Hilltoppers can't connect in regional semifinal loss to Tigers

 

 

By Matt Le Cren

Wheaton Warrenville South’s players celebrated coach Guy Callipari’s 300th victory in style Wednesday night, releasing three balloons that together spelled out “300” into the air over York’s stadium.

Those balloons are probably halfway to the moon by now, but the Tigers were over the moon just to be moving on in the playoffs after earning a hard-fought 1-0 victory over Glenbard West in a Class 3A regional semifinal in Elmhurst.

“There was a lot on the line so we all had a lot of nerves going on,” WW South senior Casey Ulrich said. “It was just really exciting to get the 300th win. We were all trying really hard to do our best to go as hard as we could to get that goal in.”

It was Ulrich who scored the goal that sent the Tigers (12-7-2) into Friday’s regional title game with host York, which knocked off Morton 4-0 in the other semifinal.

The goal came with 35:17 remaining in the second half and was Ulrich’s first of the season. Senior Natalie Jensen triggered the play by sending a 27-yard free kick from the right sideline in front of the Glenbard West goal and the ball went over the heads of Hilltoppers goalie Kylie Paul and one Tiger before bouncing toward the unguarded Ulrich on the back post.

Ulrich calmly kept her concentration and sent a short header that, while not struck hard, had enough pace to go over the goal line before the Hilltoppers could get to it.

“I think it might have ricocheted off some people but I was just kind of in the right spot at the right time,” Ulrich said. “Coach told me right at the right time to go on the back post and thankfully I listened to him for once and went back there and was in the right spot.

“It’s an exciting first goal. I’m happy to get it done.”

It’s not the first time Ulrich has come through in a postseason game. She scored her first goal of the 2012 season in the opening round of the playoffs, a 3-0 victory over Bolingbrook.

“She’s timely, isn’t she?” Callipari said. “It was one of those things where [good things will happen] if you do what you’re supposed to do, and her job was to frame the goal and make certain that anything at the back got served back in the mix and she did that. She looked up, she saw where she wanted to place the ball, she kept it off the goalie and put it back in.”

Aside from a couple shots off the feet of Dana Miller and Tori Adomschick in the first half that sailed just wide, Ulrich’s strike was the only solid scoring opportunity the Tigers had.

Once again, Glenbard West’s back line was stellar, as Alyssa Cantore, Britta Frenzel, Ilham Hussaini and Alexandra Levin led another determined effort.

But as has so often been the case this spring, it wasn’t enough for the Hilltoppers (3-11-2) to pull out a victory. They made a valiant effort to postpone Callipari’s milestone victory but came up just short.

Callipari, whose record stands at 300-89-44 over 19 seasons, becomes the 12th coach in Illinois history with 300 wins. He is the second to reach 300 this spring, joining Lincoln-Way East’s Brian Papa.

“It was a good game and that’s what I told the girls,” Callipari said. “We’re so young – I think we have 12 underclassmen – that they can get caught up in the emotions of it all.

“And I’m looking at them in the meetings and saying, ‘girls, this is supposed to be fun, this is what you play for, this is what you train for, for something to be in the balance, where if you make mistakes it could cost you.’ You want to be on that edge; it makes you feel alive.”

WW South was definitely on the edge all the way to the end of this match. After Ulrich scored, the Hilltoppers moved Cantore up top and she led a determined effort to penetrate the Tiger defense with powerful dribble-drives.

The Tigers’ back line of Adomschick, Alex Immekus, Kelly Langlas and Allie Harvey repulsed every threat, though the underdogs came close to breaking through on several occasions.

But the most nerve-wracking sequence for the Tigers came in the final minute, when the Hilltoppers got off two of their three shots.

After WW South was whistled for a foul, Kate Strieker struck a 35-yard free kick ticketed for the top shelf. Tigers goalie Abbey Fuster timed her leap perfectly and deflected the ball into the crossbar.

As Fuster came down, Levin put the rebound barely over the pipe from inside the six with 50 seconds to go.

“[The foul] was kind of a strange call but it’s all about getting the defense set up right away,” Fuster said. “Coach threw a little bit of a curveball. He only wanted two in the wall but it ended up working out pretty well so everyone was covered up and my defense did a really good job tracking back and filling in the gaps.

“It made my job a lot easier, though it was a tough shot. I tipped it and I happened to be facing to my side and I just saw it over my shoulder and I went over to cover it but it was just barely going over.”

“That last effort, that last few seconds before the end basically summarized our season,” Glenbard West coach Maciek Kusmierz said. “We played tough defensively and weren’t able to catch a break offensively. The girls put a lot of effort in playing with determination today.

“It was tough in the first half. In the second half I felt we got a little bit better, got a little bit closer to the opponent’s goal. We created a few chances and in the end we came up short.”

Callipari said the win wasn’t the biggest of his career but it was important because the Tigers get to play another day.

“I’m glad it worked out the way it did,” Callipari said. “I thought we played well. We carried much of the play but you have to respect their transition and when they put [Cantore] up top, she’s certainly a force to be reckoned with, and I thought our girls did a nice job of helping each other out.

“We’re glad to move on. We want to play in a regional final and now we’ll get that chance.”

That’s the essence of the playoffs: just win. That’s what the Tigers ultimately focused on.

“My dad always tells me to go out and play every game like it’s your last,” Ulrich said. “This year it really takes it to a whole other level. Every game we’re all going out as hard as we can as seniors. We know we have a good road to playoffs and we’re just trying to take advantage of what options we have.”

The Tigers make no secret that they feel Callipari’s coaching technique gives them an advantage.

“Coach always encourages us and has us work hard,” Fuster said. “He never lets us be satisfied with how we are now.

“He always knows that we can be better than that and I really think that’s what pushes him to be a better coach, because even though he’s had the talent that’s helped him to reach 300, it’s all of him behind us encouraging us and you can really see that he takes great pride in his team and how well they work together.”

Callipari is within striking distance of 300 wins on the boys side, which would make him just the fourth coach in Illinois history to get 300 in both boys and girls soccer. It’s something he thinks about only when other people bring it up.

“I think as milestones go it comes to the forefront naturally as everybody continues to remind you of it, but as you get closer to it, I’m reminded of a quote that we use this year: If you want to go fast, go alone, but if you want to go far, go together,” Callipari said. “So I think back to the 19 varsity teams that have contributed to the 300 wins.

“The goal as you come in as a coach is to formulate a formula that works. If that works, the wins will take care of themselves, and that formula is not only the play on the field but it’s what you do off the field and how everybody comes together.

“That comes through in the coaching staff that we’ve had and the type of players we’ve had through the years. That’s a natural progression of things.”

Kusmierz is hoping that progression will lead to more wins next season after a season of struggles that saw the inexperienced Hilltoppers typically dress only 16 players.

Glenbard West will say goodbye to Paul, Hussaini, Abby Ohrnstein, McKinzie Powers, Rachel Rolinski and Jamie Henkel, who was forced to sit out her senior season while being treated for cancer, but 12 other players could return.

“We were fairly young but so is everybody else,” Kusmierz said. “We played a fairly tough schedule and those games hopefully exposed the new players, especially younger players, to the pace and the physical part of the varsity game.

“Hopefully those will be good lessons for them for the future. They know now what to expect and as a coach I can only hope that they can improve on that for next year.”