Girls soccer: Libertyville hands Warren first NSC Lake loss
The girls soccer race in the North Suburban Conference's Lake Division is close enough that every outcome, every day, is significant.
Which made Libertyville's victory Thursday that much more impressive.
The Wildcats' Taylor Underwood contributed a couple of assists, while Jackie Widmark, Maddie Olson and Annie Thompson scored goals to help host Libertyville blank previously unbeaten Warren 3-0.
"Winning this game keeps us in the conference race," said Libertyville assistant coach Tom Chmela, filling in for Andy Bitta (illness).
Libertyville improved to 7-3 and 2-1 in the Lake, while Warren fell to 7-5-1 and 3-1.
Underwood excelled in her midfield role by setting up two of the goals. She not only sparked the Wildcats' attack but also helped neutralized Warren's.
"Assists are very big because it sets up the whole play," Underwood said. "It really does make things happen. It's something we work on in practice, to connect the ball a lot."
Underwood had the initial shot on Libertyville's first goal in the 20th minute. Widmark scored on the rebound for her first goal of the season.
"Honestly, it was like a scrum in the box," Widmark said. "It just popped out and I happened to be at the right place at the right time. My coach has told us to make runs at the keeper, because you never know where the ball can go."
The Wildcats added two more goals in a two-minute span in the second half. First Underwood found Maddie Olson on the right side of the penalty area. Olson collected the ball, turned and put it into the corner for a 2-0 advantage in the 50th minute.
Two minutes later, Thompson, after taking a pass from Underwood, added an insurance goal for a 3-0 lead.
Warren competed without one of its starters, Ellen Szostak, who's out with a fractured foot. But the Blue Devils couldn't put together much of an offensive attack as Libertyville's defense held together and keeper Jordan Hertzier made 4 stops to get a shutout.
"We'll probably need some help if we want to win our side of the division," said Warren coach Ryan McCabe, whose team has Lake Forest and Lake Zurich left in divisional play. "Everybody is good and it's always tough to win our side if you have a loss. We've played a lot of good teams this year, and we should come out and play better than this.
"Injuries obviously hurt, but my girls know how to play, and the reserves when they come in know how to play. We know what were supposed to do. For whatever reason, we're on the second foot every time. We're not handling the 50/50 balls or the pressure.
"It just wasn't there in this one. It doesn't have anything to do with the youth, it's more with the mental preparation."