Cary-Grove turns the tables on CL South
After two tough Fox Valley Conference Valley Division losses to Crystal Lake South in the regular season, Cary-Grove realized a better effort in Friday's Class 3A Jacobs regional girls soccer championship match was a necessity.
Mission accomplished.
Utilizing stifling defense along with an opportunistic offense and a solid effort, the second-seeded Trojans avenged the earlier two losses to the top-seeded Gators with a 2-0 win to the capture the regional title. The game was delayed 1 hour and 20 minutes because of torrential rains.
"We really didn't do anything different this time around," said Cary-Grove coach Ray Krystal. "We just played a complete game. Our defense was very aggressive and we got a couple of nice goals and Paige (Lincicum) made some great saves. I think we frustrated them and we didn't let down at all the entire game."
Cary-Grove (14-7) will play Rockford Boylan at 5 p.m. Tuesday in the Boylan sectional semifinals. Boylan beat Hononegah 5-0 Friday for the Hononegah regional title.
The Trojans scored first on an outstanding effort by sophomore Korey Kronforst. Kronforst used her quickness to get past the South defense and then eventually pushed a shot past Gator goalie Elizabeth Quinn with 13:52 left in the first half.
Cary-Grove scored a much-needed insurance goal with 23:31 left in the game. Off a perfectly executed feed from Kronforst, Brittany Kroening scored to give the Trojans a 2-0 lead.
"Myself and Korey work very well together," said Kroening. "It was a nice give-and-go. We really wanted this and we knew we had to play better than the first two times we played them. We were more aggressive defensively and played good team defense. This is a great win because we beat a very good South team."
Cary-Grove sophomore goalkeeper Paige Lincicum was stellar in the nets. Three times, South defender Katie Burton was awarded a direct kick. Burton hit the post twice and on the third occasion Lincicum leapt and punched the ball over the goal.
With 3:58 left in the game, Toledo-bound Ashley Ross had a breakaway, but Lincicum was able to make the save.
"Paige played a great game," said Krystal. "They could have scored a couple of goals, but she made the big saves.
South (17-8-2) outshot Cary-Grove 9-6. Lincicum made 5 saves while Quinn stopped 3 shots.
"Cary-Grove made the most of their opportunities and they were the hot team tonight," said South coach Brian Allen. "You can throw the records out when South and Cary play because it is such a great rivalry. I am very proud of our girls. They really battled all season and they are all great people."