Oldach shines but Huskies fall to Joliet Township

By Dan Santaromita

Katie Oldach did everything she could to keep Oak Park-River Forest in its match against Joliet Township.

Unfortunately for the sophomore goalie, that wasn’t enough.

The Huskies lost 2-0 to Joliet in Schaumburg at the Pepsi Showdown Saturday afternoon.

Oak Park-River Forest (3-2-1) struggled to get much on the attack against the Steelwomen, but Oldach (10 saves) made some great saves despite windy conditions playing tricks on the ball.

"Katie had a great game, probably the man of the match," said assistant coach Paul Daly, who spoke in the absence of coach Paul Wright. "Her and our center back, Rennata Voci."

Joliet took the lead midway through the first half when Morgan Graves had a clear look at goal and scored with a high shot past Oldach.

In the first half, OPRF managed four shots and only put two of those on goal.

"Game of two halves I think," Daly said. "First half we played very poor, not quite to standard, but second half I think we improved.

"We made some changes and the girls played much better in the second half."

The second half improvement was noticeable on the field, but not on the scoreboard.

Junior forwards Walinase Mbekeani and Shelby Cozzette had more chances and Oldach made some acrobatic saves in the final 40 minutes.

Despite that, Joliet was able to double its lead with less than 15 minutes to play.

"I think the first half was a struggle," Oldach said. "We had some younger players come up and some of our starters were not here today, unfortunately, but we made up for that I think.

"In the second half, even though they scored, I think our positioning was better and our communication was better."

The defeat was the Huskies’ first regulation loss of the season. They lost to 1-0 in overtime to Deerfield to open the tournament.

The Huskies will open West Suburban conference Silver division play on Tuesday when they visit York.