By Bobby Narang
The girls high school soccer season is reaching a key midpoint of the season.
Defending Class 3A State champion Metea Valley is humming along, well on the path toward another State championship behind a group of numerous college-bound players looking to add another milestone to their careers.
The Mustangs captured the program’s first State championship and schools, too, with a fantastic run, not losing a single game to an in-state opponent. Through 12 games, the Mustangs (10-0-2) are on the road to surpass last season’s stunning success. The Mustangs have outscored their opponents, 42-9, this season and won six in a row since a scoreless draw to Nerinx Hall (Missouri) over Spring break. Metea Valley had a 2-2 tie to highly-ranked Plainfield South on a cold and windy March 21 home night.
The Mustangs played like a team on the mission in last weekend’s BodyArmor Sports Series held at Olympic Park in Schaumburg. The Mustangs overcame a wild two-day period that featured weather of all kinds: Lightning delay, intense heat Saturday and rain, cold, and wind, Sunday, to defeat Crystal Lake Central and Rockford Boylan. Goalie Alyssa Gluting has been a key standout for the Mustangs early in the season. The backline has allowed just nine goals in 12 games.
- Meanwhile, Hinsdale Central is another team that made a big impression in the massive tournament, albeit playing only one game because the majority of Sunday’s games were canceled.
The Red Devils have quietly been racking up quality victories and staying behind heavyweights Metea Valley, Barrington, Lyons, St. Charles East, and Geneva, among others. The Red Devils (7-0-2) gained an impressive 1-0 victory over Class 2A powerhouse Carmel Saturday, April 15..
Hinsdale Central head coach Tony Madonia said beating Carmel was a quality victory.
“It’s so much fun playing in this tournament,” Madonia said. “This tournament is a great feeling. Everybody is having a great time in the name of soccer, service, and charity. It was fun to play against a super competitive team. It was nice to win, especially since we had a couple of injuries. We were playing without our senior centerback, Ava Elliott, who has started every game for the last three seasons and is a huge piece. Avery is on a hot streak. We had a lot of people step up, like Grace Sakalosky and Addisyn Krogistie and Julia Marinaccio. They played so well today. It was good to see everybody hopping in and doing a good job. Carmel was really disciplined and did a good job. Their goalkeeper made some really, really great saves.”
- The Carmel Corsairs, meanwhile, are aiming to build off the close loss to a Class 3A program to make some waves in the East Suburban Catholic Conference. Right now, Benet (8-1) is the cream of the Conference by outscoring its opponents 40-5 this season. The Redwings defeated Carmel, 2-0, April 8, and had won their four conference games.
“We came into this tournament knowing we would face some stronger teams and some teams not necessarily in our class, in 3A,” Carmel head coach Stephanie Kile said. “We’re just going through a slump right now. I’m trying to tell my captains that they have to figure it out. There’s only so much I can do. We have to get out of this slump.”