Girls soccer: Hersey ends frustration with Barrington, battles for 1-0 win

Perennial state and league power Barrington has dashed the hopes of the Hersey faithful over-and-over again, many times in postseason games during the first seven years of Mike Rusniak's tenure as head coach.

These two long-time rivals met Friday night in Arlington Heights in an important MSL West division contest. On the strength of a 45th minute PK conversion from Kristen Getz, the Huskies were able to earn a hard fought 1-0 victory at Roland Goins Stadium.

"We were down a little bit after back-to-back losses early in the season, but when we came back from being down two goals to Fremd on Monday. (It) gave us a lot of confidence coming into this game tonight," said Getz.

"Our backline played great tonight, and so did Sam (Fetzer, Huskies keeper) who made a great save to help us keep our lead," added freshman Luciana Pesou.

Pesou, along with her backline mates Grace Balis, Emily Barrett, and Kate Getz, withstood a second half surge from the Fillies (4-2-0, 3-1-0-9 points) who poured forward in its search to equalize to at least earn one point.

"We created a lot of chances after (their) PK and really had a lot of the possession also, but their keeper made a great save, and it was our energy that helped us put so much pressure on them in the second half," said Fillies forward Gabby Masterson.

"We lost some very good seniors from last season, so it has taken us a little while to come together, but our energy, and work rate has always been very good," continued Masterson.

The sophomore, along with teammates Maddie Martin-Johnston, Olivia Otto, and Skye Lundy, were key figures in the Fillies strong second half, either through the run of play or with terrific combination play.

"I said at the start of the season that we will be in every game, and that our energy will always be a strength of this team, the only thing we are lacking right now is finishing our chances," said Fillies coach Ryan Stengren.

Kristen Getz was sure that a potential scoring opportunity was taken away from her when she was fouled just inside the box, leading to a Gracie Lisota spot-kick that exploded high under the bar for the lone goal of this game.

"We were able to keep both Gracie, and Nora (Eitz), two great players to just two or three looks on frame, so as a team, we defended really well tonight," said Stengren.

Martin-Johnston went close, as did Zoe Martin, but the best chance of the second half came on a left-footed cracker from Otto that Sam Fetzer bravely saved in the 74th minute.

"It was an intense, and high energy game, and one that we really needed to get three points from," said Huskies coach Mike Rusniak.

Hersey is now 2-2-1 overall and 1-1-1-4 points in the division, with Prospect and Elk Grove up next week.

The Fillies will face Elk Grove on Wednesday, then Fremd two nights later.