Huskies hand Deerfield first defeat of season

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By Curt Herron

It might not have been the prettiest win that he'll see this season, but all things considered, Oak Park and River Forest coach Paul Wright will still accept it.

That's because even though his Huskies struggled to make connections in Tuesday's nonconference match with Deerfield, they still found a way to capture a 3-1 win.

The victory on a cold and damp afternoon at Oak Park Stadium was even more satisfying considering that the Warriors were 3-0 and had blanked their first three foes.

While Deerfield did a nice job of disrupting the Huskie attack thanks to an effective possession game, OPRF (2-1) countered by shutting things down defensively.

Wright pointed to the efforts of defenders such as Rachel Durbin, Victoria Gullo, Renata Voci and Dorothe Franklin as being among the keys in that department.

Other than a late breakdown where the Warriors connected to briefly close to within a goal, OPRF's defense didn't allow them many chances to pressure find the net.

That led to a pretty easy afternoon in goal for Husies keeper Darcy Hargadon, who only was forced to make one save during the final 40 minutes of play.

The Huskies scored shortly before the break with Shelby Cozette assisting Emily Gullo and the pair exchanged roles for the decisive second goal in the 66th minute.

Deerfield made things interesting when it finally connected in the 76th minute but OPRF got that goal back a short time later when Katherine Skrine found the net.

"This was a pretty big game for us since we lost to them 1-0 last year in the Pepsi Showdown in a game that we felt that we dominated," Wright said. "So we brought up to the girls that this was a game that we needed to get back.

"We have to get some big wins in because our sectional will be really tough and we really can't have any losses at home. We had a problem with Naperville Central when it played a 3-5-2 and Deerfield did the same and we struggled in the first half.

"But I thought in the second half we created a lot more opportunities after we came out and pressured the ball a lot more and got the ball out wide, putting the ball in on crosses and making girls follow marks."

Although the three-goal outburst appeared to be a success against a squad that had allowed no scores, the Huskie coach was still disappointed about his squad's limited chances.

"It looked good but we didn't have many combinations where we were stringing together three or four passes together. Deerfield did a great job of possessing the ball and moving it but just didn't have that finishing touch up top.

"We won the game and it wasn't pretty. In our previous game with Trinity, we moved the ball around really well. I know that it was cold, wet and rainy but our girls need to know what they have to do in order to get better."

Neither team threatened very much during the opening half hour of the match as most of the action remained in the middle of the park.

But that began to change during the final 10 minutes of the first half when the Huskies started to get some good scoring opportunities.

In the 32nd minute, Emily Gullo was just wide on a close attempt and a few minutes later, Victoria Gullo was also a bit wide on a shot try.

Mikaela Gillman had a shot deflected away by a defender in the 38th minute and Victoria Gullo got the rebound and sent a liner to the keeper.

A free kick by Deerfield's Samara Haas eventually led to a line drive from Hannah Rosin that was hauled in by Hargadon in the 39th minute.

On the counterattack, OPRF finally connected when Cozette sent a pass to Emily Gullo, who got free and placed a shot into the opposite corner.

"This was a nice win for us," Cozette said. "We finally started to string some passes together. We haven't played any conference games yet but it's still nice to get a couple of wins strung together before we go into those big games.

"We've had a lot of injuries, but we pretty much have everyone back now and it's nice to start seeing what our team is going to look like. We have a lot of starters back so that means we have less of the basic things to work on.

"We've all been playing together for awhile, so we all know each other pretty well and kind of know what to expect from each other and I think that helps us a lot. We're all just really excited about this season."

The initial 25 minutes of the second half reflected much of the first half play with Deerfield possessing well and OPRF struggling to connect.

Neither squad really threatened again until the 65th minute when the Warriors' Kaley Schur got free and managed to send an attempt to Hargadon.

About a minute later, Sara McCall created a corner kick and then sent that corner in front of the net, where Emily Gullo headed a shot to the net.

Warrior keeper Skyllar Hughes deflected that try away but Cozette was in the right spot to get the rebound and placed it in the net for the score.

OPRF tried to add to its total over the next few minutes but Hughes stopped two attempts from Emily Gullo to keep the Warriors within two goals.

Deerfield finally found the net during the 76th minute when Haas sent a pass to Jill Noeh, who got past defenders and put in a short attempt.

But the Huskies countered that score when a corner by McCall was cleared back to Skrine, who floated a long shot that managed to find the net.

"The ball kind of got kicked back out to me and I just kind of laid it on goal," Skrine said. "I turned around after I saw it go high in the air and Renata said, 'You scored!' and I said, 'What?' But that was fun.

"Their goal was a fluke and other than that, we were pretty solid in the back. We would have liked to have put a few more connecting passes together. But I thought that our effort was better during the second half.

"We only have a couple of people hurt so our team is slowly coming back together so we're hoping to have a real strong season. We're friends off the field, too. Our chemistry is really good and we all want it a lot."

Despite seeing his team allow a late score to suddenly make matters more interesting, Wright was pleased with the efforts of his defenders.

"Rachel had been out with the flu and just hadn't been feeling well but she really shut down the left side of the field," Wright said. "And Victoria really bunkered down and that's why you're not seeing many shots taken from 18 yards out.

"A lot of people think they're going to have a field day when they see a short player like Renata in the back but she directs the defense well for us. Dorothe is our other outside and those four girls and Darcy really anchor our team."

The Huskies have the rest of the week off and don't return to action until Tuesday, when they travel to Berwyn to play a match against Morton.