Grens edge Lancers in 3 OT to earn rematch with Saxons

By Matt Le Cren

Maybe, as Elk Grove coach Dan Klaus surmised, the game would have been easier if Kelli Hubly's 16-yard shot in the seventh minute had gone in.

As it was, Hubly's attempt hit the crossbar and bounced away and it took two great hustle plays by junior forward Michelle Calmeyn for the Grens to pull out a 2-1 triple-overtime victory over surprisingly-pesky Lake Park on Wednesday in a Class 3A West Chicago Regional semifinal.

"There's a feeling we've developed over the past four or five weeks, and I think it's well-earned, of a quiet confidence," Klaus said. "But that Lake Park team maybe brought a little more than us today. I know for certain that we respect them so it had nothing to do with that.

"Some of our players who bring a good work rate, just good, consistent behind-the-scenes play, struggled a little tonight, so that hurt us. But we get to live on and see another day."

The victory advanced the Grens (12-6-3), who have won five straight, into Friday's regional championship game against Schaumburg.

It will be the third meeting between the two sides. Each won 1-0 on the road during the regular season.

That expected match-up nearly didn't come off because Elk Grove, despite having seven corner kicks and spending a lot of time in the Lake Park penalty area, had all sorts of trouble getting around the Lancers' back line but Calmeyn's speed was the solution to that problem.

Calmeyn scored both goals for Elk Grove, giving her 22 to go with 10 assists. Her first came when Kelli Hubly began a quick counterattack by passing out of the back to Kelly Naughton on the left wing.

Naughton quickly flicked the ball ahead to Calmeyn, who turned on the jets and beat a Lake Park defender into the clear.

She almost dribbled the ball too far out in front of her, but caught up to it in time to send a 17-yard shot past the onrushing Lake Park keeper Amanda Siciak for a 1-0 lead with 12:22 to go in the first half.

"She had been on varsity her freshman and sophomore year, but the work she's put in in the offseason is to her credit," Klaus said of Calmeyn.

"She's first on the scene. When she scored our first goal, it was a counter, a quick end-to-end, and she's doing a heckuva job and I'm proud of her. And the great thing is she's still got more of a ceiling."

Hubly, a rising star herself who played a pivotal role in controlling the midfield against the Lancers, concurred.

"She will go as hard as she can to goal and nothing can really stop her," Hubly said.

That was in evidence on the game-winning play, which came with 5:35 left in the third overtime.

Calmeyn shrugged off challenges from two defenders as she bulled her way into the right side of the Lake Park penalty area and fired a hard shot that Siciak made a diving save on but couldn't control.

Before a defender could get to the rebound, Calmeyn pounced on it and buried any hopes the Lancers (8-8-4) had of pulling the upset.

"We were starting to get tired at the end," Calmeyn said. "I knew I had to finish it and we had to get the victory."

Lake Park had tied the game by scoring against the run of play on a 23-yard shot by freshman Megan Lindbert with 1:23 remaining in the first half. It was the first goal given up by the Grens in five games.

The Lancers even had a chance to win it in regulation off a corner kick with 30 seconds left, but the play was well-defended and a shot from in front of the right post was sent well wide.

Neither side got much going in the first two extra sessions. Siciak and her Elk Grove counterpart, senior Missy Regan, each had to make one save before Calmeyn finally ended it.

"We just needed to get more people up and we just really needed to crash the goal," Hubly said. "We had to break them down in ones and twos, like little give-and-gos to get around them, because with Michelle's and my speed we can get through them."

Lake Park coach Chris Fruehling was left to rue the missed upset chance.

"We were one touch, one breakaway away from possibly putting it away," he said. "They have some tremendous front-runners with great speed. I think everybody was tired and we were unlucky.

"I think our goalie made a tremendous save on it and the ball bounced pretty much right to their foot. I'll chalk it up to their persistence but a little unlucky on our end."

Klaus was proud of his squad's effort but knows the Grens will have to play better Friday if they want to beat the second-seeded Saxons.

"It was not our best of the year, but style points don't count," Klaus said. "We'll regroup and be ready for battle. It will be a tough one."

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