Girls soccer: Wheaton North keeps rolling, tops Glenbard West in regional final
Veteran Wheaton North coach Tim McEvilly realized it would take a focused 80 minute effort for his Falcons to defeat Glenbard West in Friday's Elgin 3A regional title game at Memorial Stadium.
Mission accomplished.
Spearheaded by 2 goals from Talia Kaempf and a shutout by Loyola-bound goalkeeper Zoey Bohmer, the top-seeded Falcons knocked off eighth-seeded Glenbard West, 3-0.
The Hilltoppers end the 2024 season at 10-8-3 while the Falcons (16-2-2) advance to the South Elgin sectional to play Geneva at 4:30 p.m. Tuesday.
The Vikings claimed the Glenbard East regional with a 1-0 win over DuKane Conference rival Wheaton Warrenville South. Geneva converted 4 penalty kicks to 2 for WW South.
"We were ready to play and never let down," said McEvilly. "It was a total team effort. We have the ability to score goals in bunches. We have had a great season so far. We want to keep going."
Kaempf scored with 25:18 left in the first half followed by a goal at the 16:23 mark. The goals were her 23rd and 24th of the season.
Both goals were assisted by Jane Rogers, who scored North's third goal of the game. It was her 29th of the season.
"I give Jane all the credit," said Kaempf. "She gave me great passes. It was a good read on her part. I felt comfortable and had open shots. This game was very important. We really wanted it. We still have a lot of work to do.“
Bohmer excelled in the goal for the regional champions.
She saved all 11 shots the Hilltoppers put on goal.
"I felt comfortable in my surroundings," said Bohmer. 'It is all about reading the shots. It is a great feeling to win my first regional. It was very important to me. We put a lot of hard work into the season."
Lilly Hubbach and Jen Gritis both had solid shots on goal for the Hilltoppers but Bohmer made the saves.
"We had a couple of good shots on goal but we didn't have enough quality shots," said Glenbard West coach Adam Szyszko. "We didn't put enough bullets on goal. We watched them on film. They (Wheaton North) had two great counterattacks in the first half and Rogers had a special goal in the second half. We always want to win a regional so this is a disappointing loss."