Vikings edged by Titans for sectional championship

By Mike Garofola

Top-seed Glenbrook South spoiled the dreams of Fremd when All-State striker Jannell Flaws took an errant ball and fired in the eventual game-winner just seconds before intermission in a 1-0 victory Friday night.

That gave the Titans the Class 3A Palatine Sectional titleand a trip into Tuesday's super-sectional at Niles North with longtime conference rival New Trier.

Almost one year ago to the day, the Vikings won in sensational fashion over these same Titans in a 4-3 shootout when All-State candidate Allison Norenberg stopped Flaws to preserve the victory and send Steve Keller's club forward.

Fremd later defeated New Trier in the super-sectional to earn a spot among the last four teams in the 3A state tournament.

"A little different of a result this year, wasn't it?", said Keller, who led the Vikings to a second-place finish one week later at North Central College in Naperville.

"There's no doubt that (GBS) was the better of the two teams tonight, but we just didn't play with enough sense of urgency or energy to compete at any level tonight."

It was apparent from the onset that Keller was correct, as the Titans (24-4-4) won nearly every 50-50 ball available to either side, whether in the air or on the floor.

The Titans' terrific central midfielder, senior Kelly Brait, was the key figure in this statistic against the Vikings (16-5-2).

"Kelly is like the shortest player out there (for) us, but she just works and plays so hard for us, and always seems to win the 50-50's, regardless of who we play," Flaws would say of her mate.

Flaws, a mighty force herself up top and always willing to have a go even with the smallest of space available, did so at 12 minutes, only to go wide.

Then she did so again at the quarter hour, before being denied by the always-aware Norenberg, who raced off her line at 30 minutes to take the ball off Flaws' shooting boot at the top of the box.

The Vikings' were hoping for a lift from the return of its hard-working, big-time ball winner Kristen Kupstys in the midfield when Keller brought her on at 28 minutes after missing time with a dislocated kneecap.

However, the senior went down with an injury five minutes later and would never return, bringing her career to an end.

A poorly-sent ball towards Norenberg with 15 seconds remaining until the break would turn into the lone goal of the match.

The opportunistic Flaws pushed aside her mark to run onto the deeply-played ball, before finding the back of the net for her 41st goal of the season.

"Eleni (Haramaras) did all the work to get that ball into the area for me, and I just kept running until I got to it," said Flaws.

"Flaws is a big, physical player, who on that play, ran through our player, grabbed her shirt to get free, then put the ball into the back of the net," said Keller.

"They had one good opportunity tonight, and scored. We had one of our own, and didn't. In soccer, it's just that simple sometime."

Keller went with three up top after the break, hoping the trio of Kira Heggeland, Crystal Rohan and top-scorer Elise Kotsakis would create the equalizer, while providing some much-needed pace to pry open the Titans' stingy backline.

At 53 minutes minutes, the Vikings nearly did following a Michelle Mottonen corner from the far flag, which fell to the near touchline to an awaiting Danielle Romano.

The All-State sweeper quickly sent in a marvelous ball to the back post to an unmarked Mottonen, but the freshmen struck over the bar.

Keller pushed Romano into the middle to add numbers and an extra attacking player, but on this night, it would not matter as the Titans' had no intention of giving their opponent the chance to duplicate the 2009 season's clash.

"We came in here tonight knowing what happened last season, and not wanting it to happen again, it was that simple," said Flaws.

"It was a disappointing way to end the season, and the career for many of us," said a solemn Romano.

"We never really played with much energy or enthusiasm, for whatever reason, and when you don't, in a big game like this, you really do not give yourself the chance to win."

CLICK TO SEE VIKINGS' TEAM PAGE

CLICK TO SEE VIKINGS' PHOTO PAGE