Warren nets third in Glenbrook Cup

Warren’s girls soccer team had its sights set on some hardware in the Glenbrook Cup.

The Blue Devils followed through on that notion, capturing a third-place trophy with a 5-1 victory over Normal West on Saturday afternoon at Glenbrook South.

Mundelein took fifth place after a 2-0 victory over Niles North.

Host Glenbrook South defeated Glenbrook North 4-1 in the championship game Saturday night.

“That was one of our goals coming into the tournament,” Warren coach Ryan McCabe said. “We thought we could win a couple of elimination games and then the opportunity would present itself. It’s a confidence-booster, and the girls worked hard to get it.”

Over the two-day tournament, the Blue Devils (8-8-3) won three out of four games with its lone loss to champion Glenbrook South 3-0 in the semifinals.

Warren outscored its opponents 14-3 in the tournament.

“It seems like at the beginning of the season, the ball bounced the wrong way,” McCabe said. “Now the girls have a different sense of focus and now they’re getting on the right side of things — getting it into the net and keeping it out of the net wherever they can.

“Scoring goals . . . they had a dry spell at the beginning of the season. They have picked up their intensity and their work rate.”

Scoring for the Blue Devils in the third-place match were Katharine Schwede, Mckenna Hofflander, Paige Jespersen, Savannah Slater and Alexis Vrabel. Daria Szczepanek, Abby Vrabel and Stephanie Schwab picked up assists.

“We have a real solid team, and everyone works together,” Schwede said. “I wouldn’t say there’s a weak player out there.”

Normal West (15-4-1) was a good opponent for Warren since it is a team hoping to that has sights set for the state finals in Class 2A.

Warren also won its other game Saturday, topping Niles North 1-0.

Mundelein (11-4-3, 2-1) received goals from Megan Carroll and McKenna Joy, while Cristy Nambo earned an assist in its victory over Niles North (6-8-3) Saturday afternoon.

Mustangs also suffered a 2-0 defeat to Glenbrook South in the morning match.

“I think we had two good wins,” Mundelein coach Ernie Billittier said. “The loss to Glenbrook South, they are a quality team. This is such a good tournament. We were able to get some training to see what a good team is like in our sectional.

“In our fifth-place game, we were able to execute and get two quality goals and we had chances to score more. We have the ability to play really well. We have some fairly technical players on this team. When we start passing and combining, playing off the ball, getting runs off the ball, we can be a really good team. We just have to match that speed of the good teams in the regional like Glenbrook South. We just have to get better.”