Host Knights, Buffalo Grove play to tie on Senior Night

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By Darryl Mellema

It would have been impossible to pack everything that took place during Wednesday’s Prospect-Buffalo Grove girls’ soccer match into the usual 80-minutes of game play.

There was an ambulance on the field, there were yellow cards, there was a red card and there were Senior Night ceremonies. And there were also two goals.

But the one thing the match couldn’t provide was a winning team.  After 100 minutes of play and with all the twists and turns of the night had ended, the host Knights finished with a 1-1 draw with Buffalo Grove.

“It’s unfortunate,” Prospect junior Lexi Phillips said. “We needed to step to the ball a little more, but we definitely could have held them.”

The goals took some time to happen. Although Buffalo Grove had perhaps the better opportunities through the opening 70 minutes, Prospect goalie Megan McCabe stopped everything that came her direction very comfortably.

Then the Knights took the lead on one of their best attacking moves of the night. Rachel Suarez played a ball out of midfield to the right wing to Elena Cukurs, who moved toward the end line. She nearly lost the ball out of bounds, but fought to keep that ball in-play, and succeeded. Cukurs then sent a ball toward the left portion of the goalmouth, where Phillips was positioned.

Phillips shot and scored and Prospect had the lead with only 5:42 to play.

“I’m glad the ball popped through,” Phillips said. “(Prospect coach Tom) Froats always tells us to be on the back side and that’s what I tried to do.”

Every step of the play was well-orchestrated. When Suarez found Cukurs, she was free, with space to maneuver on the right wing. On a night when seemingly every ball was contested, for a player to get the ball with the opportunity to look up and then to create was a rarity.

“That’s something we’ve been trying to do better, to find seams on the outside,” Froats said. “Rachel, I thought, played hard tonight. She gave forth a real solid effort. It’s nice to see her being helpful in the offensive end and then in the defensive end as well.”

Prospect’s scoring move owed much to Cukurs’ desire to keep the play moving. When she saved the ball on the end line, she was free of the defense and was able to look up and pick out Phillips for the goalscoring shot.

“That goal was certainly the result of hard work in the final third by several girls,” Froats said. “Elena, certainly, was willing to work to keep the ball from going out of bounds to keep that scoring opportunity alive. And then Lexi was in the right place, and a lot of goalscoring is being in the right place at the right time.”

Phillips scored from about 8 yards, striking the ball near the center of the goal.

Unfortunately, Prospect’s lead lasted less than 3 minutes. Buffalo Grove tied the match with just under 2 minutes to play when Sierra Bugno hit a long-range shot high and over McCabe into the net. Bugno was unmarked as she hit the shot, another rare defensive breakdown by either team in the contest.

“That was a tough goal to let up,” Froats said. “I thought we played well for stretches defensively and then there seem to be moments where we don’t seem to be communicating well enough or fast enough. So there’s a little indecision, and indecision means the ball sits on someone’s foot and they’re able to take a shot.”

Prospect senior Caroline Aubry headed over the crossbar in the overtime periods, but on balance, the two 10-minute overtimes expired with a minimum of scoring chances for either team and Prospect’s Senior Night 2011 ended in a tie.

“It seems short, shorter than I thought it would,” Aubry said of her career. “It’s exciting and sad, I guess. I think it’s great to see all the girls who have been a part of it and have played.”

Aubry was one of four seniors honored. The others were Lizzy Robinson, Agnes Stankiewicz and Kelly McBride.

“They’re a great group,” Froats said. “They work really hard on the field and they’re wonderful role models off the field. It’s nice to recognize them tonight. But I think we’ve got to appreciate them more when you have them. When they’re gone is when you recognize what they were, not only to the team but to the program. They’ve gone through the program and been committed and done what we’ve asked of them. That says a lot about them.”

This year’s Prospect team is sitting at .500 (8-8-3) with just over one week left in the regular season. The memories read over the PA system during the halftime ceremony showed that these girls have loved their time in the program, on and off the field.

“I love them all and they’ve made it a great year,” Aubry said. “They’ve made it a great year. There are only four of us seniors. But everyone puts so much heart into the game as much as I do and we’ve all bonded over this past season.”

And the game figures to stay with them as well. Aubry, for example, said she’d like to coach some day. All four seniors are headed to college, though their competitive careers are all likely to end when Prospect’s run in the state playoffs finishes.

“It’s always been a part of me,” Aubry said. “I’m never going to give it up completely. I’ve been doing it since I was little.”

Wednesday’s match seemed to go forever in an effort to get maximum time on the field for those seniors. But the cause of some of that longevity left a hush in the crowd. Nine minutes into the match, Stankiewicz collided with Kelly Vande Merkt and both players went down in a heap. Stankiewicz was eventually able to get up and walk off the field, but Vande Merkt remained on the field. She sat up briefly, but then was laid back on the pitch, and an ambulance was called.

Stankiewicz stayed on the sidelines for some of the first half after the collision, but returned to play significant minutes in the match.