Crystal Lake South 1, Cary-Grove 0

Crystal Lake South realized there wasn't any margin of error if the Gators wanted to get a piece of the Fox Valley Conference Valley Division title.

Avenging a 1-0 shootout loss to Cary-Grove last Thursday, South returned the favor with a 1-0 victory over the Trojans at South's Ken Bruhn Field Wednesday.

Cary-Grove (15-2 overall) ended FVC Valley Division action with a 9-1 record. South (11-6 overall), moved to 8-1 in league play. The Gators can tie the Trojans for the conference championship with a win over Jacobs Thursday.

"We wanted to put more offensive pressure on Cary-Grove in this game," said Crystal Lake South coach Anne Santucci, "We wanted to create more good shot opportunities, and I thought we did a great job in that area. We recognized we had to play more with our feet and we possessed the ball much better tonight."

The two teams battled to a scoreless tie for a little over 53 minutes, before the Gators scored the only goal of the game.

Off a perfectly executed pass from sophomore forward Ashley Ross, sophomore Karley Mecko was able to push a shot past Cary-Grove goalkeeper Alex Holland with 26:33 left in the game.

"I really didn't have to do much," said Mecko. "Ashley gave me a great pass and I just had to put the ball in the goal. We were very angry last week when we lost to Cary-Grove. This win feels very good."

Santucci said the goal was the result of perfect execution.

"That goal was exactly how we practice it and how we draw it up," said Santucci. "Ashley had a great pass and Karley did a great job of getting herself in great position to get a good shot."

Cary-Grove, which out-shot Crystal Lake South 8-6, had several great chances to tie the score.

With 19:22 left in the game, Cary-Grove senior standout Kelsey Passaglia broke loose from the Gator defense and rifled a shot on goal from 10 yards out. However, South goalkeeper Jessica Taldone reacted quickly and was able to make the save.

With 8:33 remaining, Passaglia again broke away from the Gator defense and delivered a shot from 5 yards out, but the ball flew over the goal.

With 5:42 left, Cary-Grove freshman Allie Simon cranked a shot from 15 yards out but it hit the post.

"We had our chances in both halves, but couldn't convert," said Cary-Grove coach Ray Krystal. "It was the second straight game we had a battle with them."

Taldone registered 5 saves for the Gators while Holland had 3 saves for the Trojans.

The two teams meet again next Wednesday in the Jacobs regional.