Girls Soccer
College soccer coaches liked Jacobs senior Lauren Grady’s work on the field when they saw her play in person or on her highlight DVD.
When Anne Santucci stepped down as Crystal Lake South’s girls soccer coach in 2008, she hoped to have a chance to return.
It took eight years for Huntley’s girls soccer program to go from its inception to perennial contender.
When his team’s confidence wavered after a 2-7 start, Marian Central girls soccer coach Kristian Rockall reminded them that they had to keep believing.
NAPERVILLE – As soon as Alyssa Patterson’s penalty kick settled in the left corner of the net to end Saturday’s marathon soccer match, the Troy Triad junior midfielder streaked toward her teammates to celebrate their impending coronation.
NAPERVILLE – Only a state championship can match what happened Friday.
Being one of four teams still playing soccer in June would be an accomplishment of its own for most teams.
BARRINGTON – As much as Susan Thomas wanted to win Tuesday, the Marian Central senior midfielder had something else to prove.
At the start of the season, members of Marian Central’s girls soccer team noted its ample talent at each position but stayed away from making any proclamations.
ALGONQUIN – Knowing they’d left it all on the field didn’t make it hurt any less.
BURLINGTON – Marian Central’s girls soccer team has had countless heroes throughout this year’s magical run.
BURLINGTON – Neither a stiff first-half headwind nor the pressure of history stood in the way of Marian Central’s offense.
ALGONQUIN – Between its non-conference schedule and last weekend’s wild victory, Crystal Lake South’s girls soccer team was ready for this.
ALGONQUIN – Barrington. It’s always Barrington.
At the start of the season, when a bump here and there threatened to dampen Crystal Lake South’s girls soccer players’ spirits, coach Brian Allen reminded them not to panic.
GURNEE – McHenry’s No. 1 doubles team, Dave Robinson and Jake Romme, qualified for the IHSA Boys Tennis State Tournament and defeated a pair from Grant, 7-6, 6-0, for third place Saturday at the Gurnee Warren sectional.
CRYSTAL LAKE – History wasn’t on Crystal Lake South’s side when the Gators went into a penalty kick shootout against Prairie Ridge on Saturday afternoon.
BELVIDERE – The shot rattled between the crossbar and the right post before Belvidere North goalkeeper Adrienne Giglio batted it out.
HAMPSHIRE – It already was clear that Marian Central’s girls soccer team yearned for a second consecutive regional title Saturday, but Burlington Central, the Hurricanes discovered, wanted it just as bad.
BARRINGTON – All the pressure Jacobs’ girls soccer team endured during the regular season prepared the Golden Eagles for what they knew they would face Friday.
ROCKFORD – What would be a major accomplishment for most teams was just another win for the Huntley girls soccer team Friday.
BARRINGTON – This was not a shot that Margaret Rivera was going to miss.
CRYSTAL LAKE – Prairie Ridge’s girls soccer team is set on extending coach David O’Leary’s tenure.
Athlete of the week
CRYSTAL LAKE – After Crystal Lake South’s girls soccer team scored its first goal in its match against Round Lake on Tuesday, Gators goalkeeper Elizabeth Quinn reminded her teammates to stay sharp in the next five minutes.
It took Marian Central’s girls soccer team five years to win another regional title, and when the Hurricanes brought one home last year they vowed to get a string of them.
The approach Huntley’s girls soccer team has taken to this year’s postseason isn’t much different than in recent years.
ALGONQUIN – Aimee Wronski plays soccer as if it SEnD not football – were a game of inches.
Athlete of the week
MARENGO – Jim McKinnon paused for a moment and looked at his four Marengo girls soccer players still milling around the Indians’ bench after Tuesday’s match against Richmond-Burton.
JOHNSBURG – It was the Madie Edwards and Sarah Benhart show for Crystal Lake Central on Tuesday. Edwards scored all of the Tigers’ goals and Benhart assisted on them all in a 3-0 Fox Valley Conference Fox Division soccer win against Johnsburg.
HUNTLEY – Sophomore Lindsay Efflandt picked up her 19th win of the season – her most important yet – as Cary-Grove clinched at least a share of the Fox Valley Conference Valley Division softball title Monday with a 10-6 win against Huntley.
GENOA – Buddy Lasker had a toss of 139 feet in the discus, Matt Smith recorded a 20-11⁄2 long jump, and David Martinez finished the 300 intermediate hurdles in 42.39 seconds Saturday to win their events and set personal bests for the season for Harvard at the Genoa-Kingston Invitational.
MARENGO – Chloe Montgomery picked up her fifth win this week, giving up four hits and an earned run to help Marengo’s softball team beat Antioch, 4-1, in a non-conference game.
STILLMAN VALLEY – Combining for five first-place individual finishes, Hampshire (105 points) and Marengo (103) took the second and third team spots in the Big Northern Conference Girls Track Meet on Thursday.
RICHMOND – For the second consecutive day, Richmond-Burton’s girls soccer team took care of business against Harvard.
ALGONQUIN – The angle was a little strange, and Lauren Grady had no idea what to expect when she launched a shot from the far right side of Jacobs’ soccer field on Thursday.
Athlete of the week
CRYSTAL LAKE – Zack Coel had his best start of the season for Prairie Ridge’s baseball team Wednesday. Coel struck out 10 and threw a five-inning no-hitter for the Wolves in a 14-0 Fox Valley Conference Fox Division win against Woodstock North.
McHENRY – It took almost 30 minutes, but Kali Loescher noticed how she and her Crystal Lake South girls soccer teammates could begin exploiting McHenry on Tuesday.
GRAYSLAKE – Winning nine individual events and one relay event, the Crystal Lake South girls track team took home top honors Monday, topping Woodstock North and Grayslake North with 91.5 points at the Grayslake North Triangular.
PALMYRA, Wis. – Richmond-Burton traveled over the border and came back a winner, racking up 143 points to top 10 other teams at the Palmyra-Eagle girls track invitational Saturday.
ROCKFORD – Hayli Lagerhausen threw her third no-hitter in a row, and Alden-Hebron won its ninth consecutive game as the Giants swept Rockford Christian Life in a Northeastern Athletic Conference softball doubleheader Thursday, 13-0 and 25-1.
CARY – Delaney Loprieno got a perfect pass from Huntley teammate Sam Zobott just to the left of Cary-Grove’s net on Thursday, and it quickly became apparent why Huntley girls soccer coach Kris Grabner wanted to make sure Loprieno got her touches.
Athlete of the week
CRYSTAL LAKE– Crystal Lake Central’s Taylor Ward and Sara McConnell combined to pitch a three-hit shutout in a 3-0 Fox Valley Conference Fox Division softball victory against Grayslake Central on Wednesday.
CRYSTAL LAKE – Cassidy Sherman wasn’t sure she could make the shot when she lined up for it 30 yards in front of Crystal Lake South’s soccer net.
CRYSTAL LAKE – Crystal Lake Central scored in the bottom of the eighth to defeat Grayslake North, 4-3, in their Fox Valley Conference Fox Division softball game Monday.
MARENGO – It was all about coming back.
