South Elgin blanks Dundee-Crown

The South Elgin girls soccer team needed a spark Saturday following a sluggish opening 35 minutes.

Andrea Walsh provided the lift by scoring off a rebound with 4:54 remaining in the first half. The Storm added two goals in the second half en route to a 3-0 victory over Dundee-Crown at Millennium Field during opening-day play of the South Elgin Tournament.

“It was good to get one in then our morale definitely increased after that,” Walsh, a senior midfielder, said. “It was a good chance to get going in the first half since we were a little slow this morning.”

South Elgin (2-0-1) had a few scoring opportunities before the goal. Cara Fahey had a shot just over the crossbar. Alena Ignatev hit the crossbar. And D-C goalkeeper Isabel Miranda made 7 saves in the first half.

The Storm finally capitalized on a chance off a corner kick. South Elgin got off a shot in a crowd that was knocked off the goal line by a Chargers defender. The ball went right to Walsh, who finished to give the Storm a 1-0 lead.

“It took an extremely long time,” South Elgin coach Tiffany Disher said. “The girls dropped their level of play this morning. I don’t think their focus was there to start the game. They just needed to get in a groove before we finally started to get our passes to connect.”

Delaney Kelleher made it 2-0 with 33:33 remaining in the second half. Fahey’s shot from the top of the penalty area was saved by Miranda. The rebound went to Kelleher, who had an empty net to put the ball in. Fahey completed the scoring with 16:36 remaining.

Miranda, who is usually the Chargers’ junior varsity goalkeeper, made 11 saves.

D-C (0-3) did not record a shot and rarely was able to keep possession in South Elgin’s half of the field.

“We still trying to figure things out,” Chargers coach Sebastian Falinski said. “We’ve got a good mix between a lot of veteran players returning and a lot of new faces so we’re trying to find that mesh.”