Raiders begin ‘new season’ with shutout

A header by Huntley midfielder Lauren Opolony (not pictured) sneaks past Jacobs defender Maria Tamburrino (14) for the Red Raiders' third goal during the second half of a IHSA Class 3A regional semifinal match Monday at Crystal Lake South High School in Crystal Lake. Huntley advanced with a 3-0 victory. (Justin Edmonds – jedmonds@nwherald.com )

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CRYSTAL LAKE – The Huntley girls soccer team has much to prove this postseason after a 22-win regular season and earning a No. 1 seed in the IHSA Class 3A Crystal Lake South
Regional.

The Red Raiders (23-1-1) lived up to expectations Monday, beating No. 5-seed Jacobs, 3-0, in the regional semifinal.

“This is a brand new season, and we want to go far in the playoffs,” Huntley forward Cori Wronski said.

Huntley plays Cary-Grove or Crystal Lake South in the regional title game at 11 a.m. Saturday. Cary-Grove and South play at 4 p.m. today.

Wronski played a pivotal role in the Red Raiders’ first playoff win of the season by scoring the first goal of the game.

For much of the first half, Huntley held possession on the Jacobs side of the field, but couldn’t capitalize until 9:43 left in the half when Wronski buried a shot into the top right corner past Jacobs goalkeeper Alyssa Barnard.

“I was there to finish, and I saw the right corner was open,” Wronski said.

The Red Raiders would score again with just more than two minutes left in the first half as Rachel Chapuis scored on a header off of a direct kick by midfielder Bre Burry.

“She [Burry] served up a pair of great balls off those kicks and put them in the right position to force their goalkeeper to make a decision,” Huntley coach Kris Grabner said.

Burry’s second assist of the game came 15 minutes into the second half as the sophomore placed a corner kick into the box, and senior midfielder Lauren Opolony headed in the Red Raiders’ third goal of the game.

“It is a good win, and it is just a start to what we want to do,” Burry said.

One bright spot for the Golden Eagles (10-11-2) was the play of sophomore goalkeeper Alyssa Barnard, who made six saves, including a stop on a Huntley breakaway in the second half.

“Alyssa played well and made some nice saves for us,” Jacobs coach Jim Dzialo said. “We had some good chances on offense, but we didn’t take advantage of them and that was the difference.”