Girls soccer: Fremd blanks Warren to win regional
Top seed Fremd dashed the hopes of a young side from Warren when they claimed a well deserved 2-0 victory Friday night in Palatine to win its own regional title at Hildebrandt Field.
Ava Catherall and Gwen Zimmerman would insure victory, and a spot in Tuesday's Glenbrook North sectional against Stevenson (13-5-1) with two first half goals - just four minutes apart - to send the Vikings (16-3-1) to their second consecutive regional title, and 12th in the career of coach Steve Keller.
"It was a good win for us tonight, and what I was happy with (was) how we were able to go out and execute the game plan we put together," said Keller.
"We came out strong tonight, and I think that really set the tone for us for the rest of the game," added junior, Maddie McMillan, who was part of a strong defensive back line that allowed just a few quality attempts at keepers Emily Gordon and Riley Goettsche, who combined to earn the shutout.
Catherall would finish a magnificent helper from Zimmerman in the 9th minute - who burst free up the right side before delivering the helper for her junior teammate.
"Gwen just gave me a great ball to make it easy to score my goal," said Catherall.
Zimmerman arrived just after the opening whistle after competing in the 4x200 relay at the girls state track tournament earlier in the day at Eastern Illinois University.
"(They) put a lot of pressure on you - which for a young team like us is difficult to deal with - but I felt as the game went on, we were able to get into the game so much better, especially in the second half," opined Warren (10-6-1) coach Ryan McCabe, who had just four seniors on his roster, including his superb central defender Paige Hogberg, who finished her career with a terrific 80 minute performance.
"We were a really young team, but the future is bright, and I know this team will do some great things in the future," said Hogberg, who will attend the University of Kentucky in the fall.
Zimmerman would double the Vikings advantage in the 13th minute after a nicely played build-up between Catherall, and Leah Saxe gave the freshman the opportunity to steer in her 20-yard effort through a maze of green and white shirts.
The sophomore trio of Addison Stanciak, Maya Martinek and freshman Kate Mondejar would impress Steve Keller, who later said afterward:
"Warren is really young, but they have quality on their team, and Ryan (McCabe) does a great job with his program, so there's no doubt they will be a team to watch next year."