Girls soccer: No shame for Libertyville in close loss to New Trier
Libertyville wasted no time scoring against one of the stronger teams in the state.
It took the Wildcats' girls soccer team only 25 seconds to find the back of the net against visiting New Trier on Tuesday, as Lauren Huber finished her opportunity on the team's first possession. She was set up with a great pass from Savanna Winiecki near the top of the box.
"At first, honestly, it was so startling because it was so quick," said Huber, who scored her second goal in two games. "It was really good movement and passing by the rest of the team. It was moving forward, moving forward, moving forward, then it got to me. I was like, 'I'll shoot it.' I don't think I've ever scored that quickly."
The Wildcats battled hard the rest of the game but they gave up a second half goal and lost 2-1 in a nonconference match.
Libertyville (1-1) played without starting goalkeeper Kendall Edwards, who missed the match after receiving stitches on her knee from an injury in practice. Abby Noonan stepped up in her place and made 8 stops.
"We had confidence in the defense," Libertyville coach Daniel De Paz said. "We practiced with Abby on (Monday)."
New Trier improved to 2-0-2.
"The effort was there," De Paz said. "As the game wore on and New Trier got stronger, we got back on our heels and let them come at us. When you let a team like New Trier come at you offensively, it's never a good idea. Our defense held them off, but we gave them too much space going forward. When you take the space away like we did in the second half, you get a better result."
Defensively, sophomore Lauren Milz led the Wildcats with help from Abby Paglia, Faith Roberts and Emma Manolovic.
"I just try to make sure to have the person in front stay marked and keep things in control," Milz said. "I've played this spot all my life, and I don't mind being back there."
New Trier scored the tying goal off a free kick from 30 yards out. Julia Goldish sent the ball into the box and Lily Conley head-flicked it into the goal in the 15th minute.
The game-winner was scored when Villanova commit Emily Weaver kicked a shot under the crossbar after taking a pass from Ava Shah in the 45th minute.
"It's early, this team has to grind through things," New Trier coach Jim Burnside said. "It's not pretty, but against a good athletic team like Libertyville. We did what we needed to do. We're not happy on how it looked but we're grinding through things right now. A good team like that will come out after you (scoring very quickly). We have to wake up and warm up. Against a good team, they will give you trouble."