Warriors claim regional crown

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MACHESNEY PARK – The postseason certainly agrees with the McHenry girls soccer team.

The Warriors, a No. 4 seed in the IHSA Class 3A Harlem Regional, defied their underdog status for a second consecutive season Friday, emerging with the program’s second consecutive regional crown after a 1-0 victory against No. 3 seed Woodstock. The Warriors will face Barrington – a 5-0 winner against Lake Zurich – in the Class 3A Jacobs Sectional semifinal at 8 p.m. Tuesday.

“We do like that [underdog] role,” McHenry coach Jim Nelson said. “Teams might look at our conference record and not think much of us, but we have been able to do some great things late in the year.”

The Warriors (11-10) upset top-seeded Hononegah on Tuesday to earn their spot in Friday’s title match. It was not unlike last year, when the 12th-seeded Warriors upset sixth-seeded Marian Central in a regional semifinal and went on to win the regional title.

“We wanted to show that we could step up and hustle from a fourth seed to regional champs,” said junior defender Trisha Hurckes, who scored the Warriors’ lone goal Friday. “We showed that we were capable, and we wanted to win this one because we [split with] Woodstock (during Fox Valley Conference Valley Division play). We wanted to get them one more time.”

The Warriors took 10 shots on goal in the first half to keep Woodstock goalkeeper Ginelle Ellis (11 saves) busy.

The aggression led to early results. Hurckes scored with 37:10 left in the first half when sophomore Mariah Garcia launched a corner kick into the box that sophomore Chanel Senese headed toward Hurckes. Hurckes then headed the ball high into the right corner.

“I knew I had to tip it high so that [Ellis] couldn’t get to it,” Hurckes said. “I always wanted to score a header goal.”

Woodstock (11-11-1) came out in the second half and launched a pair of back-to-back shots at McHenry goalkeeper Jill Pohlman (six saves) in the first 10 minutes, but Pohlman turned the Streaks away.

“We can score in bunches when we’ve played teams that are less skilled than us,” Woodstock coach Todd Clement said. “But when we play teams of equal or better skill, we’ve struggled to get the shots we want. McHenry limited us tonight.”

“We wanted to come out and play our style of soccer,” Nelson said. “When we lost to Woodstock the first time, we didn’t feel like we had played our soccer. When we beat them the second time, we played the way we want to play. We came out and played with that same style tonight. I’m extremely proud of them.”

Clement, too, was proud of the Streaks. Woodstock set a school record for most wins in a season and battled in each match, Clement said.