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Girls soccer: Peleckas, Fremd eliminate Carmel

It will be an all-Mid-Suburban League girls soccer sectional semifinal Tuesday in Palatine after Emilijia Peleckas helped send No. 10 seed Fremd through with her 78th-minute strike on Friday in Class 3A regional final play in Mundelein.

Fremd defeated host Carmel 2-1 to capture the regional crown.

With the contest nearing overtime, Peleckas, a junior, found a way to turn and then drive an inward-swinging ball high over the outstretched gloves of Corsairs keeper Tina O'Block, stunning a big crowd at Baker Stadium.

"I am not sure how Emilijia was able to get free and turn, but that was an amazing shot or cross that she put in to give us the win," said Vikings senior Courtney Baker, who along with her teammates in the back Julia Szylke and Kellie Halloran defended with all their collective might in order to book the Vikings (10-7-4) a spot against top seed Barrington at 5 p.m. Tuesday in the Palatine sectional semfinal.

"We watched Carmel play a little the other night against Hersey, so we knew what we were up against tonight - and they were a tough opponent who played us very hard the entire game," said Peleckas.

Both sides traded goals in the first six minutes - the Corsairs on a corner, Fremd on a PK conversion from Julia Szylke. The latter was a costly play for the Corsairs, who lost terrific sophomore midfielder Kathleen Graham to injury for the rest of the match.

"That was tough for us and Graham because she helped us get that goal on a corner, then on kind of an iffy call, she was involved in the play that got them their PK. But we sure missed her the rest of the night," said Corsairs coach Ray Krawzak.

Peleckas had a one subsequent scoring chance when Halloran put her through with a defense-splitting ball. With a burst to get past the last defender, the junior fired wide of the post despite having O'Block all to herself.

On a later chance initiated by Angie Zara, a Peleckas attempt was smothered by O'Block.

"That's the life of a forward - lots of ups and down, and could-have-been nights," said Fremd coach Steve Keller. "But she was finally rewarded for her work when it really counted."

Krawzak altered his formation on a few occasions with the hope of adding more fuel to the Corsairs' attack.

A lovely ball out of the middle from Erin Johnston led to Riley Harmon having a go at Vikings keeper Kelsey Stone at 48 minutes. And in the 56th minute, Johnston's half-chance at Stone was easily saved after the Marquette-bound senior controlled an Angela Salvi helper.

"I really like the way Carmel played tonight," Keller said. "They played with purpose and tried to create and generate their attack out of the middle, so they were a very difficult and quality opponent, and I told Ray so after the game."

Baker set Peleckas free up the left side before her angled shot ended the season quickly for the home side.

"After winning a state title at 2A last year, our expectations for this season were very high, so it's really hard right now to have things end like they did tonight," said O'Block, who showed a great deal of composure even in defeat.

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