Chicagoland Soccer

Eagles lose 2-0 to visiting Huntley in FVC showdown

By Gary Larsen

The ever-important midfield battle in the air went Huntley’s way and Jacobs had to kiss its hope for a Fox Valley Conference title goodbye.

“The girls left it on the field and that’s all we ask,” Jacobs coach AJ Cappello said, after his side’s 2-0 loss. “We had our looks and we could have changed the game if we put one away before the half. But that’s a great team we just played against. They’re quality, up and down. There’s not a soft spot on that team.”

Huntley senior Aimee Wronski is one of those forwards that can crack an accurate ball on frame through a sliver of daylight, and she buried one shot in each half in netting her 27th and 28th goals of the year.

Huntley (17-1-1, 12-0 in FVC play) attacked best during its stints of superiority in the air against Jacobs (18-6, 9-2) in Algonquin.

“We have to finish a little better but we knew it’d be a tough game,” Huntley coach Kris Grabner said. “I’m amazed at how big they are – just physically tall – but look at the way our middle won the ball in the air today, and that makes a huge difference in where the ball is on the field.”

Huntley pressured well early on, keeping Jacobs keeper Monica Orjuela busy early on with a handful of crosses and direct serves. She handled them all, including a volley on frame from Bre Burry that Orjuelas saved at 14 minutes.

Huntley grabbed a 1-0 lead at 17 minutes when Emily Konior sent a ball to Wronski, who galloped in diagonally across the box with a defender on her hip and fired inside the far post from the left side.

Down 1-0 at halftime, Jacobs came out and pushed hard for a tying goal to start the second 40 minutes.

“In the first half we made sure we were very aware of where (Wronski) was. In the second half we pushed more numbers up so we had Erin (Flores) man-mark her. We wanted to respect them, but not respect them too much.”

Flores tracked back to thwart Wronski at 46 minutes and hounded the prolific forward throughout the second half.

Jacobs’ Kelly Grady ripped a shot to the near post that Huntley keeper Kaytlyn Owens saved at 53 minutes, and Orjuela handled a Wronski blast at 57 minutes. Huntley’s Delaney Loprieno turned the corner twice on the left side in the second half, but Orjuela was positioned at the near post to save both of Loprieno’s offerings.

Orjuela saw spot-action in net early in the season and was aggressive and loud throughout the contest. The senior also left her line and stuffed a shot attempt by Konior at 65 minutes.

“She’s sharp,” Cappello said. “She volunteered to play in net and she just wants to make the team better wherever she can. Monica is vocal and she carries a presence back there.”

Orjuela saved Wronski again on a low rip at 67 minutes before Wronski finally made Jacobs pay again in the game’s 70th minute, when she spun and teed off left-footed from beyond the top of the penalty area. The shot blistered the back netting and the game’s scoring was done.

Wronski followed Thursday’s performance by scoring twice on Friday in a 2-0 win over Prairie Ridge, giving her 30 goals this year and 97 for her career.

“She’s pretty slippery, that’s for sure,” Grabner said. “She gets out of tight situations and gets space. On that second goal I was really hoping she’d go to her left. It was set up either way and I thought that if she went left, they weren’t going to be able to defend that.”

“That’s the type of player she is,” Cappello said of Wronski. “All she needs is that half-look.”

Afterwards, both coaches bemoaned the absence of Jacobs’ Cassidy Sherman from the midfield fray. The Eagles’ junior sat through a one-game absence from Jacobs’ lineup on Thursday.

“She not only puts the ball in net but she also dictates so much of the play,” Cappello said. “She wins so many head balls and fifty-fifties, and sets the tone for us. She does so many things on the field, so it’s tough without a kid like that.”

“I really wanted to play them when (Sherman) was in there,” Grabner said. “Because that’s going to get us ready even more.”

Senior goalkeeper Owens oversaw Huntley’s 14th shutout of the season on Thursday. The Red Raiders earned a 63-4 scoring edge over opponents in 18 games this year as freshmen defenders Loprieno, Rachel Zobott, Abby Nordeen and senior defender Rachel Chapuis have helped keep Owens safe from major harm this season.

“I can’t say enough about them,” Grabner said. “Look at little Abby Nordeen. She’s the smallest player on the field but she’s plays bigger than 99 percent of the players out there.”

Cappello was pleased with the effort he got throughout his lineup in the loss.

“We came into the game with an emphasis to challenge every ball, and try and dictate the play and try to disrupt everything,” Cappello said. “Be it head ball, balls on the ground, we just wanted to disrupt, disrupt, disrupt and get our chances. Play for our moments.

“Kelly Grady played awesome. We asked her to play in the center mid today and she was awesome. She filled in real nice. I thought Catie Sherman stepped it up today, filling in for her sister. But we had twenty girls today that went into the game and fought for us.”

Jacobs opens the postseason Wednesday with a regional semifinal game against FVC foe Cary-Grove, in a 7 p.m. game as part of the Barrington regional. The winner will take on the winner between Barrington and Lake Zurich on Friday.