Girls soccer: Libertyville brings energy, gets NSC win at Mundelein
Libertyville was in top form Tuesday night in Mundelein, turning in an impressive 80 minutes of soccer en route to a 2-0 victory over the Mustangs in a NSC contest.
The Wildcats (9-1-3, 2-1-0), who would claim a much needed 3-1 victory over Lake Zurich last week in between a loss at Stevenson and 0-0 draw with Glenbard West, used a goal at 19 minutes from Shea Krakowski to inspire a quality effort on both sides of the ball.
"The difference in this game tonight was the energy that we brought right from the start, and our ability to move the ball, and get everyone involved both in our attack, and defensively as well," said Krakowski.
The visitors would survive a nervous moment inside four minutes when Sam Biesterfeld broke free up the left side before unloading an angled left-footed effort on frame that forced Wildcats keeper Audrey Amyot into action with a nice save.
Amyot, and her teammate Tatiana Valdez, would share the eventual shutout.
"Libertyville is a real talented team (and) it was the pressure and energy that caused us some trouble tonight. (But) it was a game that a young team like ours can learn a lot from," said Mustangs senior Ailani Zires, who will play in the fall at Elmhurst University.
Zires was magnificent as the Mustangs center-back — winning countless 50-50, and first and second balls, providing quality distribution, and covering plenty of ground in order to keep the Wildcats from adding to the scoreline along the way.
The Wildcats themselves have a terrific center-back partnership in Shannon Phillips and Lainey Chung, and with this duo, along with their outside-backs Anna George and Charlotte Harrison causing trouble as they pushed forward to join the attack, Zires and her teammates were forced to defend far more than they would have liked.
"This game, along with our 3-2 loss to Stevenson last week, have been the biggest challenges of the season thus far for us. And although we struggled at times, I was proud of the effort and fight we gave against a very good team," said Mustangs coach Alex McArthur.
"We didn't create a lot of chances through the run of play. But with our early balls, or balls over the top, we had a few opportunities to score."
On the turn to free herself of pressure, Krakowski hit a thundering cracker from 30 yards for the opening goal. From nearly the same spot, the junior struck another unstoppable missile that hit the underside of the bar before falling into the back of the net.
That goal, her 10th of the season, gave Krakowski and the Wildcats a two-goal advantage.
"We knew coming in that Mundelein has just one loss on the season, so we obviously had a lot of respect for them, but we knew if we came in and just played the way we are capable of, then we would have a good chance of getting the result we came here for," said Krakowski.
The Wildcats will host NSC rival Waukegan on Thursday, while the Mustangs (8-2-2, 1-2-0) welcome Warren, 8-3-1 overall, and 3-0-0 in league play.