Six games in, Hilltoppers working to finish

By Dan Santaromita
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Glenbard West has to be wondering what they have to do to string some wins together.

The Hilltoppers have just one win in six games, but have only allowed five goals this season. Cary-Grove handed West its third one-goal defeat of the season in a 1-0 result as part of the St. Francis Springfest Classic at Olympic Park in Schaumburg.

“It’s been the story of the season for us so far,” Hilltoppers coach Maciek Kusmierz said. “We just can’t get over the hump. We’ve been in all our games and then in the end somehow the other team scores and we end up losing.”

Earlier on Tuesday the Hilltoppers (1-3-2) beat Maine West 4-0 for their first win of the season, but couldn’t repeat the offensive performance despite a few quality chances against the Trojans.

Almost right out of the gate sophomore Abby Ohrnstein made a dangerous cross into the middle, but the ensuing volley went wide.

“We had a couple very good chances in the first few minutes,” Kusmierz said. “Had we finished on those the game could have gone a different direction. I think the team played well. Again, we had our chances, but it’s the goals that count and we yet again failed to put the ball in the net and we end up on the losing end.”

The Hilltoppers were able to prevent Cary-Grove from getting a lot of quality chances at goal. Junior Anna Soane made four saves.

The breakthrough finally came with less than 15 minutes left in the match. The Trojans broke through the Hilltopper defense and beat Soane with a low driven shot across the face of the goal.

Glenbard West upped the offensive pressure down the stretch with Ohrnstein, Lauren Davis and Kate Moore trying to link up and grab the equalizer, but it never came.

After the game, Davis didn’t have an explanation for the offensive struggles, but missing senior standouts Katie Watt and Molly Abromitis is likely a factor. Both players are four-year varsity players that typically feature in the Hilltoppers’ attack. On the upside, playing five games in three days and down a couple players gives Kusmierz a chance to see the depth of his team.

“I had everyone playing,” the coach said. “It’s a tough three days. Good competition. Five games in three days and everybody pitches in.”

Kusmierz didn’t want to single out any players on his team, for better or worse, saying they score and defend as a team.

“I think the whole team plays together,” he said. “We talk about certain things and we limit the other teams to very few opportunities on our goal. We play defense well collectively. We transition well. “It’s just the offensive third of the field when we have to find our goals.

“I think every game we create at least a handful of good scoring opportunities. It’s just a matter of putting them in the net and when we do that’s the time when we get rewarded with a win. When we don’t we end up losing or tying the game by the score of 1-0 or 0-0. We just need to continue on attacking and make sure we finish on our opportunities as much as we can.”

Glenbard West will play at 9 a.m Wednesday to conclude the tournament after going 1-2-1 in group play.