Girls soccer: Hats off to Wauconda, Belle Johnson

Wauconda's girls soccer team wants to show that it belongs as one of the top seeds in the PepsiCo Showdown.

The Bulldogs might have done that Saturday.

Sophomore Belle Johnson scored her first varsity hat trick, and Megan Sinnott added a goal and an assist to lead Wauconda past Highland Park 4-1 in the tournament's opening game at Olympic Park in Schaumburg.

"We're really starting to find a good mix," Bulldogs coach Beau Shogren said. "From the middle third into the final third, I feel everything is clicking really well. Those finishing touches are what we're noticing through the first part of the season."

Johnson got the scoring going for the fourth-seeded Bulldogs (5-1-1) on a pass from her older sister Savannah in the sixth minute. Sinnott then found the back of the net for her fourth goal this season off a feed from Savannah Johnson in the 50h minute for a 2-0 advantage.

Highland Park (1-4) cut its deficit in half in the 58th minute on a goal off the leg of Sarah Stahlberger.

But Belle Johnson added two more goals, the first off a free kick from Morgan Lung in the 60th minute and the other four minutes later from a Sinnott touch pass.

"Honestly, my last two were lucky touches and perfect passes from my teammates." Belle Johnson said. "It was a total team effort to get the goals."

Wauconda's confidence is high, as the Bulldogs have several players contributing.

"I see a lot of potential with our girls," said Sinnott, who will be playing at Purdue Fort Wayne next year. "We definitely are seeing the runs we have to make, and I think we're finishing our good opportunities. Our freshmen and sophomores are coming a long way with their runs and are reading a lot better."

St. Viator 1, Warren 0: The Lions may lack experience, but they're learning the varsity game quickly.

"We're young and we've played a tough schedule so far," St. Viator coach Mike Taylor said. "We've lost in the last couple of minutes against Conant and Libertyville. We played a good (Warren) team today. We've been on the brink. Defensively, we're pretty solid."

Payton McDonnell scored the game-winning goal in the 10th minute off a free kick that deflected off the head of one of the Blue Devils.

"It was definitely nice to get an early goal to take the pressure off our defense because they've been playing so well," McDonnell said. "We've had a few games where we haven't scored too many goals. It was good to get one in the back of the net."

Lions keeper Lilly Collins earned the shutout, making 6 stops. But Warren had a difficult time getting forward and setting up for shots. Earlier in the week, the Blue Devils (2-4-1) had knocked off Carmel 8-2.

"We did a better job in the second half of connecting through our midfield," Warren coach Ryan McCabe said. "We got into the attacking third and just broke down. We got maybe a shot or two on goal in the second half. It will be tough to win games if you can't produce more chances than that. I think we need more composure in the final third."

Metea Valley 3, Libertyville 0: Metea Valley scored twice in the first half en route to the victory at Olympic Park.

"It wasn't what we wanted, but we did play some pretty good soccer," said Libertyville coach Daniel De Paz, whose team dropped to 3-2. "We had possession for the majority of that game. I thought our players worked hard and didn't give up. I think having possession and not getting a goal was frustrating for the players."

Metea Valley goalkeeper Nikki Coryell made 10 stops and earned the shutout. Kiley McKee contributed with a goal and an assist for Metea Valley (3-4-1). Paige Buranosky and Katy Flanders had the other goals.

"We had a chance to work on things in practice this week," Metea Valley coach Chris Whaley said. "We worked on things to find different ways to bring the ball up the field and get the ball into the net. The last game back on Tuesday, we didn't get the ball into the net. Today, the focus was to get the ball into the net and we were able to do it."