PR gives O’Leary another chance

E-mail this story

Print this story

Share

CRYSTAL LAKE – Prairie Ridge’s girls soccer team is set on extending coach David O’Leary’s tenure.

The third-seeded Wolves played every bit like a team on a mission Wednesday in an IHSA Class 3A Crystal Lake South Regional semifinal against second-seeded McHenry. O’Leary, slated to retire at the end of this season from coaching and his teaching position at Prairie Ridge, mentioned he’d rather have a regional title sendoff.

The Wolves made sure their coach will have that chance. Prairie Ridge jumped on McHenry early and secured a 4-2 victory to punch a ticket to the regional title match at 11 a.m. Saturday against top-seeded Crystal Lake South.

“We don’t want Coach O’Leary to go out with a loss,” senior midfielder Rachel Didier said. “He told us that he’d like to win a regional before he leaves, so this was a big game for us.”

Prairie Ridge (6-10-1) has not won a game in a regional in at least four years, and the Wolves have not won a regional title since 2005.

That, coupled with a 3-0 loss to McHenry earlier this year, fueled a strong start Wednesday.

Prairie Ridge junior midfielder Christa Lehman sent a ball off a corner kick just in front of McHenry’s net 8 minutes into the match, and it floated to the near post where two Wolves players tried to tap it past Warriors keeper Jill Pohlman (six saves).

One shot hit the crossbar and Didier headed it in for the 1-0 advantage.

Sophomore forward Kelsey Bear made it 2-0 with 16:57 left in the first half off a long shot that sailed into the right side of the net.

McHenry (12-9) got on the board in the final 19 seconds of the first half when junior midfielder Sonia Sanchez scored on a rebound.

Prairie Ridge junior midfielder Haleigh Danek scored 6 minutes into the second half to make it 3-1 off a pass from Didier. Pohlman caught the ball, but was behind the line.

“The last time we played McHenry, we lost, and we really didn’t want that to happen again,” Didier said. “ ... We felt like we could win this game.”

Junior forward Molly Machometa scored McHenry’s final goal with 12:11 left in the second half, but Prairie Ridge’s defense clamped down and junior defender Chandler Evans scored the final goal at the buzzer to put the game away.

“You could tell in the first 20 or 30 minutes that Prairie Ridge’s desire to win 50-50 balls was much stronger than ours,” McHenry coach Jim Nelson said. “By the time we got to the point where we had as much energy as Prairie Ridge, we were down by two goals.

“ ... Overall, I am very proud of the girls and what they did this year. It’s unfortunate to lose when we didn’t play very well, but I’m extremely proud of what they were able to do this year.”