Chicagoland Soccer

Eagles in a wild one at Huntley
By Gary Larsen

You might think that losing consecutive conference games in shootouts would put a ding into a team’s psyche but Jacobs isn’t about to fret over Thursday’s loss on penalty kicks to FVC rival Huntley.

Playing without injured senior leaders Cassidy Sherman and Lauren Grady, the Eagles squared off with the Red Raiders in game that went 100 minutes without a goal, but which featured plenty of guts and quality play.

"I couldn't be more proud of the girls. We can make any excuse we want about missing two girls like that but everyone is stepping up, and taking advantage of the opportunities ahead of them and filling in real nice," Jacobs coach AJ Cappello said.

Huntley’s Abigail Nordeen secured the win with her PK conversion in the fifth round of kicks, but the Valley Division game amounted to much more than its culminating moment.

Jacobs junior Payton Berg blistered a shot at 69 minutes that was blocked by some combination of Huntley keeper Jessica Galason and a defender near the goal line. Nordeen hit the bar on a shot taken in the second overtime period. Jacobs junior Kylie Dennison popped a ball over a defender, raced around her to gather it and fired a shot right into the arms of Galason in the first overtime.

Huntley fired at the post in the game’s 99th minute only to see Jacobs junior Margaret Rivera chest it down at the goal line and clear it out. Jacobs sent a long shot in the final seconds of regulation in on Galason, who backpedaled to the goalline and saved it, sending the back-and-forth contest to a shootout.

There may not have been any goals scored, but Thursday’s rivalry game was a good one.

"It really was," Huntley coach Kris Grabner said. "Both teams had their opportunities and there were some amazing tackles on both sides of the ball. Rivera had a tackle down here and that was the way you're supposed to play soccer. She just went through it, cleared the ball, went through the body, it was great.

“We had Delaney (Loprieno) cut through and had two (defenders) come in on hard tackles and clear the ball, and we had the same thing. (Rachel) Zobott got in on some hard tackles in the corners -- it was just good soccer."

For Jacobs, it was good soccer played as a team determined not to use the loss of two key starters as an excuse.

"We know we're missing our top forward and our top center mid but we're trying to play through it, and get through it as a team," Berg said. "We want to show that we have more talent and we can play as a team. This showed us that we can play as a team, even with a couple of our top players hurt. We can still play with the top-notch teams. When we play as a team, we can play with anyone."

Berg’s day was one for the scrapbook. The junior didn’t start the contest but she made her presence felt throughout.

"She had a heck of a practice yesterday and you could tell she had a little fire under her. She was ready to go," Cappello said of Berg. "When she got her first shift today you could see she had it in her eyes. We slipped her up top a little bit and she wanted nothing more than to get on that ball, beat a girl, and get it in the back of the net."

Both Galason and Jacobs senior keeper Alyssa Koeppler played steady in the face of crosses, corners, freekicks, and shots sent in from distance for both teams. Red Raiders sophomore Loprieno nearly got behind the Eagles’ backline at 79 minutes, but defenders Margaret Rivera and Molly Leopold converged to break up the play.

The Eagles got solid efforts in each third of the field on Thursday.

"I thought Catie (Sherman) had a great game, Erin Flores played a nice game, obviously Payton played a heck of a game and Margaret did a nice job in back," Cappello said. "Our whole backline -- Jess Tennant, Molly Leopold, and Dani Blanchard all played stellar on the backline. And Kylie Dennison had a fire in her belly today."

With Grady and Cassidy Sherman on the shelf but projected to both return in the next few weeks, Cappello’s girls are gaining valuable experience with a shifted lineup.

"I thought we possessed well and worked together," Berg said. "Everybody got back, everybody pushed up, we all played well and did our best. We all tried a hundred percent at all times. Thursday’s loss put Jacobs’ Valley Division record at 0-2 , with the other loss coming in a shootout against Prairie Ridge. The Eagles are 10-7-3 overall, while Huntley improved to 9-4-4 overall and 2-0 in Valley play.

Knocking off defending conference champion Huntley on its home field is a chore in itself. Jacobs came close but Galason made two stops in the shootout to secure the Red Raiders’ win.

“Huntley is a huge rival for us and they’ve beat us every year we’ve played them,” Berg said. “To say we beat them after they've beaten us every year, coming back and beating them would have been huge. That's what we came out here to do.

“We'll fight no matter what. We want to make it through the regional so (Sherman and Grady) can come back and play with us, and we can try to make it farther downstate."

Cappello likes the experience his girls are getting minus two injured starters.

"We want to make sure we're ready for a postseason run. Crazy things happen and there's a lot of parity in this conference so you never know, but at the same time we want to get healthy and make sure we're ready for the postseason," he said. "If these girls fill in and do a nice job, and then you add Cassidy and Lauren back into the mix, then you're better and stronger than you were before.

“It could be a blessing in disguise, in that you get some girls stepping up into leadership roles when you're missing two of your leaders, and now you've got six, seven, eight leaders on the field."