Girls soccer: Deegan’s goal sparks Jacobs to regional win over Hampshire

Kylie Deegan knew it was a make-or-break moment for her season.

Racing after a long punt by goalkeeper Addison Hunsicker, a punt that took a high hop off the turf and over the Hampshire defense, Deegan fielded the ball and pushed it toward the goal. With nothing but green turf in front of her, the Jacobs sophomore sprinted with all she had.

As Hampshire defender Ariana Salgado finally caught her from behind, Deegan fired a left-footed shot toward the near post as the two girls collided about 15 yards from the Hampshire met. Unable to see the ball off her foot, Deegan didn’t realize until she rose to her feet that her shot found the near back corner to give Jacobs a one-goal lead.

Deegan’s goal, which came in the 69th minute and broke a tie, proved to be the game-winner. The No. 9 Golden Eagles took down the No. 8 Whip-Purs 2-1 in an IHSA Class 3A regional semifinal girls soccer game at Warren Township in Gurnee on Monday. Jacobs (5-13-2) will face No. 1 Warren in the regional final at 7 p.m. Friday.

“I knew once it went behind the defense that this has to go in,” Deegan said. “She was behind me and then I shot it and I fell. I only saw I scored once I got up. It was awesome because we lost to them by a lot at the beginning of the season, so it was great being able to come back and beat them.”

The Golden Eagles, who fell to the Whips 6-1 on April 14, are in the regional final for the eighth time in nine seasons. Jacobs seeks its first regional title since 2018. Defense has been a key to success for the Golden Eagles, who are allowing only 1.83 goals per game over their last six games.

After a pair of close calls, Hampshire found its equalizer in the 44th minute, when senior Mikala Amegasse launched a left-footed shot from near the 25-yard line that soared through the air and over the head of Hunsicker. Near-misses in the 52nd and 58th minutes kept the score even until Deegan’s breakaway game-winner in the 69th.

“We needed some energy and some momentum,” Amegasse said. “Christina (Pastorelli) played me a great ball and for a second, I was like, ‘maybe I should try to get closer, but you never know.’ A big thing we talk about is testing the goalkeeper and seeing what she can do.”

“I think losing 6-1 may have been the best thing for us early on in the season because now we’re hungry, especially against a conference in-district rival,” Jacobs coach Colin Brice said. “Defensively, we made sure we played simple out of the back. The biggest thing was being touch tight because they’re an extremely physical and athletic team.”

Senior captain Avery Maloney put Jacobs ahead in the 32nd minute. Fielding a pass by sophomore midfielder Clare Leib, a pass that shot backward off the foot of a Hampshire defender, Maloney carried the ball forward before ripping a right-footed shot toward the far post. The shot ricocheted off the near front corner and into the goal.

“I knew by the way her leg moved that the ball was going to go past,” said Maloney. “I wanted to just keep running with it and hope I could get it. I tried to cut in and get as good of an angle as I could. We’ve been doing a lot of training on far posts or any corners, so I think the repetition of that helped me to do it by instinct.”

Hampshire (9-11) applied some pressure late in the first half. Freshman Avery Morales placed a quality shot on goal in the 24th minute, but Hunsicker dove and made an athletic stop for one of her four saves in the match. Junior forward Langston Kelly fired a shot toward the goal in the 36th minute, but it soared just right of target.

“From the start, they had energy to them,” Hampshire coach Bradley Crim said. “They wanted to get their offense going and put pressure on us right away, which is what they need to be doing. We beat them 6-1 the first time, they wanted revenge and they brought it to us. They kept the pressure on and they got those two goals that hurt us.”