Chicagoland Soccer

Vikings top rival Palatine to reach sectional title game

By Mike Garofola

In the end, Fremd and Lake Forest played to their seeds - and on Friday, it will be No. 1 vs. No. 2 in the 3A sectional final at Glenbrook South.

The No. 1 Vikings were too much for their cross-town rival Palatine Tuesday afternoon in Glenview, turning a close match for 40 minutes into a comfortable 3-1 victory over the No. 13 Pirates (14-10-2).

The win earned Fremd a spot opposite the No. 2 Scouts (17-4-4) whose 1-0 result over Glenbrook North booked their place in the final.

The sectional champion will advance into the Barrington supersectional next Tuesday evening to face either the host Fillies or Crystal Lake South, with a spot in the state’s Final Four at stake.

"Yeah, this is getting kind of fun," dead panned Fremd defender Jennifer Freeman, alongside teammate Alexis Tice, whose wry smile was the perfect response to what she just heard her teammate say.

"This was a game we were all looking forward to playing. Fremd vs. Palatine - long-time rivals, friends on both teams - and so much on the line," added Tice, who along with Freeman, her backline mates and the Vikings 1-2 punch of Elise Kotsakis and Michelle Mottonen drew plenty of praise from Palatine head coach Willie Filian.

"We knew we had to play simple against Fremd today, and we had to do the things we do well in order to stay in the match, and have a chance at the end,” Filian said. “But their back four were extremely tough to get in on, both Elise and Michelle are the type of attacking players most everyone would want, and Alexis and Amanda (Filian) neutralized each other all throughout the match in the middle.

“We’re not technically near (Fremd), and that becomes a disadvantage if we fall behind."

For nearly a half-hour, the Pirates dared to dream of an upset to help continue its magical post-season run, and if only for a bit of luck and good fortune, perhaps their plans to advance may have had a chance.

The commotion in which Gabbi McArtor created along the flank on the left side helped break the Vikings in their own end several times in the first half. Fremd head coach Steve Keller countered by marking the ultra-quick senior with Ashley McConnell after the break, and McConnell’s size and speed proved to be a key tactical move in the second half.

"Gabbi was giving us all sorts of fits in the first half, and coupled with our slow start, especially in the back, we were having a lot of trouble on that side," said Keller. "Ashley did a fantastic job on her in the second-half, and that was one of the main reasons for our success after the break."

McArtor would link with Morgan Radtke along the left on two occasions, with both resulting in save opportunities for keeper Shannon Norris, which she handled flawlessly. At 16 minutes, Radtke's in-swinger from the near flag was torture for the Vikings’ faithful to watch, as the ball seemed to stay inside the 6-yard box for an eternity until Norris smothered the loose ball near the post to end the drama.

"I don't know why we came out so flat, but after awhile, we got ourselves back to playing the way we're capable of," said Freeman.

Slowly the attacks for the Vikings were coming from all angles, and it was Mottonen who finally broke through for the victors. The sophomore showed good skill and a deft touch to drill her finishing strike from the right side, after gathering a wonderfully played ball from McDonnell that shredded the Pirates on the left side.

After the goal there was little complacency from the Vikings, who doubled their lead just minutes after intermission when Kotsakis thumped in her 32nd of the season from in close.

The Vikings' backline tightened its grip on the Pirates, which knew it had to respond in the next 10 minutes or see the match slip away from the hard-playing side. But with Fremd’s Emily Basten -- an absolute bully in the air and on the floor with her tackles -- and Kristin Abruscato and Freeman cleaning up everything in sight, the Fremd defense proved too much for the Pirates to unlock, despite having a brisk and blustery wind at their back.

"Again, Steve's backline was extremely tough to deal with today, and really all we could do was create a few chances off corners and throws, which they defended very well on us," bemoaned Filian.

With the Pirates pushing extra numbers forward in search of a goal to reduce the lead, it also left Palatine exposed in the back. It wasn't long before Kotsakis, the ultimate finisher, did so when Tice floated a superb ball out of the middle and over the top, where the cool and composed senior ran onto the path of her teammate’s helper before slotting past a diving Meghan Ellis, who had no chance to push aside the all-state candidate’s 33rd goal.

With the result nearly cast in stone, Keller would slowly bring off several from his first-11, including Norris between the sticks in favor of sophomore Christine Piasecki.

McArtor would finish what Michelle Wiedemann would start at 76 minutes, but this match was long over, well before the second strike from Kotsakis.

"This team has come a long way after going through a real lull during the last half of the season," began Keller.

"There was plenty of soul-searching, and meetings in which we talked about our goals as individuals and for the team, and we made a few changes here and there, and the girls have responded with the type of play we thought we would see from them from the very start."

The Vikings and Scouts shared just a couple of common opponents during the regular season, most notably the Pirates, which Lake Forest defeated 1-0, in addition to MSL East champion Hersey, which beat Lake Forest 1-0 in the first week of the season.

The Scouts have had wonderful turnaround 2011 season, after going 7-12-1 a year ago, including capture of the North Suburban Conference crown two weeks ago.