Long time coming: Dundee-Crown knocks off Jacobs

The best anyone could guess Saturday as to when the last time the Dundee-Crown girls soccer team beat Jacobs was about 10 years ago.

The Chargers broke whatever the long streak was Saturday with a 1-0 Fox Valley Conference Valley Division victory over their District 300 rival in Algonquin.

"My JV coach (Rey Vargas) said the last 10 years he's been coaching, he doesn't remember beating Jacobs," D-C coach Sebastian Falinski said.

D-C's best chances came off free kicks. Late in the first half a free kick from Mallory Fryer went off Hannah Larsen's head and fell to Stephanie Letheby. But Letheby's shot from 6 yards out went over the crossbar.

Six minutes into second half the Chargers (2-1-1, 1-0) had another opportunity off a free kick. Fryer's long ball went off Larsen and deflected right to Brittney Gantz. The freshman nailed a right-footed volley over the outstretched hands of Jacobs goalkeeper Alyssa Barnard for a 1-0 lead.

"That's the way it seems to be going this year," Falinski said of the fortunate deflection. "Things are going our way at the beginning of the season. I'll take them."

The Golden Eagles (1-4, 0-2) began to press for the tying goal. Long shots that got caught up a bit in the wind from Cassidy Sherman and Catie Sherman were caught by Chargers goalkeeper Deanna Libricz, who finished with 7 saves.

Jacobs put the ball in the back of the net with 10:55 remaining, but Catie Sherman's goal was waived off because of an offsides call. Margaret Rivera's shot from 20 yards out with 40 seconds left was just high. Cassidy Sherman hit the inside of the left post with 17 seconds left, but the ball bounced back into play.

A D-C foul with 1 seconds remaining gave the Golden Eagles one last chance, but the Chargers were able to keep Jacobs out.

"As a team we just turned it on," Jacobs coach Anthony Cappello said of the final 11 minutes. "We just started communicating. We started tackling the ball. We started winning head balls. We got a little angry so we started doing what we could do."