Girls soccer: Grayslake Central scores narrow victory over Wauconda in storm-shortened match
Grayslake Central gave itself an excellent chance to share second place in the Northern Lake County Conference with visiting Wauconda with its 1-0 victory Thursday night in Grayslake.
The win moved the Rams (5-6-2) to 4-2-0 in the NLCC, while the visitors finished their regular season at 5-2-0.
“There are still a lot of things about our game that we need to improve, but tonight, when we played simple, connected our passes and just slowed the game down we played some pretty good soccer,” said Rams coach Keith Andersson after the contest was called after 40 minutes due to dangerous weather conditions in the area.
“We had a rough start to our season — and we still are a work in progress — but I feel like it's coming around for us at the right time,” added Rams senior Sara Armstrong, who played a short box-to-box game on the left side for her club.
The Bulldogs, now 9-6-2 overall, were the better side during the early exchanges and had an wonderful opportunity to grab the opener.
Isabelle Gerle tricked her way inside and on course to be in a 1v1 with Rams goalkeeper Lily Schmidt — and if not for a quick move toward the Bulldogs freshman — Peyton Hoffman would not have been able to block the close-range attempt.
Two minutes later Ava Hortillosa saw her attempt saved by Schmidt, whose terrific work between the sticks allowed the home side to stay even.
A sensational run up the center channel by Dahlia Rodriguez pried open the Bulldogs in their own end and allowed Paige Durley to run onto a superb ball from her teammate Rodriguez.
Durley finished past Schmidt, who had no chance to stop the goal in the 18th minute.
“We've been a little up and down this season, but we came in hoping to take home second place outright in the conference,” said Bulldogs coach Beau Shogren.
Next up for the Bulldogs will be their season finale next Wednesday against Mundelein. The Rams finish up against Grant on Tuesday in their NLCC finale.