Huntley nabs 5th straight league title
Jacobs coach AJ Cappello reached deep into his defensive bag of tricks in an attempt to slow down Huntley standout Aimee Wronski.
None of Cappello’s tactics worked.
Wronski scored twice as Huntley claimed its fifth straight Fox Valley Conference championship with a 2-0 win over Jacobs in Algonquin Thursday night.
“Aimee is an awesome, awesome player,” said Cappello. “We tried double teams, triple teams and we tried to play behind her and in front of her. We tried to bump her and play physical with her. You give her half a look and she will score. Huntley is a great team. They don’t have any soft spots.”
It was the Red Raiders’ second straight FVC Valley title to go along with 3 FVC Fox championships.
Wronski gave Huntley (16-1-1, 11-0) a 1-0 lead on a shot that rifled past Jacobs’ goalkeeper Monica Orjuela with 16:58 left in the first half. Wronski’s goal was assisted by Emily Konior and Kelly Mansko.
The Illinois State University-bound senior tallied an insurance goal in the second half off an assist from Bre Burry.
“Winning the conference is always an amazing feeling,” said Wronski. “We have won five conference championships in a row and still going. This is one step for us in the journey. We certainly want to go far in the tournament when the regionals start.”
Huntley peppered Orjuela for 14 shots on goal while Jacobs managed only 5 shots on Red Raider goalie Katlyn Owens.
The best chance for the Golden Eagles (19-6, 9-2) to score came when Shannon Grady had a breakaway shot on Owens in the first half, but the Red Raider goalie was able to make the save to preserve the shutout.
“I wish we could have finished better,” said Huntley coach Kris Grabner. “We possessed the ball pretty well and our defense was outstanding. We have allowed 4 goals in 18 games this season. Our defense has been tremendous all season. We were able to wear them out in the second half.”
Cappello praised his team’s efforts.
“The girls left everything they had on the field,” said Cappello. “They gave a great effort and if we could have scored in the last 5 minutes of the first half it might have been different.”