Highland Park blanks Round Lake

Two games, two shutouts.

Round Lake's girls soccer team wasn't thrilled about Monday's result, however.

After starting their season with a 1-0 victory over Woodstock North last week, the Panthers fell to host Highland Park 6-0.

A positive for Round Lake has been the play of freshman midfielder Alexandria Wawrzyniak.

"She and Jasmine Cruz have some natural ability," Panthers coach Josue Jimenez said. "It's good to see players like that. Alexandria brings the offense that we need. We need to possess the ball a lot more, and with her you see an offensive presence."

Wawrzyniak's vision has allowed her to create offensive opportunities in the final third of the field.

"It's about improving each time out," Wawrzyniak said. "I usually look for the seams to I can slip the ball to teammates. We're getting there, but we still have a lot to do."

Highland Park (2-1) scored four times in the first half and added a pair of goals in the second half.

Josie Dee scored a goal and had 3 assists for the Giants. Sarah Stahlberger added a goal and an assist. The other goal scorers were Sarah Stiner, Gaby Cruz, Natalie Rachman and Jamie Stern. The speed of the game was much faster on the Giants' turf.

"Highland Park was a much quicker team," Jimenez said. "Our girls are not used to playing on turf since we don't have it at Round Lake. Adjusting to it is a learning experience. We also have a lot of new girls this year. It's a big learning curve learning to play together. "