Youth delivers draw for Warren, Deerfield
Underclassmen hint at postseason impact in 1-1 stalemate
By Rusty Silber
In a game filled with players to watch, Warren’s Cate Cullison put herself front and center.
The freshman has been a force of a scoring nature for Warren over the last couple of weeks.
The precocious forward added another goal Friday, her 15th of the season, which helped Warren continue its suggestive finish to the regular season with a 1-1 draw against highly regarded Deerfield on Friday night in Gurnee.
If you asked what Cullison has done for her team lately, you’d get quite an answer.
Her 11th-minute score that gave the Blue Devils a 1-0 lead was her seventh in the last four games. The run included North Suburban Conference hat-tricks over Stevenson, the second-seeded team in the Class 3A Libertyville sectional, in an eye-opening 6-3 win on May 7, and in a 7-0 romp against Zion-Benton on May 3.
"It's instinct and kind of a team effort," Cullison said. "The team has helped me out a lot. I've definitely have gotten to be a better player, and the coaches have helped me.
"They've taught me what I need to do with the ball and who I should pass it to. It's been a huge learning curve for me. Because of them, I've scored so many goals along with the rest of the team."
The transition to the high school game light bulb flashed on on April 17.
"I needed to relax and be calm," Cullison said. "You need to think and play it through. In the game against Libertyville, that's when I felt I knew where they wanted me to be in situations. That's where I finally realized things."
On Friday, Cullison created what the Blue Devils needed. She made a great run and put herself in the right spot to finish the header after an Elizabeth Weinberg cross.
Cullison's score and efforts up-top throughout the match led her to Chicagoland Soccer MVP of the Match honors. She is only the fifth member of her class to earn the award in the Class of 2021's debut season.
She has grown with her team.
"I love it, because we communicate a ton on the field," Cullison said. "It could be a small touch on a play."
Deerfield, ranked 14th in the Chicagoland Soccer Top 25, got the tying goal off the quickness and efforts of its young star Malori Killoren. The sophomore took possession off a misdirected pass from the Blue Devils to knot the game. The 38th-minute goal was her 23rd of the season.
The Warriors (16-4-3) used their strength in the middle of the field to control the ball and cause havoc for the Blue Devils.
"We play a triangle in the midfield," said Deerfield senior midfielder Haley Emory. "Normally, it's Malori Killoren at the point of the triangle, and Devyn Compisi and I as defensive mids at the bottom.
"But, today, we actually flipped it to go two offensive and one defensive, since (Warren) had a lot of square passes that we weren't stepping on because of our formation. We needed to alter that a little. The ultimate goal is to move as a unit to each side of the field, and I think we do a good job of that."
Going into the postseason, Deerfield appears to be ready for the next step after a strong run of play during the regular season.
"We're getting to where we need to be at the right time," Deerfield coach Rich Grady said. "If we look at the last week. People would say on paper you haven't won all week. We also haven't lost a game in regulation other than Glenbrook South in a very long time. We did have a good game all around. We did have a lot of pressure in the second half, and we couldn't get the second goal -- still happy with the performance, and we get ready for next Tuesday."
The Warriors open the postseason in their own Class AA regional versus Northtown at 4:30 p.m. A win would set up a potential rematch against Grayslake North in the regional final at noon M1y 19. Deerfield beat Grayslake North 3-2 on March 22 to start a 10-1-1 stretch that defined the Warriors season.
Warren (8-10-3) will compete in its own Class 3A regional and opens against Palatine at 7 p.m. Wednesday.
The Blue Devils hope to continue on their recent roll. Their form suggests they are in a good spot to pull off an upset.
"Experience and understanding our roles and how we need to play for each other within those roles," said Warren coach Ryan McCabe as he ticked off the list of what Warren needs to do to succeed. "I think we were close in a lot of games played leading up to these last couple of weeks. All the pieces kind of sorted out, and it clicked. We just settled in and got a little confidence, and things start to go your way."
Warren has posititioned stself as one of those teams that you really don't want to see in the playoffs.
"There's a lot of dangerous teams in our section," McCabe added. "There's a fair amount of parity from top to bottom. If you think about some of the games that were played this last week with Lake Zurich and Stevenson. Those are the top two seeds, and they picked up losses against other top five teams. You don't know and it's the playoffs. Everyone starts with 0-0 and you don't know. We're set up to put us in a nice spot."
Starting lineups
Deerfield
GK-Karley Morris
D-Sydney Fleishman
D-Riley Halpern
D-Ashley Morgan
MF-Meg Feldman
MF-Haley Emory
MF-Malori Killoren
MF-Devyn Compisi
MF-Shayna Wood
F-Samantha Linn
F-Marissa Hyland
Warren
GK-Sarah Barbosa
D-Olivia Wolf
D-Jamie Kwon
D-Amber Langosh
D-Liza Matamore
MF-Courtney Chomko
MF-Emma Preda
MF-Emily Soriaga
MF-Morgan Liebau
F-Cate Cullison
F-Elizabeth Wienberg
Chicagoland Soccer MVP of the Match: Cate Cullison, fr., F, Warren
Scoring Summary
First half
WAR-Cullison (Weinberg) 11'
DFLD-Killoren 38'
Keepers
Deerfield-Morris (6 saves)
Warren-Barbosa (8)
Underclassmen hint at postseason impact in 1-1 stalemate
By Rusty Silber
In a game filled with players to watch, Warren’s Cate Cullison put herself front and center.
The freshman has been a force of a scoring nature for Warren over the last couple of weeks.
The precocious forward added another goal Friday, her 15th of the season, which helped Warren continue its suggestive finish to the regular season with a 1-1 draw against highly regarded Deerfield on Friday night in Gurnee.
If you asked what Cullison has done for her team lately, you’d get quite an answer.
Her 11th-minute score that gave the Blue Devils a 1-0 lead was her seventh in the last four games. The run included North Suburban Conference hat-tricks over Stevenson, the second-seeded team in the Class 3A Libertyville sectional, in an eye-opening 6-3 win on May 7, and in a 7-0 romp against Zion-Benton on May 3.
"It's instinct and kind of a team effort," Cullison said. "The team has helped me out a lot. I've definitely have gotten to be a better player, and the coaches have helped me.
"They've taught me what I need to do with the ball and who I should pass it to. It's been a huge learning curve for me. Because of them, I've scored so many goals along with the rest of the team."
The transition to the high school game light bulb flashed on on April 17.
"I needed to relax and be calm," Cullison said. "You need to think and play it through. In the game against Libertyville, that's when I felt I knew where they wanted me to be in situations. That's where I finally realized things."
On Friday, Cullison created what the Blue Devils needed. She made a great run and put herself in the right spot to finish the header after an Elizabeth Weinberg cross.
Cullison's score and efforts up-top throughout the match led her to Chicagoland Soccer MVP of the Match honors. She is only the fifth member of her class to earn the award in the Class of 2021's debut season.
She has grown with her team.
"I love it, because we communicate a ton on the field," Cullison said. "It could be a small touch on a play."
Deerfield, ranked 14th in the Chicagoland Soccer Top 25, got the tying goal off the quickness and efforts of its young star Malori Killoren. The sophomore took possession off a misdirected pass from the Blue Devils to knot the game. The 38th-minute goal was her 23rd of the season.
The Warriors (16-4-3) used their strength in the middle of the field to control the ball and cause havoc for the Blue Devils.
"We play a triangle in the midfield," said Deerfield senior midfielder Haley Emory. "Normally, it's Malori Killoren at the point of the triangle, and Devyn Compisi and I as defensive mids at the bottom.
"But, today, we actually flipped it to go two offensive and one defensive, since (Warren) had a lot of square passes that we weren't stepping on because of our formation. We needed to alter that a little. The ultimate goal is to move as a unit to each side of the field, and I think we do a good job of that."
Going into the postseason, Deerfield appears to be ready for the next step after a strong run of play during the regular season.
"We're getting to where we need to be at the right time," Deerfield coach Rich Grady said. "If we look at the last week. People would say on paper you haven't won all week. We also haven't lost a game in regulation other than Glenbrook South in a very long time. We did have a good game all around. We did have a lot of pressure in the second half, and we couldn't get the second goal -- still happy with the performance, and we get ready for next Tuesday."
The Warriors open the postseason in their own Class AA regional versus Northtown at 4:30 p.m. A win would set up a potential rematch against Grayslake North in the regional final at noon M1y 19. Deerfield beat Grayslake North 3-2 on March 22 to start a 10-1-1 stretch that defined the Warriors season.
Warren (8-10-3) will compete in its own Class 3A regional and opens against Palatine at 7 p.m. Wednesday.
The Blue Devils hope to continue on their recent roll. Their form suggests they are in a good spot to pull off an upset.
"Experience and understanding our roles and how we need to play for each other within those roles," said Warren coach Ryan McCabe as he ticked off the list of what Warren needs to do to succeed. "I think we were close in a lot of games played leading up to these last couple of weeks. All the pieces kind of sorted out, and it clicked. We just settled in and got a little confidence, and things start to go your way."
Warren has posititioned stself as one of those teams that you really don't want to see in the playoffs.
"There's a lot of dangerous teams in our section," McCabe added. "There's a fair amount of parity from top to bottom. If you think about some of the games that were played this last week with Lake Zurich and Stevenson. Those are the top two seeds, and they picked up losses against other top five teams. You don't know and it's the playoffs. Everyone starts with 0-0 and you don't know. We're set up to put us in a nice spot."
Starting lineups
Deerfield
GK-Karley Morris
D-Sydney Fleishman
D-Riley Halpern
D-Ashley Morgan
MF-Meg Feldman
MF-Haley Emory
MF-Malori Killoren
MF-Devyn Compisi
MF-Shayna Wood
F-Samantha Linn
F-Marissa Hyland
Warren
GK-Sarah Barbosa
D-Olivia Wolf
D-Jamie Kwon
D-Amber Langosh
D-Liza Matamore
MF-Courtney Chomko
MF-Emma Preda
MF-Emily Soriaga
MF-Morgan Liebau
F-Cate Cullison
F-Elizabeth Wienberg
Chicagoland Soccer MVP of the Match: Cate Cullison, fr., F, Warren
Scoring Summary
First half
WAR-Cullison (Weinberg) 11'
DFLD-Killoren 38'
Keepers
Deerfield-Morris (6 saves)
Warren-Barbosa (8)