Girls soccer: Fremd, freshman Zimmerman topple Palatine
Gwen Zimmerman did it again.
The freshman from Fremd - who on Friday night bagged two goals in the Vikings' 2-1 victory over Hersey - struck the opener, and eventual game-winner, during a 3-0 defeat of crosstown rival Palatine in the 28th annual Kinsella Cup yesterday afternoon at Chic Anderson Stadium.
"We didn't play our best last night at Hersey but came away with a win, and it was kind of like that today (but) we put away our chances. And we played very good defense to earn another three points," said Vikings senior Hanah Rosen, who recorded a pair of helpers on the next two goals when she provided superb corner serves to teammates Gemma Gillespie and Leah Saxe.
With this win, the Vikings (7-1-1) are now 6-0-1 in league, and six points clear of Barrington (19-13) with two games in hand of the reigning MSL champs.
"This is always a fun game to play, and one that we all look forward to, especially since we know so many other players on Palatine through club soccer," added Rosen, who is close to making a college commitment to UIC, where she will study kinesiology.
Angelica Lopez is one of the players from Palatine (5-5-0, 2-3-0) that Rosen has been a teammate of in club soccer. Despite the loss, Lopez kept a positive and clear focus on what is ahead for her young club.
"We were coming off a win over Hoffman Estates last night, and I was hoping we would take that momentum and have it carry on over into our game today, but we were just not at our best," began Lopez, a senior, who is off to Illinois State University in the fall were she will major in early education.
"We've had a rough week with injuries, and a couple of bad results, but we fought hard out there today in the heat and never gave up, and I really feel like we're getting better each time out."
Zimmerman would finish a Gillespie ball to the back post at 21 minutes, then watched Gillespie run onto a marvelous serve from Rosen in the 34th minute to send the Vikings into the break with a two-goal advantage.
Pirates keeper Kate Latek made a remarkable save on a Laxe shot just before the visitors added to its lead.
During the intermission, both clubs would gather in the middle of the park, along with over 100 young players from the Celtic Soccer Club, to take part in a landscape styled photo under sunny skies and warm spring temperatures.
Once back to play, Madeline Rams went wide with her 42nd minute effort for the home side just before its all-state candidate Paige Millstone was forced to leave for the day to attend to an injured shoulder.
It was another terrific inward swinging corner from Rosen to Laxe at 57 minutes that would triple the advantage for the Vikings - sending most of the reserves into the game for the rest of the match.
When the Thor Guard sounded in the 73rd minute, both coaches, on agreement of the officials, would decide to play it safe and call the game.
The Vikings would lift the treasured traveling Kinsella Cup for the fourth straight year, and 22nd time since the start of this contest which began in 1995, when the Pirates won, 1-0, and would later capture a state championship under recently retired Willie Filian.