Girls soccer: ICCP offense too much for St. Edward
The offensive explosion continued for the IC Catholic Prep girls soccer team on Tuesday with a 6-3 win at St. Edward in Elgin. The Knights have now scored 18 goals in their last three games.
Senior Tessa Langan led the attack with 4 goals and 2 assists. Olivia Hurt added 2 goals and 3 assists.
"We are really playing good team soccer right now," ICCP coach Tom Schergen said. "Everyone is getting involved and making a contribution. It has been a combination of strong senior leadership and some of our younger kids continuing to get more acclimated. Kids like Bella Leslie, a freshman who has really stepped up in the middle and held her own."
The Knights (14-5) struck early with Hurt scoring just inside of 8 minutes into the game. She added a second goal at the 23:51 mark. Both goals were assisted by Langan.
"We were just trying to get a lot of balls up the side and get crosses," Langan said. "We have been making a lot better passes."
The Green Wave (6-10-1) cut the lead to 2-1 just before the half with a goal from Ava Matsas.
However, the second half turned into the Langan show. She made it 3-1 with her first goal just under 3 minutes into the second half. She then put the game away with back-to-back goals in less than 20 seconds apart with just over 20 minutes left to play to make it 5-1. For good measure Langan added a fourth goal with 17:23 left.
"My teammates were making some great passes through some gaps," Langan said. "They deserve a lot of the credit. I really didn't have to do much, they put me in a great position to score.'
It's not the first time Langan has scored 4 goals. In fact she just did it two games ago.
'She has been a pleasure to coach," Schergen said. "She knows the game so well and knows how to finish around the net. Her motor is constantly running. There is just no stopping."
The Green Wave, who are battling through a slew of injuries, added a couple late goals from Madelyn Duffy and Kathleen Ellsworth.
"They are a very talented team," St. Edward coach Tim Brieger said of the Knights. "And we are still trying to piece it together with all the girls out. We are down five starters right now, so it was good to see us be able to compete and only be down by one at half. I thought we had some offensive punch, but they are a very tough team to stop."