Girls soccer: York can't pierce Whitney Young defense

During its five-match winning streak heading into Tuesday's Class 3A sectional semifinal, York had found an offensive groove.

But after finding the back of the net 12 times during that stretch, the Dukes were kept off the scoreboard by a stingy Whitney Young defense in a 2-0 loss at Glenbard East.

The Dolphins (18-6-1) advance to Saturday's sectional final against Lyons Township while York ended the season with a record of 11-8-1.

"This last stretch of games was amazing," said senior Allie Milkowski, one of three captains for the Dukes. "We fought really hard each and every game and we really connected as a team. This was a tough game. But we still fought really hard, we played until the last second. We still had girls on the ball until the whistle blew."

Six-seeded York actually outshot Whitney Young 11-4 and had five corner kicks opportunities to just one for the visitors.

But an early defensive miscue led to a breakaway goal by Ella Koleno less than three minutes in and the Dukes were never able to get the equalizer. The Dolphins doubled the advantage with 23:40 remaining in the match on a free-kick goal by Alexis Sassower.

"We had a mistake in the first five minutes, which put us behind in the beginning," said York coach Stevan Dobric, whose team upset Jones 3-1 to capture the regional championship. "And then they had that nice free kick. But I'm so proud of them, this is an amazing group of ladies.

"We came in on a five-game winning streak. We've been stifling teams in the midfield and we've been scoring goals. If we could have just found the back of the net today, it would have been a different game. But Whitney Young did a good job of staying compact defensively."

York had a couple of chances in the second half, but a long free kick by Emma Czech was saved by Dolphins goalkeeper Mia Engelmann. Later a shot by Bridget Los hit the side of the net.

"Sometimes it is not the prettiest," Whitney Young coach Ross LaBauex said, "but you have to roll up your sleeves and play till the end. We've been in a lot of different situations where you hope the girls take something from the games and apply that going forward. We had been up and down defensively, but lately our defense has been good. They are more confident back there."