Vikings bounce back by playing to draw with Barrington

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By Mike Garofola

Fremd took a big step forward Wednesday night, after taking three steps backward on Monday at Schaumburg.

The Vikings, who, to a player, turned in a dreadful performance on the road against upstart Schaumburg, came together at home last night in another key MSL West match, this time against division-leading Barrington.

The long-time rivals would draw 0-0, and although the homeside needed the 2-points more than the visiting Fillies (8-1-1, 4-0-1) do at this juncture of the regular season, nonetheless, the result would still please coach Steve Keller, as well as two of his top veterans on the club.

"Much better tonight," were the first words out of Keller after the hard-fought match.

"Although we didn't equal the quality chances that Barrington put together, I still saw a lot of positive stuff out there tonight, including the energy and enthusiasm which was missing the other night at Schaumburg."

"It was SO much better," agreed both Allison Norenberg and Kathleen Holmberg.

"We were not very good against Schaumburg, but our energy was a lot better tonight, right from the beginning, and it was good to see us (all) bounce back from that terrible defeat," said Norenberg, who had a birds-eye view of both matches from her spot between the sticks for the Vikings.

The senior, who has made a habit of producing goal-saving stops during the past two seasons, rose to the occasion when she was most needed, turning away perhaps the Fillies best chance to score in the match, just moments before intermission.

That's when, after a series of touches inside the Vikings' 18 from Sarah Fox, Emily Hyde, Aimee Pierce and Sara Condon, gave the visitors leading scorer, Hyde, enough space for the junior to unload a cracker from in close to the left of Norenberg.

The keeper elevated to persuade the shot out of the back of the net. But the pace of the shot gave the freshmen Pierce a chance to score, however, her return shot went wide.

Condon would end the first 40 minutes with a diagonal shot just wide from the right side.

"Barrington's players up top played with a lot of speed, and whoever they had on tonight, really ran at us hard, including their midfield, forcing all of us in the back to play smart and communicate as best as we could," said Holmberg.

Her along with Danielle Romano, Jen Merlitti, and midfielders Alexis Tice and Kristen Kupstys, did well winning their fair share of the war in the air and on the turf.

"We knew this was going to be a tough match tonight, not only because they are one of our biggest rivals, but also because we knew they would come out and play with so much more intensity after losing to Schaumburg," offered Fillies defender Emmelie Herdes.

Dana Kopp, Liz Sauer, Amy Johnson and Herdes drew praise from head coach Ryan Stengren for the effort in stopping Elise Kotsakis, Michelle Mottonen, Crystal Rohan and Nicole Leginski, who each showed more pace in the Vikings attack to help keep the Fillies alert and ready in its own end.

The few chances in which Fremd would initiate came in the first 40 minutes, with a well-struck shot ball from Mottonen to the spot punched away nicely by Fillies keeper Kelly Pedersen, while attempts by Jennifer Freeman and Rohan lacked the punch and pace to get by Pedersen who would save easily.

Leginski had a go from the left side at 35 minutes, in which Pedersen would smother at the near post, and that was it, until four minutes into the first OT period, Rohan would link with Kotsakis, ending with the junior going low to force Pedersen to save.

With both sides playing more cautiously, careful not to give up the sudden-death game-winner, the Fillies would sneak in close in the waning minutes with Hyde having one over the bar at 97 minutes.

And then Hyde and Johnson helped to find Alexa Rowe whose floater was collected by Norenberg with ease.

"(That) was a real quiet bus ride back on Monday, and when we arrived back to school (Keller) challenged all of us to get back on our game, and to play the way he knew we were capable of," said Holmberg. "Tonight, I think we all did."

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