Last-second goal dooms Warriors against Hersey

By Dan Santaromita

Conceding a game-winning goal in the last minute is one of the hardest ways to lose.

Just ask Wheaton Academy, who gave up a goal to Hersey with about 10 seconds left for a 2-1 Pepsi Showdown loss Saturday in Schaumburg.

Coach Scott Marksberry was more displeased with his team's effort than their performance.

"Our energy was pretty bad today," Marksberry said. "We played okay, but our energy was bad in the second half."

The Warriors (5-3) had the first great chance of the match when sophomore Sydney Sharkey's cross connected with sophomore Crystal Thomas, whose shot hit the crossbar.

Hersey, though, was playing better and took the lead midway through the first half.

The Huskies went up 1-0 when Casey Weyrich got on the end of a low cross and finished past Warrior keeper Emily Mulder (6 saves).

In the second half, the Warriors created more chances early on, but didn't have anything to show for it.

Wheaton Academy looked flat as the half wore on, but was able to equalize against the run of play with about fifteen minutes remaining.

The Huskies were called for a handball in the box and Thomas coolly finished by scoring on a penalty kick.

In the final minute of play, Huskie junior Erin Reiff beat a defender to the ball and hit a low shot that left Mulder without a chance to save it.

The ref blew the final whistle a few seconds after the ensuing kickoff.

The Warriors' starting backline of Lindsey Burke, Christi Dithrich and Kerrin Clancy did well to thwart away most of Hersey's chances, with the help of a couple of nice saves from Mulder.

Wheaton Academy's problem was possessing the ball and creating chances up front.

"We're working on a number of different things now," Marksberry said.

"Working on finishing, which we didn't really create great opportunities to finish today, anyway, but working on our finishing."

The Warriors play Benet Academy, Rosary and West Chicago on three days in a row, starting on Monday.

"Three games Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday so there won't be a lot of training time to work on much of anything," Marksberry said.

"We'll talk about how we possess the ball, we'll talk about finishing more opportunities, but the main thing is just figuring out our energy and figuring out our leadership on the field."

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