Moody swings Althoff past
Timothy with historic peformance
Crusaders' star, team set records in 7-0 Class A title win
By Patrick Z. McGavin
HOFFMAN ESTATES — Brevity is the soul of wit, per Shakespeare. So is the admirably terse and plain-spoken way Regan Moody talked about her game.
“Seriously?” Moody asked, when told of her new state record for the most goals in a girls state championship game.
“It was not all about me,” she said. “They (my teammates) did all the work to get me the ball and slip it in. I just put it in the back of the net. My whole job is to just run onto it and finish.”
She did that with aplomb.
Moody rewrote history with a remarkable first half performance by scoring four goals in a 17-minute, 3-second span as Althoff overpowered Timothy 7-0 to capture the Class A state championship Saturday. She also hit a post later.
The new state record supplanted six previous record holders at three. One was Althoff's Megan Pawloski from 2010. Moody also tied Sarah Lafayette, of University (Normal), for the record for goals in a tournament with five. As a team, Althoff set an all-class record for number of goals and margin of victory in a championship match with seven.
Moody's four-tally performance was her second of the playoffs. She first accomplished the feat in the Crusaders’ 5-4 sectional victory over defending state champion Columbia.
She earned the Chicagoland Soccer MVP of the Match honor for her distinctive and record-breaking play.
Moody ended her junior year with 33 goals and 15 assists.
Althoff dissected the Trojans’ typically suffocating defense that had generated 13 shutouts as part of their state finals push.
“They found a way to get through our backline, which has been good for us the whole year,” Timothy coach Jon Hamelinck said.
“They were getting on the end of through-balls like crazy.”
Althoft’s skill and athleticism at the top simply overwhelmed Timothy (17-3-0).
In the opening moments, forward Tori Calvert played a diagonal ball in space that forward Kylie Petroski controlled on the right edge for the early put-away.
Just like that, Althoff was on the board, with just 1:11 into the game.
“We talked about starting out really strong and not being in a position where we had to come back from being down 2-0, like the game against Columbia,” Petroski said.
“We have been working our entire high school career for this moment. We knew we had to get it done.”
Early goals are always a devastating action for the team that falls behind. Having it play out in a state championship game only amplifies the emotional stakes.
“It’s a killer,” Hamelinck said. “It’s the hardest thing in sports, mentally turning around and being ready to compete. I thought we did an admirable job in the second half.
“I thought we competed better.”
Althoff (22-2-0) ended the year with a 12-game winning streak. The Crusaders' defeats turned out to be as impressive as their record. They lost only to state champions -- Class AA’s Triad and Class 3A’s O’Fallon.
Moody fed off the early energy of the Petroski goal and took over from there. When she was done, the Crusaders had an insurmountable 5-0 halftime lead.
As demonstrated by her relentless energy and creativity in the open field, Moody is virtually impossible to slow down. Timothy threw different players at her, and she created her own windows.
“She doesn’t stop,” Althoff coach Juergen Huettner said. “She drives me nuts, because she doesn’t always do what you want. She goes wherever she wants.
“She just runs on the field like crazy. She is just tremendous.”
Moody eliminated the high-stakes drama of a typical state championship game. She brought a clarity and end-note, there was no chance of a Timothy comeback.
In the 11th minute, midfielder O’Neill played a ball on the right edge that Moody captured in space for a sharp volley. She also scored in the 19th, 24th and 28th minutes.
However, her pre-game was not a prelude to what transpired.
“I was so scared before the game,” Moody said. “I couldn’t sleep the night before. Once we started to get into it, putting them away early was such a relief.”
O’Neill had 14 goals and 14 assists leading into the state finals. Her fluidity and creativity with the ball created mismatches the Crusaders capitalized on.
O’Neill and her older sister were part of the Crusaders’ third-place team from 2018.
“My freshman year, we came up here and we got third,” O’Neill said. “For myself, I just wanted revenge. We really wanted to get first place.
“We knew we had something special and we capitalized on it.”
Timothy midfielder Emma Carter, who scored the game-winner against Notre Dame (Quincy) in the state semifinal Friday, had the first significant shot on goal at the beginning of the second half.
The scoring explosion unmoored the Trojans, who had given up only two goals during the state tournament series.
Timothy ended up with a better finish in the state tournament (second) than their Metro Suburban Conference (third).
The Trojans’ only losses came against conference rivals Wheaton Academy, who finished second in Class A, and St. Francis, a Class AA sectional finalist.
“Even though we did have a tough loss, I think we are very proud of how far we came,” Carter said.
“We brought a great crowd and to have them come out and support us was just fantastic. It encourages you to see people here who want to see you do well.”
Carter said the team’s performance against larger schools like Glenbard East (a 1-0 win) underscored their potential. The state tournament was the litmus test.
Until the buzzsaw they faced on Saturday, the Crusaders passed with flying colors.
“In the middle of our season, we realized we have a good shot at this mentally. That helped us go pretty far,” Carter said.
“We were playing bigger schools, like Class AA and 3A teams. And we were beating them, and not because of a fluke or lucky goals. We were outpossessing them.”
Sophomore forward Maddie Drye had the best scoring opportunity for the Trojans, driving the left wing and letting fly with a shot that drifted left off frame.
“I thought we didn’t hang their heads or get angry with each other,” Hamelinck said. “We played as a unit.”
As a punctuating flourish, Moody also created the final goal in assisting Calvert s in the second half that closed out the one-sided victory.
Calvert also scored on an unassisted goal, blasting a ball from about 14 yards inside the near post.
She took the highly unusual step of transferring to Althoff the second semester of her senior year. Her father and the father of Kylie Petroski coached her at Wesclin.
As a sophomore, Calvert scored 30 goals and contributed 19 assists at Wesclin. Her 79 points made her a top five scorer in the state for her class. Future teammate Julia O’Neill was just behind her.
“That was one of the hardest decisions I ever made in my whole life,” she said. “I was so nervous. It was the best decision I ever made.
“We won state.”
Starting lineups
Althoff
GK: Anna Brewer
D: Morgan Wagner
D: Natalie Cohn
D: Hope Schmitt
D: Bree Birdsong
MF: Emma Tell
MF: Julia O’Neill
MF: Issy Wendell
F: Tori Calvert
F: Regan Moody
F: Kylie Petroski
Timothy
GK: Corinne Myket
D: Sophia Biscan
D: Marta Veenstra
D: Elena Munk
D: Chloe Leppink
MF: Julianna Norman
MF: Emma Carter
MF: Angie Tornabene
MF: Miliana Martens
MF: Hope Huizenga
F: Maddie Drye
Chicagoland Soccer MVP of the Match: Regan Moody, jr., F, Althoff
Scoring summary
First half
Althoff—Kylie Petroski (Tori Calvert), second minute
Althoff—Regan Moody (Julia O’Neill), 11th minute
Althoff—Moody (unassisted), 19th minute
Althoff—Moody (Issy Wendell), 24th minute
Althoff—Moody (Petroski) 28th minute
Second half
Althoff—Calvert (unassisted), 49th minute
Althoff—Calvert (Moody), 63rd minute
Timothy with historic peformance
Crusaders' star, team set records in 7-0 Class A title win
By Patrick Z. McGavin
HOFFMAN ESTATES — Brevity is the soul of wit, per Shakespeare. So is the admirably terse and plain-spoken way Regan Moody talked about her game.
“Seriously?” Moody asked, when told of her new state record for the most goals in a girls state championship game.
“It was not all about me,” she said. “They (my teammates) did all the work to get me the ball and slip it in. I just put it in the back of the net. My whole job is to just run onto it and finish.”
She did that with aplomb.
Moody rewrote history with a remarkable first half performance by scoring four goals in a 17-minute, 3-second span as Althoff overpowered Timothy 7-0 to capture the Class A state championship Saturday. She also hit a post later.
The new state record supplanted six previous record holders at three. One was Althoff's Megan Pawloski from 2010. Moody also tied Sarah Lafayette, of University (Normal), for the record for goals in a tournament with five. As a team, Althoff set an all-class record for number of goals and margin of victory in a championship match with seven.
Moody's four-tally performance was her second of the playoffs. She first accomplished the feat in the Crusaders’ 5-4 sectional victory over defending state champion Columbia.
She earned the Chicagoland Soccer MVP of the Match honor for her distinctive and record-breaking play.
Moody ended her junior year with 33 goals and 15 assists.
Althoff dissected the Trojans’ typically suffocating defense that had generated 13 shutouts as part of their state finals push.
“They found a way to get through our backline, which has been good for us the whole year,” Timothy coach Jon Hamelinck said.
“They were getting on the end of through-balls like crazy.”
Althoft’s skill and athleticism at the top simply overwhelmed Timothy (17-3-0).
In the opening moments, forward Tori Calvert played a diagonal ball in space that forward Kylie Petroski controlled on the right edge for the early put-away.
Just like that, Althoff was on the board, with just 1:11 into the game.
“We talked about starting out really strong and not being in a position where we had to come back from being down 2-0, like the game against Columbia,” Petroski said.
“We have been working our entire high school career for this moment. We knew we had to get it done.”
Early goals are always a devastating action for the team that falls behind. Having it play out in a state championship game only amplifies the emotional stakes.
“It’s a killer,” Hamelinck said. “It’s the hardest thing in sports, mentally turning around and being ready to compete. I thought we did an admirable job in the second half.
“I thought we competed better.”
Althoff (22-2-0) ended the year with a 12-game winning streak. The Crusaders' defeats turned out to be as impressive as their record. They lost only to state champions -- Class AA’s Triad and Class 3A’s O’Fallon.
Moody fed off the early energy of the Petroski goal and took over from there. When she was done, the Crusaders had an insurmountable 5-0 halftime lead.
As demonstrated by her relentless energy and creativity in the open field, Moody is virtually impossible to slow down. Timothy threw different players at her, and she created her own windows.
“She doesn’t stop,” Althoff coach Juergen Huettner said. “She drives me nuts, because she doesn’t always do what you want. She goes wherever she wants.
“She just runs on the field like crazy. She is just tremendous.”
Moody eliminated the high-stakes drama of a typical state championship game. She brought a clarity and end-note, there was no chance of a Timothy comeback.
In the 11th minute, midfielder O’Neill played a ball on the right edge that Moody captured in space for a sharp volley. She also scored in the 19th, 24th and 28th minutes.
However, her pre-game was not a prelude to what transpired.
“I was so scared before the game,” Moody said. “I couldn’t sleep the night before. Once we started to get into it, putting them away early was such a relief.”
O’Neill had 14 goals and 14 assists leading into the state finals. Her fluidity and creativity with the ball created mismatches the Crusaders capitalized on.
O’Neill and her older sister were part of the Crusaders’ third-place team from 2018.
“My freshman year, we came up here and we got third,” O’Neill said. “For myself, I just wanted revenge. We really wanted to get first place.
“We knew we had something special and we capitalized on it.”
Timothy midfielder Emma Carter, who scored the game-winner against Notre Dame (Quincy) in the state semifinal Friday, had the first significant shot on goal at the beginning of the second half.
The scoring explosion unmoored the Trojans, who had given up only two goals during the state tournament series.
Timothy ended up with a better finish in the state tournament (second) than their Metro Suburban Conference (third).
The Trojans’ only losses came against conference rivals Wheaton Academy, who finished second in Class A, and St. Francis, a Class AA sectional finalist.
“Even though we did have a tough loss, I think we are very proud of how far we came,” Carter said.
“We brought a great crowd and to have them come out and support us was just fantastic. It encourages you to see people here who want to see you do well.”
Carter said the team’s performance against larger schools like Glenbard East (a 1-0 win) underscored their potential. The state tournament was the litmus test.
Until the buzzsaw they faced on Saturday, the Crusaders passed with flying colors.
“In the middle of our season, we realized we have a good shot at this mentally. That helped us go pretty far,” Carter said.
“We were playing bigger schools, like Class AA and 3A teams. And we were beating them, and not because of a fluke or lucky goals. We were outpossessing them.”
Sophomore forward Maddie Drye had the best scoring opportunity for the Trojans, driving the left wing and letting fly with a shot that drifted left off frame.
“I thought we didn’t hang their heads or get angry with each other,” Hamelinck said. “We played as a unit.”
As a punctuating flourish, Moody also created the final goal in assisting Calvert s in the second half that closed out the one-sided victory.
Calvert also scored on an unassisted goal, blasting a ball from about 14 yards inside the near post.
She took the highly unusual step of transferring to Althoff the second semester of her senior year. Her father and the father of Kylie Petroski coached her at Wesclin.
As a sophomore, Calvert scored 30 goals and contributed 19 assists at Wesclin. Her 79 points made her a top five scorer in the state for her class. Future teammate Julia O’Neill was just behind her.
“That was one of the hardest decisions I ever made in my whole life,” she said. “I was so nervous. It was the best decision I ever made.
“We won state.”
Starting lineups
Althoff
GK: Anna Brewer
D: Morgan Wagner
D: Natalie Cohn
D: Hope Schmitt
D: Bree Birdsong
MF: Emma Tell
MF: Julia O’Neill
MF: Issy Wendell
F: Tori Calvert
F: Regan Moody
F: Kylie Petroski
Timothy
GK: Corinne Myket
D: Sophia Biscan
D: Marta Veenstra
D: Elena Munk
D: Chloe Leppink
MF: Julianna Norman
MF: Emma Carter
MF: Angie Tornabene
MF: Miliana Martens
MF: Hope Huizenga
F: Maddie Drye
Chicagoland Soccer MVP of the Match: Regan Moody, jr., F, Althoff
Scoring summary
First half
Althoff—Kylie Petroski (Tori Calvert), second minute
Althoff—Regan Moody (Julia O’Neill), 11th minute
Althoff—Moody (unassisted), 19th minute
Althoff—Moody (Issy Wendell), 24th minute
Althoff—Moody (Petroski) 28th minute
Second half
Althoff—Calvert (unassisted), 49th minute
Althoff—Calvert (Moody), 63rd minute