Hornets put up good fight but fall short against Stagg

By Curt Herron

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After giving up four goals in each of if its first three matches this season, Hinsdale South needed to greatly reduce that total when it met Stagg on Friday.

That's because the Chargers had recorded a pair of shutout wins while allowing only one goal in their other contest, a season-opening defeat to Lockport.

Putting together a solid defensive effort wouldn't be easy for the Hornets, though, since they had to go with a patchwork lineup due to a slew of injuries.

But despite the circumstances, South managed to collect a moral victory of sorts by blanking Stagg in the first half and yielding just one goal in the match.

However, that positive was outweighed by another Hornet struggle during the opening part of the season, their difficulties in putting the ball into the net.

South, which has scored just two goals thus far, came up empty for the second straight contest and dropped a 1-0 nonconference decision in Palos Hills.

Despite seeing his Hornets drop their closest contest of the young season, coach Pat Wolf was definitely encouraged by what he saw from his battling squad.

"We played a lot of young kids because some girls were missing or hurt," Wolf said. "But the girls worked hard and this was a good game. I'm hoping that they're disappointed since they knew they were in the game.

"It's not like we've been playing badly on defense. Against Benet we gave up scores on three set pieces and against Lincoln-Way Central they scored three goals in 10 minutes. But we just need to score a goal.

"I'm proud of the girls' effort and this is a positive for us, even though we lost, since we were in the game the whole time. Even toward the end, they kept playing and showed energy by going after the ball."

Stagg had most of the best chances during the final 40 minutes and managed to capitalize on one of them shortly after the break to account for the difference.

In the 46th minute, Sarah Mussallem got free and connected from close range to give the Chargers the only score that they would eventually need in the match.

Over the next 10 minutes, Hornet keeper Vanessa Niestrom made a pair of stops while her squad only managed a long-range try that was halted by her counterpart.

Mussallem threatened again during the 64th minute when she lined a corner kick that Niestrom originally punched away before eventually securing the loose ball.

The Hornets got a break on a foul in the box with nine minutes left but Charger keeper Jennifer Duffner dove to deflect the penalty kick try by Jessica Koziol.

South had a couple of good opportunities during the final part of the opening half while its defense did a good job of preventing the Chargers from threatening.

Just after the midpoint of the first half, Alissa Lokanc had a try deflected away by Duffner and in the 30th minute, Koziol's indirect free kick was just wide.

The Hornets were missing four likely starters because of injuries for Friday's match. They are Alyssa Collins, Steffi Chew, Maggie Nicosia and Cassie Jensen.

Brenda Maugeri has also been hurt and only managed to play briefly against Stagg. All of the injuries have created playing time for other players to step up.

That group reflects the youthful makeup of the team, which only features two seniors, defenders Carolanne Pilch and Abby Uhlar, as well as just five juniors.

"Carolanne is really steady in the back, she takes control and plays hard," Wolf said. "Jess Koziol was in the middle and she did a great job today. And Vanessa has also been doing a really good job in the net.

"Although we've been young in the past, we're really young right now with only two seniors. But even some of the girls who came in at the end of this match did a nice job and the freshmen out there were hustling."

South hopes to collect its first victory this week when it kicks off West Suburban Conference Gold play with matches at Morton on Tuesday and Leyden on Thursday.