Hersey GK Hager stops Fremd
Junior keeper’s save, Larson’s goal headline Huskies’ 1-0 win
By Gary Larsen
ARLINGTON HEIGHTS — Hersey goalkeeper Emma Hager charged six yards off her line and froze there at the exact instant that a shot with wicked intentions powered off the foot of Fremd’s Caeleigh Stone from less than eight yards away.
Hager was poised in that adrenaline-fueled, anxiety-ridden nano-second of pure reaction, where keepers dare to tread and where all the fun is if you love the challenge of playing between the pipes.
Leaping just a fraction to her right, Hager’s feet went out from under her as she got her body in front of the shot. She was twisting sideways in mid-air when the ball struck her hands right around her midsection, and stuck there.
There was no rebound shot, no follow-up scoring chance, and just no way she kept her hands locked on to a ball hit that hard on a frozen, damp day in Arlington Heights.
Should a single play determine the Chicagoland Soccer MVP of the Match? It did on Wednesday for Hager, in Hersey’s 1-0 Mid-Suburban League upset win over visiting Fremd.
“It was just reaction,” Hager said, “and I had to be big, because I’m not the tallest person out there.”
Hersey coach Mike Rusniak just shrugged when asked about Hager.
“She’s a super-aggressive goalie so she’s not afraid to come out, and she’s just got an incredible instinct for the game,” Rusniak said. “She’s a great leader from the back. She sees things clearly before they happen, and she’s a competitor. She’s also a great kid, and she’s been outstanding for us.”
Fremd keeper Jennifer Norris could have easily been the game’s MVP after she stopped a penalty kick and then quickly saved the follow-up shot in the second half. But Hersey’s Avery Larson saw to it that her keeper won the battle of pivotal saves, when she scored the game’s lone goal at 59 minutes.
The game’s deciding play began with the work of Hersey’s Chloe Sena. The Huskies’ junior forward was dangerous throughout the game, and it was her shot from 18 yards that bounced off a defender just as she collided with that defender and both players fell to the ground.
Sena’s shot squirted away, and Larson did the rest.
“The ball got mixed in and came out the back, and I just kind of just touched it to the left of (Norris) and shot it,” Larson said.
The shutout was the third consecutive and fourth in ten games for Hersey, ranked no. 25 in the Chicagoland Soccer Top 25, and improved the Huskies’ record to 7-2-1. Are the Huskies surprised by their fast start?
“Not really,” Larson said. “At the beginning of the season I was confident with this team going in just because of what we’ve seen at practice.”
Hager agreed.
“I’m not all that surprised, because every day, all day, we're going hard,” she said. “I felt like we were getting in our groove more the second half. We also had the wind so we knew that that would help us out. It was just a really good team win today, all around.”
For Fremd (3-3-1), getting shut out has been a source of frustration in recent games. The Vikings have only scored three goals in their last five games, and been shut out in three of them.
“We lost on PKs yesterday to Loyola and today we’re in the game, but we need to own the game,” Fremd coach Steve Keller said. “We’re having trouble just with the technique required. You can talk about tactics all you want, but if you don’t have the technique to do the tactics, it’s kind of hard. And right now, we’re struggling with technique.”
It’s not that the skill, speed, and athleticism are missing for no. 6 Fremd, it’s just that those team-wide qualities haven’t been translating to goals on the scoreboard.
“We should be able to unbalance the other team but we’re struggling to do that right now,” Keller said. “We have to find some offense.”
Fremd went 3-1-1 through five games, with wins over St. Charles East, Lake Zurich, and the Kinsella Cup victory over rival Palatine.
In the Vikings’ 2-0 crosstown win against the Pirates five days earlier, the Vikings got goals from Emma Spotak and McKenzie Stein. On Wednesday, senior forward Spotak and sophomore forward Stone were dangerous throughout.
In fact, Spotak’s relentless speed on the outside was one of Rusniak’s chief concerns as the game evolved, and he utilized the tandem of Morgan Palmer and Julianna Nikolich to try to slow her down.
“I had to keep subbing them both in, because I wanted them to have fresh legs,” Rusniak said. “(Spotak) is so fast. Every time she was on the field I tried to make some adjustments to accommodate for that.”
Stone had a ball at her feet and one player to beat near the top of the box at 45 minutes, but luckily for Hersey that one player back was central defender Mckenna Kopeny.
Kopeny raced back and destroyed the play to thwart the threat.
“Mckenna Kopeny and Jane Stefaniak are my two center backs, and it’s the first time they’ve played together,” Rusniak said. “But they’re playing like they know each other extremely well. They communicate very well. We’re very fortunate to have them as the anchor to our defense.”
Fremd had the wind at its back in the first half but despite consistently pushing into its final third, legitimate scoring chances were scarce. Hersey also struggled to find dangerous space against Norris and the Fremd backline through 40 minutes.
“I thought Liz Prigge and the backline did a decent job; Emma Katovich, Palak (Khera), and Christy Murauskis all did a steady job,” Keller said. “Palak played right back and did a nice job in the second half. She hadn’t played a lot up until now but she didn’t leave the field in the second half.”
Better soccer both ways marked the second half, but scoring chances were still hard to come by. A handball called on Fremd set up a Hersey penalty kick at 54 minutes but Norris dove to her left and stopped Laura Burckhardt’s offering and then snared the follow up shot taken by Olivia Mrowicki.
Larson’s goal came five minutes later. Fremd pushed hard down the stretch but couldn’t find an equalizer.
“I’m disappointed, and I’m struggling for words to figure it out,” Keller said. “We haven’t been mentally sharp. We look like we’re in another world compared to our first four games. It’s night and day.”
Rusniak applauded the day’s work put in by midfielders Burckhardt and Maddy Kim and has been pleased with what he’s getting from an unexpected source to start the season.
“Allison Beck is our freshman left back, and at the beginning of the season she was one of those players that you can’t keep down,” Rusniak said. “She was slated to be a jv one starter but watching her play, it became clear that she’s just a gamer.
"She’s so smart as a freshman and has great soccer sense, and she’s been able to step into a (varsity) role and at times take on the other teams’ best attackers.”
Starting lineups
Fremd
GK: Jennifer Norris
D: Christy Murauskis
D: Allie Prigge
D: Liz Prigge
M: Rose Kentish
M: Emma Spotak
M: MacKenzie Stein
M: Ashley Scesniak
M: Emma Katovich
F: Caeleigh Stone
F: Kayla Tanne
Hersey
GK: Emma Hager
D: McKenna Kopeny
D: Kaya Augustyn
D: Jane Stefaniak
D: Allison Beck
M: Maddy Kim
M: Julianna Nikolich
M: Olivia Mrowicki
M: Laura Burckhardt
F: Chloe Sena
F: Avery Larson
Chicagoland Soccer MVP of the Match — Emma Hager, jr., GK, Hersey
Scoring summary
First half
No scoring
Second half
Hersey — Larson (UA) 54 minutes
Junior keeper’s save, Larson’s goal headline Huskies’ 1-0 win
By Gary Larsen
ARLINGTON HEIGHTS — Hersey goalkeeper Emma Hager charged six yards off her line and froze there at the exact instant that a shot with wicked intentions powered off the foot of Fremd’s Caeleigh Stone from less than eight yards away.
Hager was poised in that adrenaline-fueled, anxiety-ridden nano-second of pure reaction, where keepers dare to tread and where all the fun is if you love the challenge of playing between the pipes.
Leaping just a fraction to her right, Hager’s feet went out from under her as she got her body in front of the shot. She was twisting sideways in mid-air when the ball struck her hands right around her midsection, and stuck there.
There was no rebound shot, no follow-up scoring chance, and just no way she kept her hands locked on to a ball hit that hard on a frozen, damp day in Arlington Heights.
Should a single play determine the Chicagoland Soccer MVP of the Match? It did on Wednesday for Hager, in Hersey’s 1-0 Mid-Suburban League upset win over visiting Fremd.
“It was just reaction,” Hager said, “and I had to be big, because I’m not the tallest person out there.”
Hersey coach Mike Rusniak just shrugged when asked about Hager.
“She’s a super-aggressive goalie so she’s not afraid to come out, and she’s just got an incredible instinct for the game,” Rusniak said. “She’s a great leader from the back. She sees things clearly before they happen, and she’s a competitor. She’s also a great kid, and she’s been outstanding for us.”
Fremd keeper Jennifer Norris could have easily been the game’s MVP after she stopped a penalty kick and then quickly saved the follow-up shot in the second half. But Hersey’s Avery Larson saw to it that her keeper won the battle of pivotal saves, when she scored the game’s lone goal at 59 minutes.
The game’s deciding play began with the work of Hersey’s Chloe Sena. The Huskies’ junior forward was dangerous throughout the game, and it was her shot from 18 yards that bounced off a defender just as she collided with that defender and both players fell to the ground.
Sena’s shot squirted away, and Larson did the rest.
“The ball got mixed in and came out the back, and I just kind of just touched it to the left of (Norris) and shot it,” Larson said.
The shutout was the third consecutive and fourth in ten games for Hersey, ranked no. 25 in the Chicagoland Soccer Top 25, and improved the Huskies’ record to 7-2-1. Are the Huskies surprised by their fast start?
“Not really,” Larson said. “At the beginning of the season I was confident with this team going in just because of what we’ve seen at practice.”
Hager agreed.
“I’m not all that surprised, because every day, all day, we're going hard,” she said. “I felt like we were getting in our groove more the second half. We also had the wind so we knew that that would help us out. It was just a really good team win today, all around.”
For Fremd (3-3-1), getting shut out has been a source of frustration in recent games. The Vikings have only scored three goals in their last five games, and been shut out in three of them.
“We lost on PKs yesterday to Loyola and today we’re in the game, but we need to own the game,” Fremd coach Steve Keller said. “We’re having trouble just with the technique required. You can talk about tactics all you want, but if you don’t have the technique to do the tactics, it’s kind of hard. And right now, we’re struggling with technique.”
It’s not that the skill, speed, and athleticism are missing for no. 6 Fremd, it’s just that those team-wide qualities haven’t been translating to goals on the scoreboard.
“We should be able to unbalance the other team but we’re struggling to do that right now,” Keller said. “We have to find some offense.”
Fremd went 3-1-1 through five games, with wins over St. Charles East, Lake Zurich, and the Kinsella Cup victory over rival Palatine.
In the Vikings’ 2-0 crosstown win against the Pirates five days earlier, the Vikings got goals from Emma Spotak and McKenzie Stein. On Wednesday, senior forward Spotak and sophomore forward Stone were dangerous throughout.
In fact, Spotak’s relentless speed on the outside was one of Rusniak’s chief concerns as the game evolved, and he utilized the tandem of Morgan Palmer and Julianna Nikolich to try to slow her down.
“I had to keep subbing them both in, because I wanted them to have fresh legs,” Rusniak said. “(Spotak) is so fast. Every time she was on the field I tried to make some adjustments to accommodate for that.”
Stone had a ball at her feet and one player to beat near the top of the box at 45 minutes, but luckily for Hersey that one player back was central defender Mckenna Kopeny.
Kopeny raced back and destroyed the play to thwart the threat.
“Mckenna Kopeny and Jane Stefaniak are my two center backs, and it’s the first time they’ve played together,” Rusniak said. “But they’re playing like they know each other extremely well. They communicate very well. We’re very fortunate to have them as the anchor to our defense.”
Fremd had the wind at its back in the first half but despite consistently pushing into its final third, legitimate scoring chances were scarce. Hersey also struggled to find dangerous space against Norris and the Fremd backline through 40 minutes.
“I thought Liz Prigge and the backline did a decent job; Emma Katovich, Palak (Khera), and Christy Murauskis all did a steady job,” Keller said. “Palak played right back and did a nice job in the second half. She hadn’t played a lot up until now but she didn’t leave the field in the second half.”
Better soccer both ways marked the second half, but scoring chances were still hard to come by. A handball called on Fremd set up a Hersey penalty kick at 54 minutes but Norris dove to her left and stopped Laura Burckhardt’s offering and then snared the follow up shot taken by Olivia Mrowicki.
Larson’s goal came five minutes later. Fremd pushed hard down the stretch but couldn’t find an equalizer.
“I’m disappointed, and I’m struggling for words to figure it out,” Keller said. “We haven’t been mentally sharp. We look like we’re in another world compared to our first four games. It’s night and day.”
Rusniak applauded the day’s work put in by midfielders Burckhardt and Maddy Kim and has been pleased with what he’s getting from an unexpected source to start the season.
“Allison Beck is our freshman left back, and at the beginning of the season she was one of those players that you can’t keep down,” Rusniak said. “She was slated to be a jv one starter but watching her play, it became clear that she’s just a gamer.
"She’s so smart as a freshman and has great soccer sense, and she’s been able to step into a (varsity) role and at times take on the other teams’ best attackers.”
Starting lineups
Fremd
GK: Jennifer Norris
D: Christy Murauskis
D: Allie Prigge
D: Liz Prigge
M: Rose Kentish
M: Emma Spotak
M: MacKenzie Stein
M: Ashley Scesniak
M: Emma Katovich
F: Caeleigh Stone
F: Kayla Tanne
Hersey
GK: Emma Hager
D: McKenna Kopeny
D: Kaya Augustyn
D: Jane Stefaniak
D: Allison Beck
M: Maddy Kim
M: Julianna Nikolich
M: Olivia Mrowicki
M: Laura Burckhardt
F: Chloe Sena
F: Avery Larson
Chicagoland Soccer MVP of the Match — Emma Hager, jr., GK, Hersey
Scoring summary
First half
No scoring
Second half
Hersey — Larson (UA) 54 minutes