Hilltoppers fall in overtime at OPRF
By Gary Larsen

In a two-minute span in overtime on Tuesday, Meredith Blatner was both an offensive star and a defensive savior.

The Oak Park and River Forest senior tallied the lone goal in overtime of a 1-0 win over West Suburban Silver rival Glenbard West, and two minutes later she cleared a ball away from the Huskies’ goalmouth to help preserve her side’s fifth consecutive win.

“It was a team effort and when we came out for overtime we were all pumped and we all had the energy,” Blatner said. “We built each other up and we knew we couldn’t give up.”

Just 30 seconds into the first mandatory, 10-minute overtime period of a scoreless game, it was the Huskies’ Lauren Wilkes who spotted a seam in the Hilltoppers’ backline.

“Lauren sent a through ball from the right side of the field and I saw open space with a defender on my left side,” Blatner said. “I just touched it around her and shot it.”

Isolated on West goalkeeper Kylie Paul, Blatner fired low and snuck the ball past the near post for the game’s lone goal.

Paul made every save asked of her through 80 minutes of soccer as OPRF found a good number of shots through the end of regulation. The Huskies (6-1-0, 1-0 in WSS play) would have liked to have a few of those shots back, however.

“If we had 20 shots, 19 were right at the goalkeeper,” OPRF coach Ignacio Ponce said. “It was just an unlucky day but the positive thing was that we created 20 shots. We just need to improve in a few areas and see the options, and not panic because we had a few opportunities there where we just gave the ball away. But we’ll take the win and move forward.”

With Paul and defenders Alyssa Cantore, Britta Frenzel, Ilham Hussaini, and Kate Strieker, Glenbard West (0-4-2, 0-1) spent much of the day thwarting OPRF advances. But there was a roughly 15-minute span in Tuesday’s second half that saw the Hilltoppers applying sustained pressure on the OPRF backline and keeper Elise Delligrazie.

That attacking span ended with Delligrazie charging off her line and taking a shot off a Hilltoppers’ foot in the game’s 63rd minute, 14 yards off her line. West’s Strieker, Alex Levin, and Courtney Dugan all found shots during their span of attack.

With a short bench this season, the Hilltoppers are defending hard as their attack aims to find its footing.

“We play really disciplined defense and we take a lot of pride in that,” Levin said. “When we get the ball we look to go forward and create things, and I think we created some chances tonight. If we had a little bit more luck we could have gotten one, but I’m really proud of the whole team. We fought, the whole game.

“We’re working on (attacking) in practice every day, and everyone is improving. We’re a pretty inexperienced team and we’re trying to come together, find our style, and get a rhythm going. We love each other on this team and we’re working hard for each other. The wins will come.”

OPRF’s Erin Schrobilgen took the day’s first dangerous shot when she ran down a ball deep on the right side and fired a hard shot that Paul handled cleanly, 14 minutes into the game.

West’s Cantore popped up a head shot off a corner kick that Delligrazie punched away at 22 minutes, and West’s Mia Pagliuco was thwarted on a shot attempt in the box soon thereafter.

From there to halftime, OPRF established a more persistent presence in its final third.

Paul cut off a Schrobilgen cross from the endline on the right side at 25 minutes, then saved a Schrobilgen shot off a Julia Weiss corner kick at 27 minutes. The Huskies’ Tess Trinka headed a ball forward that Blatner and Paul converged on at 28 minutes, with Paul stuffing Blatner’s attempted shot from 12 yards out.

Paul saved shots from Wilkes and Blatner while Strieker managed a long one-hopper that Delligrazie handled easily just before halftime.

“It was a little frustrating and at times we weren’t controlling the ball as well, and we were just kicking it forward sometimes,” Blatner said. “But once we played with composure and played through the backline, away from their forwards, that helped us.”

OPRF applied steady pressure to the 55th minute after halftime, with Paul handling shots from Trinka, Schrobilgen, Olivia O’Sullivan, and Alicia Gerin.

Glenbard West’s best attacking spurt followed, with Levin sending a good chance just wide at 59 minutes, Dugan sending a shot just high a minute later, and Zoe Pearson sending in a corner kick that resulted in Delligrazie making a high-quality save at 63 minutes.

“We find ourselves defending for a lot of the time but our (offensive) play started looking better during that time,” Hilltoppers coach Maciek Kusmierz said. “We started getting closer to the goal and had a couple opportunities. We just have to find the best solution depending on the way the game goes, and keep making adjustments as we go along.

“We work hard and we’re playing against tough competition. We’re able to stay with most of the teams we’re playing and hopefully the wins will come. We just have to keep working at it.”

Paul made a nice save at the post on a Gerin rip at 63 minutes, and Delligrazie smothered a Levin shot one minute before the final buzzer in regulation. The Wilkes-to-Blatner combination came early in the first overtime to give OPRF the win.

“I was really happy with the leadership we got today, starting with Elise in back,” Blatner said. “Her communication through our backline moved forward all the way up to our forward, Alicia (Gerin). Everyone was communicating and working together today.

“(The five-game winning streak) is building our confidence but aren’t getting ahead of ourselves at all. We know there’s hard competition coming forward so we just have to keep preparing ourselves and working hard.”

OPRF hosts local rival Fenwick on Thursday before playing Wheaton Warrenville South on Saturday to open this year’s Pepsi Showdown. Glenbard West travels to Downers Grove South Thursday and then to Glenbard North on Saturday.