New Trier, freshman Hague shut out
Jones in regional semifinal
Underclassmen lead Trevians to 2-0 win at OPRF
By Michael Wojtychiw
OAK PARK -- This year's New Trier squad had a different look than in years past. While nearly double-digit players came back from last year's supersectional squad, only three starters in that loss were starters this year. So many of the players playing in Wednesday's regional semifinal game against Jones were getting their first extensive playoff playing time.
One of those new players was keeper Caroline Hague, who was making her playoff debut as a freshman in goal.
"I've never really experienced this level, so I'm going in a little nervous," Hague said. "But I'm always going in with a positive attitude and trying to stay super positive, hyping everyone up, needing that energy to get through the game."
The pressure didn't seem to bother Hague and her teammates as they took down 12th-seeded Jones 2-0 at Oak Park and River Forest High School. The win set up a matchup with the host Huskies for the regional title Friday afternoon.
"A game like this is definitely a confidence boost, especially for a shutout by our goalie," New Trier sophomore Annie Paden said. "It gives us the oomph we needed to continue going into the playoffs and keep believing in each other, keep believing in the team as a whole, keep driving forward -- one game at a time."
An early header by Josie Noble off of a Paden free kick almost gave the fifth-seeded Trevians (11-7-5) an early lead but the Eagles' standout keeper Nicole Leon made a fantastic save and kept the game scoreless.
On the other end, her counterpart Hague stepped up and made a crucial diving save near the midway point of the first half on a laser of a shot by Maia Lane.
"She had two early saves, where if we go down 1-0, it's a different game," New Trier manager Jim Burnside said. "She did a great job, came up big for us. She's been working hard all season, and she stepped up at the right time."
"Getting some good saves, especially in the beginning always gives a confidence boost because it gives me the feeling that we're in this, I got this," Hague said. "That really helped me early on."
Just minutes after Hague's big save, the Trevians got on the board when Noble finished a beautiful cross from junior Lauren Caldwell with 19 minutes, 24 seconds to go in the half.
Hague soon made another diving save of a Lane shot, keeping Jones scoreless.
The Trevians earned a penalty kick with 6:38 to go until the half, but Jones' keeper yet again made a fantastic save off of a Noble attempt.
The save was something that Jones manager Derek Bylsma has gotten used to seeing the past couple years.
"She's an awesome kid and that's just her," he said. "Even though I was upset about the penalty call, I knew there was a 70 percent chance she'd save it because she's smart, knows how to read plays. When we practice penalties, she's saving something like 80 percent of them and the girls are both impressed and confused on how she does it.
"She's a student of the game, and she just loves the sport, loves the game. She's a senior, so I'm going to miss her, but she's been great."
Going into the half down 1-0, Bylsma still felt that his squad had an opportunity to pull out a win.
"I wanted to come out here and for us to just give us a chance," he said. "I felt like we were in the game the whole time. They deserved the win. All year long it, we've been talking about the little things, and it comes down to fight.
"I hate to lose, but if I'm going to lose...I felt like we played to 100 percent of our work capacity."
Paden added to the Trevians' lead in the 44th minute when she put in a shot from the middle of the box.
"I saw Sybil (Evans) get the ball and what we've been working on in practice is getting more forward, going to goal, because we need these goals; it's the playoffs," Paden said. "So when Sybil got the ball, I just made my run, and I just thought 'Go to goal.'
"Honestly, the girl was coming at me. and I didn't know if I had a shot, but I thought 'Just do it, it'll give us an opportunity.' And it went in."
The Trevians continued to pressure the Jones defense and forced Leon to make a total of nine saves in the last game of her career.
In the latter portions of the second half, Burnside and his squad found something that they could exploit: more attacking space in the final third.
While they weren't able to take advantage and add another tally, Burnside liked that his team continued to keep the pressure on.
"What ended up happening was they did a good job defending the strong side, the ball side," he said. "If we could get that one release pass, we had space to take that space. We just couldn't get them to finish, but we got there."
Bylsma was really proud of his Jones squad, not only for its performance during the regional semifinal, but also how far it'd come from the beginning of the year.
"I felt we were a little miss-seeded and going up against New Trier, who is a year-in, year-out state power, has great soccer, is well-coached. We knew it'd be tough," he said. "We're a totally different team than we were at the beginning of the season. We had a bunch of injuries, and we had five of our starters out for the whole year.
"What happened was these kids grew up and learned how to compete. They're good soccer players, but we had freshman, sophomores and players who played on JV last year, and this is a whole different level. We learned how to compete, how to work hard, and I saw all the little things we've worked on all year happen on the field today."
New Trier now faces Oak Park and River Forest in a regional final Friday. The Trevians have won a regional title in every year the sport has been played since 2002, not counting 2020 when the season was canceled due to the COVID-19 pandemic. On the other bench, the Huskies are aiming for their second-consecutive regional title.
Starting lineups
New Trier
GK: Caroline Hague
D: Ava Shah
D: Charlotte Dellin
D: Sadie-Grace Richardson
D: Honor Dold
MF: Annie Paden
MF: Elizabeth Marquardt
MF: Clara Deliduka
F: Josie Noble
F: Sybil Evans
F: Kendall Sierens
Jones
GK: Nicole Leon
D: Patricia Felder
D: Karina Teliz
D: Arianna Lopez
D: Olivia Rodriguez
MF: Carolina Rondelli
MF: Marisol Hamada
F: Sanai Wright
F: Mia McRoberts
F: Maia Lane
F: Morgan Scott
Chicagoland Soccer MVP of the Match: Caroline Hague, fr. Goalkeeper, New Trier
Scoring summary
First half
New Trier - Josie Noble (Lauren Caldwell), 21st minute
Second half
New Trier - Annie Paden (Sybil Evans), 44th minute
Jones in regional semifinal
Underclassmen lead Trevians to 2-0 win at OPRF
By Michael Wojtychiw
OAK PARK -- This year's New Trier squad had a different look than in years past. While nearly double-digit players came back from last year's supersectional squad, only three starters in that loss were starters this year. So many of the players playing in Wednesday's regional semifinal game against Jones were getting their first extensive playoff playing time.
One of those new players was keeper Caroline Hague, who was making her playoff debut as a freshman in goal.
"I've never really experienced this level, so I'm going in a little nervous," Hague said. "But I'm always going in with a positive attitude and trying to stay super positive, hyping everyone up, needing that energy to get through the game."
The pressure didn't seem to bother Hague and her teammates as they took down 12th-seeded Jones 2-0 at Oak Park and River Forest High School. The win set up a matchup with the host Huskies for the regional title Friday afternoon.
"A game like this is definitely a confidence boost, especially for a shutout by our goalie," New Trier sophomore Annie Paden said. "It gives us the oomph we needed to continue going into the playoffs and keep believing in each other, keep believing in the team as a whole, keep driving forward -- one game at a time."
An early header by Josie Noble off of a Paden free kick almost gave the fifth-seeded Trevians (11-7-5) an early lead but the Eagles' standout keeper Nicole Leon made a fantastic save and kept the game scoreless.
On the other end, her counterpart Hague stepped up and made a crucial diving save near the midway point of the first half on a laser of a shot by Maia Lane.
"She had two early saves, where if we go down 1-0, it's a different game," New Trier manager Jim Burnside said. "She did a great job, came up big for us. She's been working hard all season, and she stepped up at the right time."
"Getting some good saves, especially in the beginning always gives a confidence boost because it gives me the feeling that we're in this, I got this," Hague said. "That really helped me early on."
Just minutes after Hague's big save, the Trevians got on the board when Noble finished a beautiful cross from junior Lauren Caldwell with 19 minutes, 24 seconds to go in the half.
Hague soon made another diving save of a Lane shot, keeping Jones scoreless.
The Trevians earned a penalty kick with 6:38 to go until the half, but Jones' keeper yet again made a fantastic save off of a Noble attempt.
The save was something that Jones manager Derek Bylsma has gotten used to seeing the past couple years.
"She's an awesome kid and that's just her," he said. "Even though I was upset about the penalty call, I knew there was a 70 percent chance she'd save it because she's smart, knows how to read plays. When we practice penalties, she's saving something like 80 percent of them and the girls are both impressed and confused on how she does it.
"She's a student of the game, and she just loves the sport, loves the game. She's a senior, so I'm going to miss her, but she's been great."
Going into the half down 1-0, Bylsma still felt that his squad had an opportunity to pull out a win.
"I wanted to come out here and for us to just give us a chance," he said. "I felt like we were in the game the whole time. They deserved the win. All year long it, we've been talking about the little things, and it comes down to fight.
"I hate to lose, but if I'm going to lose...I felt like we played to 100 percent of our work capacity."
Paden added to the Trevians' lead in the 44th minute when she put in a shot from the middle of the box.
"I saw Sybil (Evans) get the ball and what we've been working on in practice is getting more forward, going to goal, because we need these goals; it's the playoffs," Paden said. "So when Sybil got the ball, I just made my run, and I just thought 'Go to goal.'
"Honestly, the girl was coming at me. and I didn't know if I had a shot, but I thought 'Just do it, it'll give us an opportunity.' And it went in."
The Trevians continued to pressure the Jones defense and forced Leon to make a total of nine saves in the last game of her career.
In the latter portions of the second half, Burnside and his squad found something that they could exploit: more attacking space in the final third.
While they weren't able to take advantage and add another tally, Burnside liked that his team continued to keep the pressure on.
"What ended up happening was they did a good job defending the strong side, the ball side," he said. "If we could get that one release pass, we had space to take that space. We just couldn't get them to finish, but we got there."
Bylsma was really proud of his Jones squad, not only for its performance during the regional semifinal, but also how far it'd come from the beginning of the year.
"I felt we were a little miss-seeded and going up against New Trier, who is a year-in, year-out state power, has great soccer, is well-coached. We knew it'd be tough," he said. "We're a totally different team than we were at the beginning of the season. We had a bunch of injuries, and we had five of our starters out for the whole year.
"What happened was these kids grew up and learned how to compete. They're good soccer players, but we had freshman, sophomores and players who played on JV last year, and this is a whole different level. We learned how to compete, how to work hard, and I saw all the little things we've worked on all year happen on the field today."
New Trier now faces Oak Park and River Forest in a regional final Friday. The Trevians have won a regional title in every year the sport has been played since 2002, not counting 2020 when the season was canceled due to the COVID-19 pandemic. On the other bench, the Huskies are aiming for their second-consecutive regional title.
Starting lineups
New Trier
GK: Caroline Hague
D: Ava Shah
D: Charlotte Dellin
D: Sadie-Grace Richardson
D: Honor Dold
MF: Annie Paden
MF: Elizabeth Marquardt
MF: Clara Deliduka
F: Josie Noble
F: Sybil Evans
F: Kendall Sierens
Jones
GK: Nicole Leon
D: Patricia Felder
D: Karina Teliz
D: Arianna Lopez
D: Olivia Rodriguez
MF: Carolina Rondelli
MF: Marisol Hamada
F: Sanai Wright
F: Mia McRoberts
F: Maia Lane
F: Morgan Scott
Chicagoland Soccer MVP of the Match: Caroline Hague, fr. Goalkeeper, New Trier
Scoring summary
First half
New Trier - Josie Noble (Lauren Caldwell), 21st minute
Second half
New Trier - Annie Paden (Sybil Evans), 44th minute