Fremd advances with upset over Neuqua V.
1-0 win earns match with top-ranked Naperville North
By Mike Garofola
PALATINE -- Missy Adrian scored the only goal of an engrossing 1-0 quarterfinal to lead Fremd to an upset win over Neuqua Valley on Thursday night.
The hard-fought victory sent the Vikings, ranked ninth in the Chicagoland Soccer Top 25, into a semifinal against top-rated Naperville North at 5 p.m. Friday at Naperville Central High School.
"This was an exciting, and very good win for us - one that should give us plenty of confidence from here on out," said Vikings senior Julia Leonard, who was the architect of the 63rd minute game-winner that allowed the home side to finally crack open the Wildcats backline.
"Those first 15 minutes were all Neuqua's (but) we held in there, then started to get back into the game after the half, and like Julia said, this is a really good win for all of us," said Adrian.
The Vikings senior was part of several key tactical moves that manager Steve Keller unveiled as play went on during this cold and windy late April night.
After watching his club do its best to weather a sustained spell of attacking soccer from the visitors, Keller deployed Adrian as more of a holding midfielder alongside Leonard and Marissa Wade, who was stationed in front of the Vikings back four. Then he paraded several newcomers to the club to the attacking third.
"A lot of credit tonight goes to two of our freshmen (Maya Poyraz and Mackenzie Stein) who came in and gave us a high work rate and lot's of energy up-top, especially in the second half after we got and looked to hold on to the lead," echoed both Leonard, and the Vikings superb keeper, Kelsie Stone.
Stone was magnificent all throughout the night, particularly when the Wildcats (6-3-3) moved free and easily into the Vikings end for the first 20 minutes.
"Marta (Cholewa) was just great tonight, winning and tackling everything, and our backline stayed organized and really composed to help keep Neuqua from getting too many quality chances," said Stone.
Neuqua Valley's duo of Jenna Lafferty and Ryan Gareis appeared to have a string on the ball as the two played several 1-2 combinations up the left side. The senior star defender (Lafferty) initiated most of the Wildcats' work going forward, while Garies provided her fair share of helpers to her mates up-top.
"I thought we opened strong, but there wasn't enough from us in the final third," said Lafferty, who is a teammate of Leonards' on the Sockers club. Then after we conceded that goal, we had our trouble dealing with the way Fremd was playing direct and defending with so much composure."
Stone was confident with every ball the Wildcats sent into the box. She pulled them out of the air at Hildebrant Field to dash the Wildcats' hopes of finding a loose ball spilled into the box where Neuqua Valley's Haley Singer, Allie Fullreide, Erin Sweda and Alyssa Bombacino always seemed to be in the mix.
"The way they moved the ball with speed and quick passes really put us on our heels in the first 15-20, and I honestly thought we might be in for a long night," began Keller.
"But credit the girls. The effort was way up there, and we defended without chasing. And as a team, we continued to get better as the game went on."
Lovely work in the early exchanges by Neuqua Valley ended with Stone pulling a dangerous ball of the foot of Gareis in close, followed by another nervous moment for the Vikings faithful in which Singer looked to run onto a loose ball in the box but was stopped by a Lauren Burk parry.
"We played okay in the first half, but we could have been so much better. It wasn't until the second half when I thought we finally began to play the way we are capable of," said Neuqua manager Joe Moreau.
With the intermission growing nearer, Fremd (11-1-1) generated consecutive corners, the second from Cholewa which found the head of Leonard that forced a save from Kasey Gillespie at 34 minutes.
"We felt really good about getting to the half 0-0 (because) then, all of us knew and believed we could win this game," agreed Adian, Leonard and Stone in unison.
Neuqua Valley built 3-4 well-played charges forward from the run of play after the break. Singer and Bombacino had the best of the chances on frame leading up to the Adrian goal.
The Fremd senior, a two-sport star (basketball) was sprung by a wonderful ball sent through on the right side. Once the ball was safely on the foot of the forward, she broke free of her marker with a quick step. She ran into space with a nifty turn in full-time speed before finishing past Gillespie.
"Julia just gave me a great ball," said a modest Adrian.
After that, the Vikings, sat in a little in their own end, allowing the Wildcats to possess as much as they liked. But Fremd double-teamed the ball, tackled sharply when needed and had its forwards run and pressure the Neuqua Vallery backline to keep a talented Wildcats unit from initiating an easy attack.
"It was maybe our best all-around effort of the season, but we'll have to be prepared to be even better against Naperville North tomorrow night," cautioned Keller.
Neuqua Valley saw its seven-game unbeaten streak stopped.
"In the end, I felt like our inability to be better in the final third and not create quality chances probably cost us tonight," began Moreau.
"Steve has a very good team and one that defends well, and with composure. So we'll just have to learn from this as we go forward."
Starting lineups
Neuqua Valley
GK- Kasey Gillespie
D- Jenna Lafferty
D- Veda Tappin
D- Kailey Serna
D- Nicole Mondi
M- Ryan Gareis
M- Alyssa Bombacino
M- Erin Sweda
M- Danielle Hopkins
F- Haley Singer
F- Allie Fullriede
Fremd
GK- Kelsie Stone
D- Lauren Burk
D- Julia Szylke
D- Marta Cholewa
D- Jennifer Josten
M- Layla Dib
M- Julia Leonard
M- Marissa Wade
M- Angie Zara
F- Tara Bergles
F- Missy Adrian
Chicagoland Soccer MVP of the Match: Marta Cholewa, sr., D, Fremd
1-0 win earns match with top-ranked Naperville North
By Mike Garofola
PALATINE -- Missy Adrian scored the only goal of an engrossing 1-0 quarterfinal to lead Fremd to an upset win over Neuqua Valley on Thursday night.
The hard-fought victory sent the Vikings, ranked ninth in the Chicagoland Soccer Top 25, into a semifinal against top-rated Naperville North at 5 p.m. Friday at Naperville Central High School.
"This was an exciting, and very good win for us - one that should give us plenty of confidence from here on out," said Vikings senior Julia Leonard, who was the architect of the 63rd minute game-winner that allowed the home side to finally crack open the Wildcats backline.
"Those first 15 minutes were all Neuqua's (but) we held in there, then started to get back into the game after the half, and like Julia said, this is a really good win for all of us," said Adrian.
The Vikings senior was part of several key tactical moves that manager Steve Keller unveiled as play went on during this cold and windy late April night.
After watching his club do its best to weather a sustained spell of attacking soccer from the visitors, Keller deployed Adrian as more of a holding midfielder alongside Leonard and Marissa Wade, who was stationed in front of the Vikings back four. Then he paraded several newcomers to the club to the attacking third.
"A lot of credit tonight goes to two of our freshmen (Maya Poyraz and Mackenzie Stein) who came in and gave us a high work rate and lot's of energy up-top, especially in the second half after we got and looked to hold on to the lead," echoed both Leonard, and the Vikings superb keeper, Kelsie Stone.
Stone was magnificent all throughout the night, particularly when the Wildcats (6-3-3) moved free and easily into the Vikings end for the first 20 minutes.
"Marta (Cholewa) was just great tonight, winning and tackling everything, and our backline stayed organized and really composed to help keep Neuqua from getting too many quality chances," said Stone.
Neuqua Valley's duo of Jenna Lafferty and Ryan Gareis appeared to have a string on the ball as the two played several 1-2 combinations up the left side. The senior star defender (Lafferty) initiated most of the Wildcats' work going forward, while Garies provided her fair share of helpers to her mates up-top.
"I thought we opened strong, but there wasn't enough from us in the final third," said Lafferty, who is a teammate of Leonards' on the Sockers club. Then after we conceded that goal, we had our trouble dealing with the way Fremd was playing direct and defending with so much composure."
Stone was confident with every ball the Wildcats sent into the box. She pulled them out of the air at Hildebrant Field to dash the Wildcats' hopes of finding a loose ball spilled into the box where Neuqua Valley's Haley Singer, Allie Fullreide, Erin Sweda and Alyssa Bombacino always seemed to be in the mix.
"The way they moved the ball with speed and quick passes really put us on our heels in the first 15-20, and I honestly thought we might be in for a long night," began Keller.
"But credit the girls. The effort was way up there, and we defended without chasing. And as a team, we continued to get better as the game went on."
Lovely work in the early exchanges by Neuqua Valley ended with Stone pulling a dangerous ball of the foot of Gareis in close, followed by another nervous moment for the Vikings faithful in which Singer looked to run onto a loose ball in the box but was stopped by a Lauren Burk parry.
"We played okay in the first half, but we could have been so much better. It wasn't until the second half when I thought we finally began to play the way we are capable of," said Neuqua manager Joe Moreau.
With the intermission growing nearer, Fremd (11-1-1) generated consecutive corners, the second from Cholewa which found the head of Leonard that forced a save from Kasey Gillespie at 34 minutes.
"We felt really good about getting to the half 0-0 (because) then, all of us knew and believed we could win this game," agreed Adian, Leonard and Stone in unison.
Neuqua Valley built 3-4 well-played charges forward from the run of play after the break. Singer and Bombacino had the best of the chances on frame leading up to the Adrian goal.
The Fremd senior, a two-sport star (basketball) was sprung by a wonderful ball sent through on the right side. Once the ball was safely on the foot of the forward, she broke free of her marker with a quick step. She ran into space with a nifty turn in full-time speed before finishing past Gillespie.
"Julia just gave me a great ball," said a modest Adrian.
After that, the Vikings, sat in a little in their own end, allowing the Wildcats to possess as much as they liked. But Fremd double-teamed the ball, tackled sharply when needed and had its forwards run and pressure the Neuqua Vallery backline to keep a talented Wildcats unit from initiating an easy attack.
"It was maybe our best all-around effort of the season, but we'll have to be prepared to be even better against Naperville North tomorrow night," cautioned Keller.
Neuqua Valley saw its seven-game unbeaten streak stopped.
"In the end, I felt like our inability to be better in the final third and not create quality chances probably cost us tonight," began Moreau.
"Steve has a very good team and one that defends well, and with composure. So we'll just have to learn from this as we go forward."
Starting lineups
Neuqua Valley
GK- Kasey Gillespie
D- Jenna Lafferty
D- Veda Tappin
D- Kailey Serna
D- Nicole Mondi
M- Ryan Gareis
M- Alyssa Bombacino
M- Erin Sweda
M- Danielle Hopkins
F- Haley Singer
F- Allie Fullriede
Fremd
GK- Kelsie Stone
D- Lauren Burk
D- Julia Szylke
D- Marta Cholewa
D- Jennifer Josten
M- Layla Dib
M- Julia Leonard
M- Marissa Wade
M- Angie Zara
F- Tara Bergles
F- Missy Adrian
Chicagoland Soccer MVP of the Match: Marta Cholewa, sr., D, Fremd