GBS revels vs. rival in tie vs. no. 11 GBN
Ryan's goalkeeping, O'Rourke's 77th-minute goal lead to 1-1 draw
By Bob Narang
GLENVIEW -- Glenbrook South goalkeeper Maggie Ryan immediately started sprinting toward the middle of the field. With her teammates all jumping around in a circle near the 50-yard line Thursday night at John Davis Stadium, Ryan was the last person to arrive at the post-game celebration.
As neighborhood rival Glenbrook North walked off the field in frustration following a 1-1 tie in Central Suburban League South Division play, the Titans jumped up and down and hugged each other.
The contrast of emotions stemmed from a late equalizing goal from Glenbrook South’s Lily O’Rourke that led to a tidal wave of emotions from both teams.
Ryan, a junior, was at the forefront of the post-game party. She played the best game of her career in the net, saving shot after shot to add numerous highlights to her college recruitment tape. She had three punch-out saves included in her final tally of 12 stops that helped end a three-game losing streak.
“I just wanted to run up and hug Lily after she scored her goal, because I was so happy,” Ryan said. “I know we’re celebrating a tie, but we really needed this. I’m really happy about it.”
The Titans (1-7-2, 1-1-1) definitely “needed this” after struggling the first few weeks of the season. Momentum was difficult to build due mainly to losing players to COVID-19 and bringing back only three seasoned players.
O’Rourke, senior forward Dani Stadler and senior defender Anya Gupta are the lone players with varsity experience, Glenbrook South coach Mark Daniels said.
“This is definitely a different team and level,” Daniels said. “We had some COVID issues and quarantine, so we’ve been missing some players. This is the lineup we’ve been mainly looking for to start, with just Alicia Kim still out because of quarantine.
“We don’t have any Division I players. We’re young and trying to play the right way, just be smart with the ball and work our possessions and make good decisions with the ball. We just need to execute it.”
The tie was the second of the season for Glenbrook North, which is ranked eleventh in the Chicagoland Soccer Top 25.
The Spartans (6-0-2, 1-0-2) played to a scoreless draw against then no. 1 New Trier on April 29.
Glenbrook North defeated St. Ignatius 3-0 on Saturday but couldn’t build off that victory.
The Spartans spent the majority of the game on the Titans’ side of the field, but only solved Ryan and her defense once.
“This game really came down to not putting away from chances,” Glenbrook North coach Anthony Valsamis said. “We struggled a bit today against how Glenbrook South tried to play, so give them credit.
“At the end of the day, we didn’t put in our opportunities. We were able to score, but we probably needed one more to secure the victory.
“A lot of our shots found their way into their keeper’s hands. She made some really nice saves, even a few deflections off the crossbar. (Glenbrook South) stayed in the game and fought back. I’m grateful we get another opportunity to play them back at Glenbrook North.
“We’ve played better games, and have a great ability to move the ball and great attacking presence, but today (Glenbrook South) did a nice job shutting us down.”
At 5-foot-5, Ryan played bigger than her height to produce the best game of her young career. She showed off her vertical with several leaping saves and tapping three balls over the post.
Ryan credited the return of Gupta for steadying the backline.
“We’ve been really missing Anya the last two weeks,” Ryan said. “With her back, she’s brought our game to where it’s supposed to be. I think we have the momentum we need going forward.
“Basically, I just tried to stop every shot. There’s a lot of things you have to do as a goalie. … My main focus was don’t let the ball go into the back of the net. I’m not necessarily skilled with what I call ‘the high-ball.’ I’m more skilled with coming out.”
O’Rourke said Ryan played the best game of her career.
“I thought Maggie played amazing,” she said. “The tie is for her. She had so many great saves. She tipped a lot over the net. With all of her saves, this means a lot to her to get this tie, because she played so great back there.
“Even though a tie is not a win, this is definitely a win for us.”
While Ryan spent most of the game knocking away potential goals, Glenbrook North goalie Annie Welch finished with three saves. The senior had a stellar save in the opening minutes, but mainly enjoyed an uneventful evening until O’Rourke nailed a shot from 28 yards in the 77th minute.
O’Rourke said her fourth goal of the season was a memorable one — for herself and the Titans.
“We got a good clear to the center forward and from there it was about running along the line to find that open player,” O’Rourke said of her goal. “I was pretty wide open in the middle. I wanted to make sure I was leaning over the ball, because I knew we only had a couple of opportunities to score.
“I wanted to make sure it wasn’t going to go over the net, to take advantage of the couple opportunities we had, and I capitalized on that.
“It’s weird to celebrate this, but we knew coming out that Glenbrook North is a really strong team. We wanted to be tight on them. With us not having a lot of people playing earlier (this season), to get the tie against a really good team is worth a lot for us, especially since we’ve not been playing the best recently. This gives us an opportunity to get some fire underneath us.”
In the first half, the Spartans slammed numerous shots in Ryan’s direction. Ryan, who finished with six first half saves, tallied two punch-outs over the net in the final 10 minutes of the half.
Glenbrook North junior midfielder Margy Porta had numerous chances for goals before finally breaking the ice in the 58th minute. She nailed a shot in traffic from 10 yards to hand the Spartans a 1-0 lead.
“It was a jumble and probably one of the scrappiest chances we had,” Porta said of her second goal this season. “We had a couple right at our foot, and we didn’t put them away. This one was just a scramble in the box. I saw the ball and goal and took a shot and finished it.
“It was definitely good to get a goal, but we knew that wasn’t going to be enough and unfortunately it wasn’t today. We have to learn to finish our chances early and finish teams off.
“We have to play hard for 80 minutes. In a game like this, you know you’re going to get more than one chance. You have to put them away. We’re going to train harder and get ready for playoffs. We played too slow for the first half, and have to play like we did in the second half.”
Glenbrook North senior forward Riley Philbin said the tie to a conference and neighborhood rival can be a rallying point for her team.
“I think the takeaway from this is we had so many chances, but we have to make the best out of all our opportunities and work on finishing them,” Philbin said. “We have to take it back to the practice field and work on what we didn’t do well in this game and make it a learning point to get better.”
Starting lineups
Glenbrook North
GK Annie Welch
D Nayia Sellas
D Dani Gichner
D Sophia Sparacio
D Logan Leiter
M Morissa Lambert
M Margy Porta
M Kate Rassin
F Riley Philbin
F Lily Denk
F Rachel Leiter
Glenbrook South
GK Maggie Ryan
D Ashley Ciss
D Anna Durow
D Heather Sundstrom
D Anya Gupta
M Meghan Noe
M Bella Gemignani
M Lily O’Rourke
M Elaina Maris
F Audrey Langenbach
F Dani Stadler
Chicagoland Soccer MVP of the Match: Maggie Ryan, jr., GK, Glenbrook South
Scoring summary
First half
No scoring
Second half
Glenbrook North — Porta (Rassin), 58’
Glenbrook South — O’Rourke (Stadler) 77’
Ryan's goalkeeping, O'Rourke's 77th-minute goal lead to 1-1 draw
By Bob Narang
GLENVIEW -- Glenbrook South goalkeeper Maggie Ryan immediately started sprinting toward the middle of the field. With her teammates all jumping around in a circle near the 50-yard line Thursday night at John Davis Stadium, Ryan was the last person to arrive at the post-game celebration.
As neighborhood rival Glenbrook North walked off the field in frustration following a 1-1 tie in Central Suburban League South Division play, the Titans jumped up and down and hugged each other.
The contrast of emotions stemmed from a late equalizing goal from Glenbrook South’s Lily O’Rourke that led to a tidal wave of emotions from both teams.
Ryan, a junior, was at the forefront of the post-game party. She played the best game of her career in the net, saving shot after shot to add numerous highlights to her college recruitment tape. She had three punch-out saves included in her final tally of 12 stops that helped end a three-game losing streak.
“I just wanted to run up and hug Lily after she scored her goal, because I was so happy,” Ryan said. “I know we’re celebrating a tie, but we really needed this. I’m really happy about it.”
The Titans (1-7-2, 1-1-1) definitely “needed this” after struggling the first few weeks of the season. Momentum was difficult to build due mainly to losing players to COVID-19 and bringing back only three seasoned players.
O’Rourke, senior forward Dani Stadler and senior defender Anya Gupta are the lone players with varsity experience, Glenbrook South coach Mark Daniels said.
“This is definitely a different team and level,” Daniels said. “We had some COVID issues and quarantine, so we’ve been missing some players. This is the lineup we’ve been mainly looking for to start, with just Alicia Kim still out because of quarantine.
“We don’t have any Division I players. We’re young and trying to play the right way, just be smart with the ball and work our possessions and make good decisions with the ball. We just need to execute it.”
The tie was the second of the season for Glenbrook North, which is ranked eleventh in the Chicagoland Soccer Top 25.
The Spartans (6-0-2, 1-0-2) played to a scoreless draw against then no. 1 New Trier on April 29.
Glenbrook North defeated St. Ignatius 3-0 on Saturday but couldn’t build off that victory.
The Spartans spent the majority of the game on the Titans’ side of the field, but only solved Ryan and her defense once.
“This game really came down to not putting away from chances,” Glenbrook North coach Anthony Valsamis said. “We struggled a bit today against how Glenbrook South tried to play, so give them credit.
“At the end of the day, we didn’t put in our opportunities. We were able to score, but we probably needed one more to secure the victory.
“A lot of our shots found their way into their keeper’s hands. She made some really nice saves, even a few deflections off the crossbar. (Glenbrook South) stayed in the game and fought back. I’m grateful we get another opportunity to play them back at Glenbrook North.
“We’ve played better games, and have a great ability to move the ball and great attacking presence, but today (Glenbrook South) did a nice job shutting us down.”
At 5-foot-5, Ryan played bigger than her height to produce the best game of her young career. She showed off her vertical with several leaping saves and tapping three balls over the post.
Ryan credited the return of Gupta for steadying the backline.
“We’ve been really missing Anya the last two weeks,” Ryan said. “With her back, she’s brought our game to where it’s supposed to be. I think we have the momentum we need going forward.
“Basically, I just tried to stop every shot. There’s a lot of things you have to do as a goalie. … My main focus was don’t let the ball go into the back of the net. I’m not necessarily skilled with what I call ‘the high-ball.’ I’m more skilled with coming out.”
O’Rourke said Ryan played the best game of her career.
“I thought Maggie played amazing,” she said. “The tie is for her. She had so many great saves. She tipped a lot over the net. With all of her saves, this means a lot to her to get this tie, because she played so great back there.
“Even though a tie is not a win, this is definitely a win for us.”
While Ryan spent most of the game knocking away potential goals, Glenbrook North goalie Annie Welch finished with three saves. The senior had a stellar save in the opening minutes, but mainly enjoyed an uneventful evening until O’Rourke nailed a shot from 28 yards in the 77th minute.
O’Rourke said her fourth goal of the season was a memorable one — for herself and the Titans.
“We got a good clear to the center forward and from there it was about running along the line to find that open player,” O’Rourke said of her goal. “I was pretty wide open in the middle. I wanted to make sure I was leaning over the ball, because I knew we only had a couple of opportunities to score.
“I wanted to make sure it wasn’t going to go over the net, to take advantage of the couple opportunities we had, and I capitalized on that.
“It’s weird to celebrate this, but we knew coming out that Glenbrook North is a really strong team. We wanted to be tight on them. With us not having a lot of people playing earlier (this season), to get the tie against a really good team is worth a lot for us, especially since we’ve not been playing the best recently. This gives us an opportunity to get some fire underneath us.”
In the first half, the Spartans slammed numerous shots in Ryan’s direction. Ryan, who finished with six first half saves, tallied two punch-outs over the net in the final 10 minutes of the half.
Glenbrook North junior midfielder Margy Porta had numerous chances for goals before finally breaking the ice in the 58th minute. She nailed a shot in traffic from 10 yards to hand the Spartans a 1-0 lead.
“It was a jumble and probably one of the scrappiest chances we had,” Porta said of her second goal this season. “We had a couple right at our foot, and we didn’t put them away. This one was just a scramble in the box. I saw the ball and goal and took a shot and finished it.
“It was definitely good to get a goal, but we knew that wasn’t going to be enough and unfortunately it wasn’t today. We have to learn to finish our chances early and finish teams off.
“We have to play hard for 80 minutes. In a game like this, you know you’re going to get more than one chance. You have to put them away. We’re going to train harder and get ready for playoffs. We played too slow for the first half, and have to play like we did in the second half.”
Glenbrook North senior forward Riley Philbin said the tie to a conference and neighborhood rival can be a rallying point for her team.
“I think the takeaway from this is we had so many chances, but we have to make the best out of all our opportunities and work on finishing them,” Philbin said. “We have to take it back to the practice field and work on what we didn’t do well in this game and make it a learning point to get better.”
Starting lineups
Glenbrook North
GK Annie Welch
D Nayia Sellas
D Dani Gichner
D Sophia Sparacio
D Logan Leiter
M Morissa Lambert
M Margy Porta
M Kate Rassin
F Riley Philbin
F Lily Denk
F Rachel Leiter
Glenbrook South
GK Maggie Ryan
D Ashley Ciss
D Anna Durow
D Heather Sundstrom
D Anya Gupta
M Meghan Noe
M Bella Gemignani
M Lily O’Rourke
M Elaina Maris
F Audrey Langenbach
F Dani Stadler
Chicagoland Soccer MVP of the Match: Maggie Ryan, jr., GK, Glenbrook South
Scoring summary
First half
No scoring
Second half
Glenbrook North — Porta (Rassin), 58’
Glenbrook South — O’Rourke (Stadler) 77’