Buffalo Grove zaps Lake Park
The Buffalo Grove girls soccer team continued to show why it's one of the best teams in the state by taking down Lake Park in an 8-0 blowout at Lake Park on Saturday.
The Bison (3-0) scored four goals in each half and were led by senior Kelli Zickert, who had 5 goals and an assist in the match.
"We have so much talent on this team and they are very unselfish with the ball," said Bison coach Pat Dudle. "One-two touch play, they move the ball quickly and when we do that the ball is much faster than any player on the field. It's a fun group to be a part of."
In the first half Buffalo Grove got on the board within the first five minutes after a short corner play senior between Zickert and Jessica Kovach found junior Allie Ingham on the back post to slot home the first goal.
From there the Bison kept Lake Park (1-1) in its own half, keeping possession and denying most outlet passes to the Lancers' forwards.
Zickert found her first goal in the 13th minute, picking up the ball and ripping a shot from the right corner of the 18 yard box to make it 2-0. Her second came with six minutes to go in the half, pouncing on a miscommunication between the Lancers' defender and goalkeeper to make it 3-0.
"Buffalo Grove's just a great team," said Lake Park coach Chris Fruehling. "They are what we are looking to aspire to do. They move the ball really well. They're strong on the ball, strong to the ball and their finishing is really good. On our end we need to work on coming ready to play. We need to work on being able to string some passes together… . Our girls today saw what we need to raise our level to."
After assisting on the final goal before half to Megan Gardner, Zickert picked up her third thanks to some good work from Skylar Groth in the 45th minute. Groth beat two defenders on the wing and found Zickert wide open at the penalty mark for an easy finish for a fifth Bison goal.
Buffalo Grove got its sixth with an almost exact replica of its fifth goal with Groth once again finding room to navigate, passing to Colleen Zickert for yet another wide-open finish.
The Bison then capped off the game with two more goals from Kelli Zickert, as Groth picked up her third assist of the game.
"I tend to be the person that's either outworking or just first to the ball to the outsides, so I think that's my role," said Kelli Zickert, an Illinois State recruit. "(Coach) gives me a lot of freedom out there. Especially being high and being that target person."