Grenadiers beat Knights in MSL East matchup

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By Dan Santaromita

Elk Grove scored early and late to claim a 3-1 home victory in its Mid Suburban League East opener against Prospect Wednesday night.

Grenadier sophomore forward Kelli Hubly opened the scoring just eight minutes into the match. Prospect was unable to clear an Elk Grove corner and the ball found its way to Hubly, who finished from close range.

"I was just looking for it and I happened to get it so I just got a good touch on it into the goal," Hubly said.

Sophomore defender Katie Naughton doubled the Grenadier lead in the 23rd minute on a pretty free kick from about 30 yards out that went just over the outstretched arms of Prospect senior goalie Maureen O'Keefe (6 saves).

"It's kind of things can happen," Elk Grove coach Dan Klaus said of Naughton's goal. "It's just a driven ball on the frame."

Despite the 2-0 score, the match seemed to be mostly even. Prospect finally had something to reflect that on the scoreboard in the 47th minute.

Knight sophomore Lizzie Robinson was able to catch Elk Grove senior keeper Nicole Rieci (5 saves) out of position. Robinson launched a shot from a distance and hit it over Rieci.

Towards the end of the match, Prospect was trying to push forward to get the tying goal and Elk Grove was able to create some good counterattacks. With less than two minutes to play, one of those counters resulted in the finishing goal.

O'Keefe punched out a Grenadier cross, but it went straight to Elk Grove junior Carin Fearing, who headed it home to make it 3-1.

The Grenadiers (2-1-1) seemed to outlast and outrun the Knights (2-1) in the end of the game and played well at the back.

"Obviously, (Naughton) is a great leader at the back line and has the athleticism to match," Klaus said. "Our right back (freshman) Emily Wary has really been a big, big pleasant surprise. I thought she was going to be a holding midfielder, but she's really developed as an outside back.

"The other backs are doing a nice job as well. It's just a matter of us kind of grinding out some stuff out in the offensive third to continue to be dangerous."

Klaus said winning the MSL East is always a goal, but both coaches spoke to the difficulty of the league. On Monday the Grenadiers lost their home opener to MSL West foe Schaumburg 1-0.

"The way our standings go, an East win is big, but every game counts," Klaus said. "The Schaumburg game counted just as much in the standings as this one. The whole league is strong top to bottom, but, yeah, we hope to be right in the picture."

"Tip my hat to Elk Grove tonight," Prospect coach Tom Froats said. "They did enough to get the job done and every MSL match is going to be a hard-fought match."

Elk Grove tried to play an open style and it has the defenders to pull it off.

"We're playing, I think, a much more attractive style of soccer than we have in a number of years," Klaus said, "which at times can be a little bit nerve wrecking. You know, knocking it around the back a little bit and playing it to your keeper's feet and stuff like that.

"This was a nice game for us, a nice way to rebound from the Schaumburg game."

The Grenadiers play at Cary-Grove Saturday at 11a.m. before returning to conference play at Rolling Meadows 6p.m. Monday.