Vikings fall 2-1 at Elk Grove
By Matt Le Cren

 

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Fremd would be a formidable team if it had a 20-goal scorer.

Someone like Kelli Hubly, for instance.

Unfortunately for the Vikings, Hubly plays for Elk Grove, and on Wednesday she bagged her 19th and 20th goals of the season to lead the host Grenadiers to a 2-1 Mid-Suburban League victory over Fremd.

Hubly tallied both of her goals in the first half to give Elk Grove a comfortable cushion and force Fremd into an all-too-familiar role of trying to battle back in the second half.

The Kentucky recruit’s first strike came nine minutes in when she brought the ball up on the left wing in a 2-on-3 situation. After one defender failed to catch up to her, Hubly glanced at teammate Nikki Zaino on her right, saw she was covered and then blew by the second defender and sent a short shot past Fremd goalie Shannon Norris.

“I’m not a big move person so my favorite move is change of speed,” Hubly said. “I like stop and look up to see if anyone’s open in the box. If no one’s open then I just go.”

Hubly didn’t have to go anywhere on her second goal, calmly settling the ball just outside the circle before blasting a left-footed 23-yard shot top shelf to give the Grenadiers a 2-0 lead with 6:09 remaining in the first half.

“[Getting the lead] was really good because I know through the years [this game] has been a very physical, like hard game,” Hubly noted. “So it felt good to just put them in in the beginning and then be able to maybe step back more and help more defensively so they didn’t get any chances.”

Ironically, it was Elk Grove that didn’t get any more dangerous chances. The Grenadiers (11-6-1, 6-4-1) mustered only five shots, including one in the second half. That came midway through the period when Hubly dribbled into the box looking to complete the hat trick but sent a 12-yard shot wide of the right post.

Other than that, the second half was controlled by the Vikings (5-8-3, 3-6-1), who outshot the hosts 15-5 for the game yet suffered their eighth one-goal loss of the season.

Elk Grove played the second half without Notre Dame-bound star Katie Naughton, who suffered a quadriceps injury. Elk Grove coach Dan Klaus said the injury was not serious but he kept Naughton out as a precaution with the playoffs only two weeks away.

“We subbed a lot in the second half and I tried to come back a little bit more to help out our midfielders,” Hubly explained. “I tried to play more defensive.”

“[Hubly] did well,” Klaus said. “She had a really strong first half. The second half we weren’t able to get forward quite as much, but Fremd did a nice job too.”

Indeed, the Vikings played nearly all of the final 40 minutes in the attacking half and were able to put some pressure on Elk Grove’s stellar back line of Emily Wary, Sarah Stram, Lindsey Vaccarino and Jocelyn Potratz, which blocked several attempts to get deep into the box.

Fremd squeezed off nine shots after intermission, with Bekah Bostrom and Jessa Rizzo sending drives over the crossbar while Elk Grove goalie Melissa Solario made saves on attempts from Caroline Wagner, Emily Basten and Rebecca Freeman.

The visitors finally broke through with 8:54 to go when Bostrom drilled a 25-yard free kick off the underside of the crossbar and in for her second goal of the season to cut the gap in half. But the Vikings had just one other shot the rest of the way, that being a long-range snipe from Bostrom that sailed high with 1:30 left.

“We’ve been having trouble all year coming out in the first half and coming to play, and coming with heart and playing hard,” Bostrom said. “We’re picking up in the second half but when you go down two goals you’re digging yourself a hole.

Aside from 7-0 wins over Wheeling and Hoffman Estates, the Vikings have struggled mightily to find the back of the net, with just six goals in their other 14 matches. They have been shut out eight times.

“We’ve had trouble scoring all year long, but we’ve taken more shots every single game and you can see it; we’re getting closer,” Bostrom said. “I think we are a dangerous team. As long as we come to play I think we can play with any team out there. As long as we get our scoring up and by the way we’re shooting, if we keep working hard, it will come.”

Fremd coach Steve Keller said the scoring woes are not because of a lack of ability.

“[Bostrom’s] got the ability, Rizzo’s got the ability, [so do Bri] Frys and Wagner and if we put Emily up there,” Keller said. “There’s a handful that have ability but they just don’t trust or believe. The second half was good. If we play like that we’ve got a chance.”

Elk Grove is another squad that believes it can make some noise in the postseason. The Grenadiers had lost six of seven after a 7-0-1 start, mainly because of a raft of key injuries, including a hamstring pull that sidelined Hubly for two matches that exposed a short bench.

Now that his squad has won two straight, Klaus is guardedly optimistic.

“Monday [a 2-1 upset of Hersey] was a draining game for the girls,” Klaus said. “Going from the turf on Monday…to where this is a really soft, mushy, thick track today, that’s a lot more demanding on them physically.

“But I thought it was nice the girls did a good job of toughing it out. It wasn’t pretty. We knew we were going to have to defend a little more in the second half.”

Like Fremd, the Grenadiers have played a lot of one-goal games, but they are 6-3 in those contests, which might bode well for the playoffs.

“Just like the conference, it’s been so close all year,” Klaus said.”They playoffs are probably going to be similar. That’s what it’s nice to win some close ones.”