Second straight sectional title for St. Edward
HARVARD — Saturday’s sectional final was a bit of déjà vu all over again for St. Edward’s girls soccer team. For the second year in a row, the Green Wave beat Rockford Lutheran to claim a sectional crown.
The Wave downed Lutheran, 3-1, to win the Class 1A Harvard sectional.
Chelsea Gnan, Rena Ranallo and Kelly Tripicchio scored for St. Edward. Gnan added 2 assists.
Tripicchio’s key insurance goal in the second half was reminiscent of one she scored in last year’s sectional tournament.
One key difference: the Wave’s victory last year advanced them to state. This year, they face another hurdle in the form of a supersectional matchup Tuesday at Hinckley-Big Rock. Lisle will be the opponent with game time at 6 p.m.
For the third straight game, St. Edward took charge early. Gnan and Ranallo scored in the first 12 minutes to put the Green Wave ahead to stay.
Gnan scored 5 minutes in off a pass from Kathleen Duffy. Ranallo followed 6 minutes later off Gnan’s corner kick.
“We knew it was important to try to get ahead early,” said Gnan, “Kathleen put the pass there and I just kicked it in.”
Green Wave coach Tim Brieger has a lot of respect for the Lutheran program, and preached it to his team during the week.
“Both teams are deserving,” said Brieger. “This should not be a sectional championship. This should be a super or downstate. It’s a shame that two teams of this quality have to meet this early.
“When we left the field after the last game, we said, ‘Understand that the game on Saturday’s going to be different.’ The difference is going to be the little things. The difference is going to be those little balls that we can get just out of reach of the sweeper. It’s going to be how well we shut down. We had our defenders working against our coaches to be ready for (Lutheran forward Rebecca Sparkman). We had probably the three best practices, and we needed it.”
The Wave was able to do those little things, with Gnan hustling up front, Ranallo leading the defense, and Paige Gannon taking care of business in goal.
Lutheran (18-4-2), got on the board midway through the first half on a goal by Krista Carlson, and was able to keep the pressure on St Edward until Tripicchio’s goal, the only score of the second half.
Brieger had just put Tripicchio back in the game when Gnan’s corner kick, seemingly using radar, found her alone in front of the net. She scored a similar goal in the sectional semifinals last year.
The game was wide open most of the way, with the officials letting both teams play.