Huskies, Maine South settle for a scoreless tie

 

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By Gary Larsen

Emily Gullo will take the 36 she got on her ACT test to the University of Illinois next year, but for now there’s soccer to be played for the Oak Park and River Forest senior.

Twin sister Victoria’s soccer career will continue at Air Force next year, but Emily has decided that her soccer career will end at the completion of the current high school season.

So Huskies coach Paul Wright is getting the most out of her while she’s still lacing up her shoes and getting after it.

“When you put her in the midfield she’s very fast, aggressive, and she covers a lot of space,” Wright said. “She quickly creates a presence that other kids have to worry about.

“But with her at midfield we lose her ability to finish up top with both feet. And then I can put her in back and again, she covers ground and she can clear a ball. She can take a ball from the defensive third and put it in the attacking third in one swipe.”

Gullo has 16 goals this season and 61 for her high school career, just 6 shy of the program’s career mark for goals scored.

“She’s a stud. Everything I’ve read about her is true,” Maine South coach JJ Crawford said. “They’re a nice team and I think they can go far into the playoffs.”

The Huskies (10-4-2) and Hawks (9-8-3) squared off in Park Ridge on Saturday and walked away from a 0-0 tie after the teams enjoyed a 40-minute span each to see what they could do offensively.
 
“We just came off of playing (Lyons Township) and it was a tough loss, 1-0,” Gullo said. “In the first half I think we were all still a little stuck in that game. But in the second half, we moved on.”

Maine South was quicker to the ball through 40 minutes, and OPRF got to it first in the second half. The Hawks found themselves with the ball inside the Huskies’ penalty area for a good handful of dangerous shots before halftime, while the Huskies hit the crossbar twice and the post once in the second half.

All in all, a hard-fought game from start to finish.

“I thought we played super in the first half and they played super in the second half,” Crawford said. “They took it to us in the second half and anyone who saw the game knows we got lucky on a couple of those clears on the line. But I’ll take that, because we haven’t been that lucky lately.”

Maine South graduated 9 starters and 12 seniors from last year’s squad, leaving this year’s squad to find its way. “We don’t have a true goal scorer but we’re working hard and playing to our potential, and that’s all I can ask of them,” Crawford said. “Everybody is stepping up to try to fill that role for us, which is nice.

“In the first half, Carli Pappas up front was really getting some good opportunities. We were playing balls outside in and our offensive mid at the time, which was Ally Curry and Ally Cottrell – we were winning all that, but in the second half that disappeared.”

OPRF junior Katy Oldach got the starting nod in net on Saturday, in a season in which Princeton-bound senior keeper Darcy Hargadon has seen the lion’s share of play in net. Oldach turned heads last year as a sophomore in net and has been solid in every start she’s been given this year.

“We have two varsity goalkeepers and (Oldach) has handled this really well,” Wright said. “It’s been great to see the two of them interact. Katy came in as a sophomore and she was phenomenal, and she has grown every game. She has to be one of the top keepers around next year.”

Oldach fought her way through an occasionally crowded goalmouth to help keep the Hawks out of net through 40 minutes, and the Huskies knew they needed to find another gear after halftime.

“Whenever we go into a halftime talk, coach asks us what we thought of the way we played,” Gullo said. “What we said among the team was that we needed to step it up and make a better effort to get to the ball first.”

“They were winning every fifty-fifty ball and there was no anticipation on our part,” Wright said. “We didn’t step into it and we had to get back to basics. We’d get the ball up top but you can’t have 2-on-4 in the box. Our outside mids and our attacking center mids had to get (involved).”

Oldach was happy to see her side grab the lion’s share of the attack in the second half. She watched as teammate Tess Trinka hit a shot off the crossbar on a serve from outside midfielder Sara McCall, and Gullo fire at the far post on a second nice cross sent in by McCall.

Gullo raced behind the Hawks’ defense after a through-ball that keeper Katie Paddock got to first, fired on Paddock again from distance, and then hit another crossbar late in the contest.

Victoria Gullo also sent in a free kick that found the post in the second half before a clearance by Maine South, and McCall reached the end line in the game’s final minute and served to the near post, but Paddock gathered it to preserve the shutout.

Oldach was happy to be called upon with less frequency in the second half and felt the pain of her attack’s multiple near-misses.

“I get really into it and it’s really stressful to watch,” Oldach said. “We had so many chances up there and you could really see the difference in pressure in the second half. We definitely had a lot more people up there.
 
“Our marking and our ball control was better in the second half. Our pressure up top kept the ball up top, and our defense did a great job against (the counter).”

Oldach had to tip a shot over the crossbar at 64 minutes, thwarting the Hawks’ best attempt on goal in the second half. “It was a far shot, outside of the box, and I could tell by her body language that she was going to shoot,” Oldach said. “I just set my feet and got ready.”

The Hawks got solid efforts from Paddock and defenders Aly Hayden, Alexis Sammarco,  and Nina Duric managing to hold off the Huskies in the second half. “Early in the season we lost to Elk Grove 3-1 and we lost to Conant 3-1, so where we are defensively has improved by leaps and bounds since then,” Crawford said.

McCall ability to explore the final third also stood out in the second half for OPRF. “She can launch a ball and at that position it’s about fitness. We tell her that we need her to get up and down the field and give us everything she’s got, and we’ll get her a break here and there for five minutes,” Wright said. “She and Emily have really connected this year.”

The Huskies have one regular-season game remaining. They’ll play Fenwick at home on Thursday at 6:00 p.m. in a game that annually draws an excellent crowd and rarely disappoints.

“It’s a local rivalry and we know a lot of the girls on that team,” Gullo said. “It’s always fun to play them.”