Girls soccer: South Elgin nips Elgin for regional crown

ROCKFORD - The South Elgin girls soccer team fired a barrage of shots, but needed a fortuitous bounce to get one past standout Elgin goalkeeper Hannah Erickson.

With three minutes left in the opening half, Storm junior Gabby Danesi ripped a shot that caromed off the right post and nestled just inside the left one to lift South Elgin to a 1-0 victory in Friday night's Class 3A Auburn regional final.

South Elgin (12-9-2), which captured its third straight regional championship, held a commanding 24-1 edge in shots on goal and played nearly the entire contest in the Maroons' end.

The No. 2 seeded Storm will face top seed Huntley (19-3-2) in Wednesday's Streamwood sectional semifinal.

"Elgin has an extremely talented goalkeeper and she did a phenomenal job keeping them in the game and making it very challenging for us," credited Storm coach Tiffany Disher. "It was a total team effort and everyone stayed focused the entire game."

"We just didn't have an offensive presence today," said Elgin coach Alicia Knoll. "You can only do so much in the back and only stop so many shots."

Going up against 10 defenders, South Elgin tried to attack on the edges and was forced to take shots from distance.

Storm junior Ella Struwing finally found some space in the middle and played a perfect ball out to Danesi, who chased down the pass before taking what proved to be the game-winning shot.

"It was a great pass by Ella and I just hustled because I knew I had to get to it and get that goal really bad," Danesi said. "For a second I thought it didn't go in, but when I saw it went over the line I yelled at the ref that it was in."

The timing of the goal changed the entire complexion of the game as the Storm kept attacking without having to worry about scoring again.

"That goal gave us a lot of confidence and the energy to finish out the game strong," said Storm senior Corinne Hildebrandt, who had a bevy of scoring opportunities and riffled a free kick off the crossbar midway through the second half.

Erickson made a variety of diving saves and came off her line to thwart numerous scoring chances. Elgin (9-13) tried to push forward late in search of the equalizer, but never mounted a serious threat.

"Hannah is so reliable and is such a great presence. You can always depend on her and she puts the world on her shoulders," Knoll said.

South Elgin knows it needs to raise its level of play against a dangerous Huntley squad.

"We had a good game against them last year and I'm excited to match up with them," Hildebrandt said.