Girls soccer: Libertyville, Fremd overcome wind, Glenbrooks to reach sectional final
On a night not made for anything but flying a kite, sectional soccer was played at Roland Goins Stadium in Arlington Heights between four terrific teams each looking to extend their season into the finals this weekend.
Though not as impactful as storms or severe cold, it would be the incredible wind gusts that would ultimately decide both sectional semifinals Tuesday at tourney host Hersey High School.
Libertyville and Fremd advanced into the final Saturday morning in a rematch of the 2023 sectional final after surviving shutout victories.
No. 2 Fremd (14-4-4) secured a precarious 1-0 win over Glenbrook North thanks to the spot-kick conversion from Gemma Gillespie in the 29th minute.
"We won the coin flip and took the wind for the first half, and it would pay off for us tonight," said Gillespie. "(Glenbrook North) has some terrific talent, so we knew (we) had to take advantage of the wind and hopefully put one or two (in) while keeping the pressure on them as much as we could in the second half in order to keep their chances to a minimum.“
“No. 24 (Gwen Zimmerman) earned that PK for them with just a great run into the box, and unfortunately for us she was tripped up, and that was the goal that would decide the game," said GBN coach Tony Valsamis, whose club ends its season at 15-4-2.
Gillespie would skim the bar with her 30-yard effort in the 18th minute before Natalia Wala saw her near unstoppable blast from 25 yards bravely turned away by Spartans keeper Maddy Noll who kept this game at 0-0 in the 26th minute.
"I think it was our energy, work rate and the pressure we put on them, especially in the second half, that was the difference tonight," said Wala, who will play college soccer in the fall at Purdue University Northwest in Hammond, Ind.
The Titans would test Emily Gordon just after the intermission, but the Vikings keeper would see just two more attempts on frame the rest of the way to record the shutout with plenty of help from her backline.
The Vikings will look to avenge its 2-0 loss to No. 4 Libertyville in its sectional final a year ago. Libertyville posted a 3-0 defeat of top-seed Glenbrook South in the opener.
Sophomore Shea Krakowski, who has scored in all three of the Wildcats (14-4-1) postseason games, would double the lead just before the half hour after teammate Lilly Frantz bagged the all important opener four minutes into this contest.
"That early goal from Lilly was a big one. It really put (GBS) on its heels, and it gave us a huge momentum boost also," said Krakowski, now with a team-high 20 goals.
"We brought a lot of energy into the game, and right from the start we kept that energy (up) while putting lot of pressure on them which combined with the strong winds at our back helped us keep the ball in their end for almost all of the first half," said Frantz.
The junior found a way to beat a pair of Titans defenders and its keeper to a ball just outside the spot before steering in her close range effort.
Wildcats keeper Kate Hopma made her lone save of the first half when she remained alert and composed on a nicely redirected attempt by Chloe Beach in the 25th minute.
Three minutes later Krakowski finished easily after being sent through with a pair of superb touches from Molly Koch and Frantz.
"Going into the break with a 2-0 lead gave us a lot of confidence which was important since (they) would have a strong wind at their backs," said Krakowski.
The Titans (14-4-6) under first-year coach and former star alum Cassidy Price, were unable to pry open the water tight backline of Lainey Chung, Erin Kelly, Maddy Kopola and Shannon Phillips who would help guarantee a third consecutive shutout.
Molly Koch would add the third goal into the scorebook for the Wildcats in the 48th minute when she smashed home a shot from 30 yards past keeper Lyndsey Mack.