Eagles drop road loss at Libertyville
By Mike Garofola

Hopes remain high for Jacobs in advance of the state playoffs despite a heart-breaking 2-1 loss at Libertyville Thursday afternoon at the Soccer Sports Complex, just outside the huge industrial park of Motorola in Libertyville.

With the Wildcats hosting the NSC conference track meet in its beautiful stadium in downtown Libertyville, this non-conference contest was moved onto the grass at the giant 30-plus soccer park.

But heavy pre-game rains and a constant drizzle throughout the match played a big part in the speed of play and ability to connect passes from both sides.

Jacobs head coach A.J. Cappello and his club were greeted to a downpour when arriving at the park, which would then turn into a delay when the Thor-Guard lightning horn sounded, sending the Golden Eagles back on the bus to stay dry and clear of any danger that might come through.

"It's hard to take a long drive over here, get out of the bus, then have that long delay, and then just a 15 minute warm-up before playing,” Cappello said. “But I thought the girls handled it very well. They came out and played a great opening fifteen minutes of soccer."

"We did do a lot of good things in the first ten to fifteen minutes, but as we have for most of the year, we can’t seem to sustain that level of play,” Jacobs senior captain Kylie Dennison said. “Consistent play is the thing we've lacked, and it’s something we keep striving for.”

The Eagles went close on two separate occasions during the opening exchanges, both times off the foot of Dennison to force Libertyville keeper Elaine Sundberg into a save situation.

Just moments after the opening whistle, the hard-working senior tested the 'Cats senior, and after   a nice ball from Amy Rigby three minutes later, Dennison sliced apart the defense before striking on frame.

The pace from Dennison, along with Rigby, Rachael Romano and Talia Surges helped knocked the home side off its stride, but slowly the Wildcats got themselves back into the game to eventually grab the run of play from their guests.

"We struggled to possess and keep the ball, and in doing so we lost our shape, especially in the middle,” Cappello said. “Libertyville took advantage of that to keep us under pressure in the last half of the first half.”

Jacobs' marvelous backline star, Margaret Rivera, who at times appeared to be all over the Golden Eagles end, blocked Annie Thompson's close range shot at 12 minutes, then blocked again on Sydney Mudd, who came up the center channel to collect a lovely ball from Sabie Ramirez.

Sophomore Klarissa Karmis stopped an attempt from Jessie White, and then Mudd, before Dennison turned things around on the other end to unload a left-footed cracker from the edge that Sundberg turned away to keep the visitors off the board at 25 minutes.

"We put some good pressure on them at times, but they were able to do the same to us, so there was a lot of back and forth in the first half, only they had the better of the chances," said Cappello.

Surges found Romano on the end of a run, and the junior had a good look on frame but went wide of the post at the half hour. Moments later the Jacobs faithful held its collective breath when a Kat Keefe corner created a scrum near the 6-yard box that saw three Libertyville shots in-close that were all blocked before Karmis was finally able to get her hands on the ball.

The Golden Eagles nearly took advantage of a moment of good fortune just after intermission, when after Dani Blanchard helped create a corner. Rivera’s inward swinging serve fell to Surges inside the box but her attempt was sprayed wide of the post.

Play got a little ragged for the next 10 minutes, although both sides played and ran hard as a little bit more urgency was realized by each club.

The best chance of all by Jacobs came when Dennison unleashed a 25-yard missile off the woodwork, which bounded straight down on the endline, prompting Cappello to plead with the center official that the captains' shot might have fallen over the line.

His request at 52 minutes was denied and four minutes later the Wildcats would strike, first on an own-goal manufactured from a low drive on the grass by Libertyville’s Kate McAuliffe. McAuliffe’s shot picked up a head of steam before bounding off a Jacobs defender and past a helpless Karmis.

The unfortunate own-goal had no bearing on the effort turned in throughout by Payton Berg, Carole Craig, Rivera and Blanchard, who weathered many a storm for 80 minutes, by winning a high percentage of 50-50 balls and tackling ferociously.

The set-back did not knock the Golden Eagles off course for long. They equalized soon thereafter when Blanchard thumped a header past new keeper Krista Erlandson after a wonderful corner serve from Rivera slipped through the gloves of the junior.

"We went through a lot of work to get even in this match, and sometimes when you put all that effort into that you suffer a letdown,” Dennison said. “And when we did, Libertyville took advantage.”

The Wildcats took advantage when Sydney Mudd fired into the top corner from 25 yards at 68 minutes. The go-ahead goal held up to send the Golden Eagles home with a loss, but they’ll enter the pending postseason with optimism.

"I really feel like we have a good run in us in the playoffs, but we've got to work at cleaning some things up and go in with a positive mind set, and play with a poise from front to back," Dennison said.

Her coach agreed.

"Yes, we can have a great run," Cappello said. "We have the players to do so but again, we have to strive to be consistent in all areas of our game. But I feel the team can do it and I’m excited about our chances next week."

The Golden Eagles will open the postseason at the Crystal Lake South regional, aiming to avenge a recent 5-1 defeat at the hands of FVC rival Cary-Grove on May 15.