Huskies fall in season opener at Buffalo Grove
By Gary Larsen

Allie Ingham and Sara Busse provide some size for Buffalo Grove, but the Bison attack is filled with skilled but slightly height-challenged players. When asked if that size might be a problem against bigger, physical teams, BG junior Colleen Zickert had a quick answer.

"Remember," Zickert said. "Japan won the World Cup."

Hersey has a history of giving away goals grudgingly under coach Brad Abel, and the defending MSL East champion Huskies will no doubt be tough to score on as the season moves forward. But Buffalo Grove can explode on you, and that’s what the Bison did to the Huskies in a Mid-Suburban League opener for both teams on Thursday.

The host Bison (3-0, 1-0 in MSL play) put up five goals on Hersey (0-1, 0-1), and have now scored 12 goals in three games against the likes of Saint Viator, Hersey, and Vernon Hills.

“Pat’s got a great squad. No excuse that this was our first game,” Hersey coach Brad Abel said. “Everything we tried to do, they disrupted us. They move well off the ball and what they did phenomenally was find seams. They found a lot of seams in our defense.”

On the 17th birthdays for Buffalo Grove twins Colleen and Kelli Zickert, Colleen presented sister Kelli with a through-ball for a goal, fed Kim Herzog with a pass to the goalmouth for another, and scored once herself in the win.

Allie Ingham and Skylar Groth also scored for the Bison, whose attack seemed more cohesive than a frigid game in March should allow. But Buffalo Grove gained a year of experience with many of the same players last season, so attacking cohesion hasn’t been built in a day.

“We have a lot of chemistry and we all know how each other plays,” Colleen Zickert said. “This is definitely a good start.”

Hersey came out strong and put early pressure on Bison keeper Sarah O’Connor and her backline of JayJay Lowery, Sara Brawley, and Shannon Guercio, before the BG attack began to find its groove.

Once center mid Groth and her teammates began playing quick, one-touch soccer, they were able to keep the pressure on Hersey’s backline.

“Our girls are very unselfish, they play quick touches, and don’t hold the ball long. It’s fun to be a part of but we hope we can keep improving because we know it’s early,” Dudle said. “But I think we’re a true team. No team can key on any one person because we’re so unselfish. We’ll get the ball to an open area.”

The game’s first goal came at 34 minutes when Colleen Zickert sent a ball towards the goalmouth from the right side, and Herzog won a battle there for the ball against Hersey keeper Morgan Harris.

Hersey flirted with a tying goal early in the second half but the Zickert girls made it 2-0 at 59 minutes when Kelli ran onto a through-ball from Colleen, got behind the Hersey backline, and tucked a shot inside the near post with Harris coming out.

The Bison made it 3-0 when a Jessica Kovach corner kick eventually found the turf and Ingham was there to convert at 65 minutes. Kovach’s role in the third goal was the least of what she contributed, however.

“We had to really mark (Hersey’s) Lauren Gierman because she creates so many problems, and I thought Jessica Kovach did well to know where she was on the field and not give her too much space,” Dudle said. “That won’t show up in a box score but it’s so important. I thought our backline was aggressive. JayJay (Lowery), Shannon (Guercio), and Sara (Brawley) played well.”

Thursday marked BG’s third shutout in three games, during which the Bison have put 12 goals on the board.

Colleen Zickert made it 4-0 at 68 minutes before Groth finished the day’s scoring with a shot from distance that flew under the crossbar at 72 minutes. Groth was a catalyst throughout Thursday’s contest.

“(Groth) knows what to do with the ball when she gets it,” Dudle said. “And she’s not only a great soccer player, she’s a great person. She’s a captain for a reason.”

Groth liked what she saw from her side after the break.

“(Dudle) was saying at halftime that they like to stack in the back and counter. I think we had more possession but in the first half we couldn’t quite find the back of the net,” Groth said. “In the second half, we did.”

Despite the outcome, Abel and his girls aren’t about to let a 5-0 loss in the first game of their year cast a shadow on the season.  Gierman, Kaitlyn Smetana, Casey Weyhrich, Amy Kappelman, and Jessica Schmidt are all varsity veterans aiming to put goals on the board, while returning keeper Harris and her backline of Megan Brandt, Anne Korff, Kayla Knauss, and Sara Magnuson find their footing.

“It’s a somewhat experienced but somewhat new backline as well,” Abel said. “We’ll get them working together and figuring things out.

Abel liked the pace he got from Schmidt on Thursday and was encouraged that the problems his side had against BG are all fixable.

“Maybe we’ll see (Buffalo Grove) down the road in a sectional game and hopefully we’ll be a better team. There were periods of time when we had high pressure but when we started to sag off a little bit, that’s when they started to play, and for us to be successful we can’t give excellent teams like Buffalo Grove that much space.”