Girls soccer: Undefeated Deerfield pulls away from Palatine with big 2nd half

Deerfield netted three goals in three minutes after the intermission to get some much needed breathing room over host Palatine en route to a 5-1 nonconference victory Monday night at Chic Anderson Stadium.

Senior Riley Schimanski gave the Warriors a two-goal advantage heading into the break before sophomore Emily Fox bagged two goals around an Ally Linn strike to insure Rich Grady's club would remain undefeated after its first four games of the 2022 campaign.

"We've been out on spring break, so we were not very sharp in the first 10 minutes. But once we began to connect our passes, get more people involved, and started attacking like we know we can, (things) began to open up for us," said Grady, whose club has now outscored its opponents 23-1.

"(Deerfield) has a lot of speed, and they play the ball out wide really well to use that speed they have. (We) played them pretty even in the first half, but we had a letdown after the half, and they took advantage of it with those three quick goals," said Palatine coach Willie Filian, who will retire following the end of the school year after a sensational coaching career, highlighted by the 1995 team which won a state title.

Schimanski, who led the Warriors last season with 20 goals, redirected the opener past Pirates (0-3-0) keeper Kate Latek in the 17th minute after Latek turned around a close range attempt from Ryanne Emory.

Schimanski doubled the Warriors advantage in the 35th minute with a wicked blast from 20 yards.

"I thought we played well in the first half even though we were down two goals heading into the break. (But) we didn't come out to play at the start of the second half and then the game got away from us very quickly," said Pirates senior Allie Henning, who was solid all night long as one of the Pirate center-backs, as was teammate Paige Millstone, whose pace and work rate in the middle of the park drew praise from Filian afterward.

That outside threat from the Warriors Filian spoke of came from Holly Deutsch, who would break down the home side with her enterprising runs up the right side to set up Fox for both of her goals, as well as Linn before the hour.

Despite chasing five goals, credit the Pirates for a strong final quarter hour before the end of this contest - with the aforementioned Millstone, Madi Stark, Olivia Riley and Mia Hanson doing all they could in order to pull back one or more goals to end the shutout bid by the Warriors.

With the help of Riley, junior Madison Adcock did just that in the 72nd minute when she went just under the bar with her midrange effort.

"In our first three games thus far, we've had letdowns after the break, which is something we have to get better at - and with our fitness perhaps the cause of those letdowns. (But) I liked the way we fought right up until the very end. It was a good way to finish the game," said Filian, whose club will host Waukegan Wednesday afternoon at 4:45.

Next up for Deerfield is Fenwick on Thursday on the road.

"We still have a lot of things to sort out and work on, but I was pleased with the overall effort after that slow start," said Grady.