Girls soccer: Fullriede leads Neuqua Valley rout
Allie Fullriede picked a neat time to record her first 2-goal game.
The Neuqua Valley senior made her final home game a memorable one, bagging a pair of goals Thursday to help the host Wildcats to a 5-1 senior night victory over Wheaton Warrenville South.
"It was awesome to have it on senior night, with all my teammates and everyone there," Fullriede said. "It felt good."
The Wildcats had plenty to feel good about. They capped an undefeated run through the DuPage Valley Conference with a virtuoso performance that saw them take a 4-0 halftime lead.
Junior Alyssa Bombacino also scored twice, while senior Haley Singer had a goal and an assist and junior Schylar Kingsley dished out 3 assists.
"Winning the DVC gives us a lot of confidence," Singer said. "It's a really big thing for us.
"We're all super excited about it because it builds our momentum up for the playoffs, which is what we're really looking forward to."
Neuqua (10-3-4, 7-0-1) heads into the postseason on a roll, having won its last four games by combined 27-1. While two of those wins came against cellar-dwelling Lake Park and Glenbard North, the Wildcats proved their offensive performance is no fluke by dicing a decent WW South defense with ease.
All 5 goals came on similar plays. The Wildcats swung the ball out wide, crossed it back in and someone was always there for a fast finish.
Bombacino and Fullriede scored the first 2 goals in a 1:22 span, with Fullriede volleying home a Kingsley cross with 16:09 left in the first half. Kingsley fed Fullriede for the third goal eight minutes later and set up Bombacino's second at the 2:20 mark.
"We do this a lot in practice," Fullriede said. "We practice the crosses in and finishing. That's been our big focus and so it's nice to see it translate into games."
It wasn't so nice for the Tigers (8-8-1, 3-5), who got caught watching and not doing.
"We didn't do a great job ourselves in the first half regarding tracking people," WW South coach Guy Callipari said. "We were wondering why our backs were under so much pressure. Well, people weren't coming back and (the Wildcats) saw the opportunity to fill spaces.
"But I do like the effort in the second half. I'm not sure all the powers-to-be were on the field for them, but for us it was a nice way to move into Saturday's game."
Singer made it 5-0 on a one-timer off a feed from Ryan Gareis with 23:58 to go in the second half, after which the Wildcats cleared their bench.
The Tigers averted the shutout when junior Morgan Schwerin scored her third goal of the season with an assist from Paige Miller at the 3:53 mark.
The Wildcats had already clinched the DVC title but still played with fury in their regular-season finale.
"I think we finally have found our momentum in these past couple games," Fullriede said. "I know we wanted to win the DVC.
"Once we realized it was in our hands I think we took it to heart and wanted to go out and finish off the season right for going into the playoffs."