Girls soccer: Glenbard East hands Dundee-Crown 1st loss

Glenbard East's Sarah Liljestrand spent most of Monday night chasing after Dundee Crown's Berkley's Mensik.

The senior finished it by assisting on the game-winning goal in the final minutes as the Rams handed the Chargers their first loss of the season, 2-1, during a game in the Plainfield Class tournament at East Aurora.

"Sarah is an incredible athlete and we had her man-mark her (Mensik) because if we could deny her the ball, we'd have a good chance," Rams coach Kent Overbey said. "When time was kind of winding down, we moved her. Sarah is an attacking player and can lock anybody up so we moved her up top."

After the teams exchanged several threats throughout the second half, the Rams broke the 1-1 tie with 3:00 remaining thanks to a fantastic team effort goal that originated from sophomore Sophia Sommesi. After receiving the ball from Sommesi, senior Sarah Conley sent the ball across to Liljestrand who then found junior Jasmine Dhamers.

"I thought (Liljestrand) was going to take the shot," Dhamers said. "She was in a great position to get around them, but I think it was best she passed it over and I was able to put it away."

Dhamers had helped spark the Rams from the very start, scoring just 7:34 into the action for a 1-0 advantage.

After senior goalkeeper Zoe Roman rolled the ball out, junior Brielle DeForest took on a few defenders before sending sent it through the back while Dhamers made a run.

"Brielle was able to break down their top line and get the ball to me," Dhamers said. "Thankfully I was able to score. Their keeper (Giselle Mata) played a very good game (3 saves) and wasn't afraid to come out."

Dundee-Crown (5-1) was able to net the equalizer with 2:49 remaining in the first half as Mensik moved from left to right, utilizing her tremendous speed, before blasting her shot home successfully.

"It was one of my more proud goals," she said. "I did a really nice Cruyff a little bit outside of the 18 and upper-90 over the goalie. I think our motivation after that went up. They did close the game and did an amazing job so I hope they do well."

Mensik is ready to use this first loss of the season as motivation the rest of the spring.

"I truly believe our team will take this motivation to win our next games rather than have it defeat us and make the rest of our season worse," she said. "It's just how we are. I believe this will push us further."

Glenbard East (4-2) lost freshman defender Julia Bereta late in the game to a possible head injury while sophomores Ciara Johnson and Jamie Quirk stepped up in back as Liljestrand went from making a difference on defense to helping win the game on offense.

"I thought Ciara and Jamie did an incredible job for young players," Overbey said. "And Julia is only a freshman, but she's played every minute. I thought we did a good job of continuing to work and staying positive."

And somehow Liljerstrand had enough energy after chasing Mensik around to make such a huge impact on the other side of the field.

"I try to do my best," she said. "(Mensik) would get around me and I just knew my back defense would cover me. I tried my best trying to get her. She was pretty good."