. "We still did a pretty good job against a team which knows how to attack, and especially from the outside."
Marzolf arrived in the Huskies' end with a possession, and with some nice individual work to touch away from pressure, the sophomore got herself enough time and space to fire a low attempt from the right side off the gloves of keeper Andrea Canon and into the back of the net.
The goal inspired the attack of the visitors, and if not for a block by Claire Magnuson of a close-range blast by Ashley Welk, the Knights might have doubled their advantage just minutes from the intermission.
Laura Burckhardt, Claire Callahan and Kozurek, who enjoyed several quality moments in the final third, combined to give Burkhardt a chance in the 31st minute, which was saved confidently by Gianna Rossi.
Hersey surged just after the break when Kozurek brought the hosts even with a nifty touch the other way after Burckhardt provided a superb helper from along the right side.
"Those three gave us a couple of other great chances to score tonight, but you can see we need to get a lot better in the final third, along with a few other things which will take some time with so many new players on our roster," said Llewelyn.
Both extra sessions were dominated by the Knights, who created four deep throws in the first 10-minute period in addition to a couple of dangerous balls played into the box by Aly Kobler, Shawna Stokes and Welk.
"We haven't played together very much yet - but after we do, I think we'll eventually be a very good team," suggested Kobler, a senior.
Next up for Kobler and her teammates will be MSL West power Fremd on Monday in Palatine, while Hersey will turn its attention to Hoffman Estates, also on Monday.