West Suburban Sports

Carmel posts 10th shutout in win over Marian

By Dan Santaromita

After winning three of its first eight games, Carmel was a banged up team that was trying to figure things out.

Now, they’re a team on a roll heading into the playoffs.

Carmel won its eighth game out of its last ten in a 3-0 Senior Night win over Marian Central.

“Once the first part of our season was over, we got all our injuries back and all our seniors back,” junior Ashley Orth said. “We can really show what a competitive team we are. I think we’ve been playing to our full potential these last ten games.”

Of the Corsairs’ five seniors, a group comprised of Lauren Bowles, Shannon Kouba, Jessica Petermann, Kelly Trillhaase and Helen Wagner, four of them had early season injuries. That group has been key in the team’s turnaround.

Bowles, a flip throw specialist, created two goals off her throw-ins against the Hurricanes.

After a number of early set pieces, it was one of Bowles’ throws that got Carmel (11-5-2) on the board in the 16th minute. Orth flicked on the lofted throw to the back post where Shannon Jung smashed it in from point blank range.

“It’s been big for us all year,” coach John Halloran said of Bowles’ throws. “It’s a corner kick. We’re not great at converting them, but if we get 15 of them a game you’re going to find one of them. We got two off of it. We got one on Saturday off of it. We’ve done a nice job of making that a weapon.”

Halloran called the Corsairs’ first half play sloppy, but they solidified the lead off another Bowles throw with less than fifteen minutes left in the match.

With the Hurricanes expecting to deal with a ball in the air, Orth got a slight touch on the throw to tuck it inside the near post for an unusual goal. It almost appeared as if Bowles threw it directly into the net.

“I actually didn’t know, I stood up and it was in,” Bowles said. “I think she just got a little touch on it and it just went in, but it looked like it was pretty much straight in the goal.”

Bowles, a member of Carmel’s state winning gymnastics team in the winter, said a friend from gymnastics had a sister who played soccer and showed her the maneuver. She has been flipping balls into the box since third grade.

The throws put a lot of pressure on defenses and on Monday got the Corsairs’ offense going when they struggled to score in the run of play.

“I know when it gets close enough that I look for Sarah McHugh’s head and then we just try to get something off of it,” Bowles said. “Play it like a corner kick, do whatever it takes to get it in there even if it’s scrappy.”

Orth added her second with a great individual effort down the left flank. She got around a defender and the goalkeeper came off her line to claim the ball, but couldn’t corral it. Orth finished the goal from her side.

“Me and the keeper both got to the ball at the same time,” Orth said. “The ball just kind of popped up. I didn’t really have time to get up so I kind of just spun around and got my foot on it. Anything I could to try to get it into the net.”

Katie Larson made eight saves for Carmel’s ninth shutout of the season, with credit going to Wagner for heading a rebound off the goal line in the second half.

Halloran was happy to see his team deal with Marian’s formation.

“They ran a system that you don’t see a lot at the high school level, with three center mids and three up top. That took some adjusting on our defense,” the coach said.

“It was nice to see us deal with that because we have the potential to run into some teams that play similar systems in the playoffs.”

Carmel will visit Stevenson on Tuesday before hosting the regional round, beginning with a match against Rolling Meadows.