Girls soccer: Hersey gets past Hoffman in OT
Hersey opened its Mid-Suburban League girls soccer season with a win against Hoffman Estates Monday in Arlington Heights but not until Maddy Kim came to the rescue with an overtime winner.
The Huskies (3-1-1, 1-0-0) thought they were about to walk out of Roland Goins Stadium a winner in regulation, until a brilliant strike from Mia Eberman in the 80th minute guaranteed extra time.
"This team showed a lot of resiliency today (because) it would have been easy for the girls to just accept the draw, and one point but they came out with urgency, and purpose to get an important win," said Huskies coach Mike Rusniak.
"The conditions today with the strong wind, made it difficult for both teams regardless if the wind was at your back or in your face but it still was a very competitive game overall," added Hawks coach Jeff Bird.
The visitors found themselves with a roaring wind in their favor during the opening half, and with forwards Alysa Dupart and Gabby Anderson showing good pace, and a willingness to continue to run hard at the Huskies' back line most of the play during the first 20 minutes was in the Hersey end.
"We didn't play very well in the first 20-25 minutes - no doubt our time away because of spring break had something to do with that - but at the half, we talked about doing our best to use the conditions to our advantage," said junior McKenna Kopeny, who returned from club soccer to become a key figure in the center of the Huskies' back line.
The best chance of the first half fell to the Hawks (2-3-0, 0-1-0) when Christina Salerno ran onto a Cassidy Ryan corner and redirected her attempt straight at keeper Emma Hager from 12 yards in the 33rd minute.
Three minutes later, Laura Burckhardt showed terrific patience as she waited for teammate Chloe Sena to get further into her run before delivering an early ball that Sena collected and nearly beat Hawks keeper Paige Schneider, who came off her line with confidence.
Sena scored the opener in the 58th minute when Genna Hill provided a near perfect helper with Sena slotting under Schneider with a defender draped all over the junior.
Eberman's equalizer was magnificent, with the junior unloading a left-footed attempt into the upper far corner 54 seconds from time.
"Just a great goal for us, which showed we were not about to give up with time just about to run out on us," said Bird.
Kim would stun the visitors with the eventual game-winner after Sydney Pape played a nicely weighted ball to the right side.
Kim collected the ball and herself before chipping Schneider with an angled 16-yard shot into the back of the net.
"It's a shame the conditions were so difficult for each team, and it appeared to slowly wear the players down, both physically and mentally but it was still a well-played game, and one in which I felt that Hersey was the better team, deserving of the result," said Bird, whose club goes to reigning state champion Barrington on Wednesday.
"We dug deep, and found a way to do what we had to in order to get the win," added Kopeny who, along with her teammates began a busy week of soccer which includes Palatine on Wednesday, then three games at the Lake Zurich Invite, beginning Friday against Prairie Ridge and two more on Saturday.
"A game like this shows just how difficult the MSL can be, and how important it is to get three points on a day when it looked like we would come away with just one," said Rusniak. "You have to control your own destiny in this league, and cannot count on others to help you out and a lot of credit goes to our three senior captains - Burkhardt, Hannah Grawe and Emily Song - for keeping together and focused in this game, and for the season thus far."