Girls soccer: Warren, Stevenson battle to scoreless draw
When two high-powered, high-speed soccer programs collide, what you get is an entertaining, thrilling and well-played 80 minutes of action that found neither side finding the back of the net.
With plenty at stake Tuesday night in Gurnee, host Warren and Stevenson played to a 0-0 draw that will keep both clubs still in the hunt for the top spot in the NSC.
"It was just a great game between two teams that came out and played real soccer all night long," said Stevenson coach PepeJon Chavez, whose Patriots are now 10-1-1, 2-0-1 in league play.
"Obviously it's not the result we wanted (but) it was a great game to be a part of, and now we hope to get another chance at them later in the season just as we did last year," added Bella Chavez.
Last year, the Patriots dropped a 1-0 contest to the Blue Devils (7-2-1, 3-0-1) and then avenged that defeat with a 4-0 victory in its sectional semifinal.
"It was a fair result - I thought we played really well on both sides of the ball, did a lot of good things, and at this point in the season, I feel like things are coming together at the right time for us," said Blue Devils senior Ella Skelton, who will play next fall at Loyola in Chicago.
Skelton, like so many other players on this chilly night at the Blue Devils' O'Plaine Road campus, played with so much pace, purpose and poise to treat the crowd to some lovely soccer without the benefit of a goal or two.
The Patriots were without their two center-backs - captains Lily Mahdavian and Hailey Livesay. PepeJon Chavez moved his all-state candidate, Mimi VanZanten, in alongside Haylie Popkey, and the two made for a solid partnership in front of keeper Mandy Melker.
"Those two played well along the back for us tonight. The depth our roster has allowed us to move some players around to create balance because the players trust each other regardless of where they play," said the Patriots coach.
After a little bit of a slow start with the ball, the Blue Devils got themselves on their collective front feet. That was thanks to the aforementioned Skelton, as well as senior Kylie Mahoney and freshman Addison Stanciak, in addition to outside backs Mia Gloria and Emma Paraskos.
"Mia and Emma did well to get into the attack and win balls for us tonight. (In) fact, our entire back line has been strong all throughout the year so far," said Blue Devils coach Ryan McCabe.
Because of the voracity in challenges and constant pressure from box-to-box, there were few quality chances on either keeper.
Meliker was called into action in the 65th minute to save a cracker from Mahoney. Patriots sophomore Ellie Egeland went just over the bar four minutes later from 25 yards. And Trish Georgiou was at her best when she saved a quality effort from VanZanten at 72 minutes.
It appeared Skelton had beaten the Patriots' last man on her run to collect a terrific early ball from Brooke Gaertig, but the assistant on the near side raised his flag to dash the hopes of a potential 1v1 opportunity for Warren's leading scorer.
"A victory for one of us would have helped their cause with sectional seeds ready to come out, but we still feel we're in good shape to be in the top four along with Glenbrook North, Libertyville and Stevenson," said McCabe.
Next up for the Blue Devils is a Naperville Invite consolation match against Loyola this Thursday, while the Patriots welcome conference rival Zion-Benton on the same night.