Vikings overcome injury woes to edge Knights

By Dan Santaromita

Fremd's depth was tested in its Mid Suburban League crossover against Prospect on Tuesday, but it got help from an unexpected source to pick up the win.

The Vikings were short several players due to injuries but were able to claim a 1-0 win in Palatine thanks to a goal from sophomore Kira Heggeland.

Heggeland was part of a group of players that had been playing for the JV squad all year and were called up for the match.

"We were missing seven players through injury and illness," Fremd coach Steve Keller said. "We had four or five girls from JV come up.

"We had 11 varsity players that I thought did a nice job. They got us through and did what we had to do.

"And the JV girls that got in the game, actually all of them got in the game, and got some nice minutes so we could see what they had, too. I thought they did a very nice job.”

Junior Nicole Leginski joined the growing list of injured Vikings when she went down not even a minute into the game. In stepped Heggeland and she took advantage.

Just before the ten minute mark, junior Elise Kotsakis made a spectacular flick-on header to a streaking Heggeland.

Heggeland dribbled down the right side and unleashed a ripper from a tight angle. The ball went over the hands of Prospect goalie Megan McCabe (16 saves) and into the side netting.

The Vikings controlled the play but were unable to get another goal despite a slew of shots.

Earlier in the season, Fremd (13-3-2) won at Prospect (12-6-2) by a score of 3-0 in a half of action before severe weather stopped play.

"I thought we did pretty good considering we had about four girls of our starters injured," senior defender Danielle Romano said.

"We had different people come up from JV and I think they did a really good job connecting. We didn't ever really practice with them."

Romano and the Vikings' unyielding defense allowed the Knights only a couple of chances at goal, but the chances required top defensive play to maintain the shutout.

With just a few minutes left in the first half, Prospect senior Lexi Glennon took a shot headed for the near upper 90, but Vikings goalie Shannon Norris made a great jumping save to force a corner.

The save was Norris' only one of the match. Senior Allison Norenberg played in net in the second half and also needed to make just one save.

"Defensively, Fremd was really tough," Prospect coach Tom Froats said. "You're not going to get 10 opportunities, you might get two or three.

"You have to capitalize in order to get on the scoreboard against a team like this."

In the second half, Romano slowed Prospect forward Susie Lello in a one-on-one situation to prevent an open shot at goal.

"I think in the back we could have worked on a few things, but they didn't score, so that was good," Romano said. "We definitely should have finished more, but other than that, I think it was a pretty good game.

"The ball is a little harder to control because it was a little wet so we couldn't finish a lot of our chances, but I thought we created a lot of opportunities."

Keller was pleased that his team was able to cope with the injuries, but still hopes to have his full roster before the playoffs start.

Fremd hosts New Trier on Friday in a rematch of a weather-shortened 1-0 loss to the Trevians in the semifinal of the Naperville Invite before hosting their own regional starting Tuesday.

"I know we'll get one of the girls back for sure, the others are kind of day-to-day," he said.

"We've got to make sure that we're ready for Tuesday. Some of these girls might have to play on Friday, as well, depending how the week goes."

He has confidence his team will be ready to go when regionals begin and a fully-healthy Fremd team could be as dangerous as the squad that played in the state final a year ago.

"We've just got to get healthy and be ready to go on Tuesday," Keller said. "If we're ready and healthy, the sky is the limit."

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