Girls soccer: Fremd blanks Waukegan
No. 3 seed Fremd cruised into its own girls soccer regional final with a 7-0 thrashing of Waukegan Tuesday night at Hildebrant Field.
The Vikings (12-4-3) will take on Mid-Suburban League rival Prospect at 6 p.m. Friday for the regional title.
The huge score line recorded by the home side was welcome news to Allie Prigge and her teammates, who just last Friday fell flat against last year's Class 3A state runner-up New Trier, which defeated the Vikings 3-0 in the season finale for both soccer clubs.
"Our mindset before that game with New Trier wasn't anywhere near what it had to be, neither was our effort. Once the game began (coach Steve) Keller reminded all of us about that and I thought we came out with much more focus and energy for this game," said Allie Prigge, who along with her sister Liz and junior Lauren Burk enjoyed an easy day in front of keepers Jennifer Norris and freshman Sam Gary, who shared the shutout.
Norris' counterpart, Isabel Escalera, was the star of the show for a Bulldogs club that had some quality, but not enough complimentary players to offset the talent and experience of the Vikings.
Escalera rescued her club with several goal-saving stops all throughout the contest, but the freshman could do nothing about a 4-goal explosion to dash the hopes of an upset by the visitors.
Ashley Scesniak claimed the opener in the 14th minute with an 18-yard effort, then it was Emma Spotek, Burk, then Caeleigh Stone adding to the Vikings' advantage before the 20th minute.
Stone's goal, in particular, was a sensational one, which came after Claire Stewart set her free up the left side allowing the sophomore to hit a powerful smash into the far inside netting.
After Allie Prigge made it 5-0 just before the intermission, then converted her spot-kick in the 51st minute, Keller began to bring most of his starters off for the rest of the game.
Zhara Trott put an exclamation point on the win with her goal in the 58th minute.
"Waukegan had some good players, especially their keeper, but we came out more connected as a team than last Friday, possessed, moved the ball around and with a lot of effort to get into the regional final," said Allie Prigge.