Girls soccer: Late goal gives Warren NSC victory against Stevenson

Kate Mondejar's 79th minute winner sealed a dramatic 2-1 victory for Warren against visiting Stevenson in an exciting North Suburban Conference girls soccer contest Thursday night in Gurnee at the O'Plaine campus.

"You never want to lose two games in a strong soccer conference like the NSC," said Warren coach Ryan McCabe, whose club lost its league opener at Libertyville on Tuesday night.

"Before that Libertyville loss we had won four straight, but when we went down 1-0 in that game, our play really dropped off," said Blue Devils co-captain Reese Mertens, who provided the assist on the Mondejar goal.

The Blue Devils (7-5-0, 1-1-0) bagged the opening goal at 11 minutes when Addison Stanciak ran onto a marvelous early ball from Jelly Amezquita and finished her one-timer past Patriots goalkeeper Reese Yoo, who had no chance on the short-range effort.

Just minutes after halftime, Maryland-bound Elle Egeland equalized with her 15th of the season, which came from long range when the Patriots senior was allowed to tee up her attempt from 40 yards.

"We were able to get ourselves back into the game early into the second half, but we just did not possess, create or get any really good shots after that," said sophomore Anabelle Egeland, the Patriots central defender.

When it appeared the contest would end in a draw, Mondejar followed the flight of a long crossfield ball from Mertens and found a way to thump her header into the back of the net.

"I know that Reese always can serve a great ball — so it was up to me to find a way to get to the ball and put (it) in," Mondejar said.

Next up for the Patriots (6-3-2, 0-1-1) is league rival Mundelein next Tuesday. The Blue Devils continue play in the BodyArmor Tournament this Sunday against Boylan Catholic.