Girls soccer: Glenrbook South downs Mundelein
Coming back from spring break, Mundelein's girls soccer team had to wonder how it would play against a competitive team like Glenbrook South Monday night.
The Mustangs didn't panic at all. Instead, they put forth a valuable effort in tying the match twice before giving up two late goals in a 4-2 nonconference road loss in Glenview.
Mundelein (1-2) had time off for the break and managed to practice three days late last week.
"If they are one of the top three teams in the state, I think we were right there and it was a great performance by our team" Mundelein coach Heather Crawford said. "I don't think the score reflects how the game went at all.
"I thought in the midfield, Nicole Robb played phenomenal as did Addison Spilman and each ran the show. Our back line was stellar. You can only do so much against heavy winds. At the end, we were pushing and you give up goals when you're pushing forward."
Robb, who will be attending the Milwaukee School of Engineering and playing soccer in the fall, had herself a strong effort in the middle for the Mustangs and tried to keep Glenbrook South (8-0) from setting up in the midfield.
"I saw a lot of heart with our team," Robb said. "We've kind of struggled a little bit finding our groove so far this year. We didn't get good results in our first couple of games. I think this game really proved to ourselves what it takes to play against really good teams. It was a challenge but we covered our bases pretty well and we were able to connect pretty good balls getting really good results at the end of the day."
The Titans were missing five of their players entering the match with three out for injuries and another two still out on spring break.
But Glenbrook South's Dana Steffen opened the scoring with a back post run and goal off a service from Julia DiSano in the seventh minute.
Mundelein tied the game at 1-1 in the 43rd minute. Going against the wind, Madigan Franzen placed a ball into the corner off a pass from Megan Griparis.
The Titans' Makayla Stadler took a pass from her sister Dani and placed a shot under the crossbar for a 2-1 advantage in the 51st minute.
The Mustangs rallied a second time to tie match at 2-2 in the 62nd minute, when Spilman hit a high lofting kick into the corner of the goal.
Glenbrook South scored twice in the final minutes. Mikayla Stadler scored her second goal and 10th of the season after the ball deflected off a Mustangs' defender into the goal in the 73rd minute. Then Challen Flaws scored off a free kick in the 79th minute for the two-goal difference.
"(Mundelein) outworked us and I told the girls that I'm disappointed with our effort and intensity," Glenbrook South coach Mark Daniels said. "Not the fact that we gave up two goals, but coming off spring break, we didn't play our best game. Give Mundelein credit, they moved the ball around very well. Yes, we are missing players, but that's no excuse."