Oak Park Soccer Regional
The OPRF soccer team seemed to take its cue from Saturday’s picture perfect day to play nearly flawless in a 5-1 win over area-rival Trinity for the Oak Park Regional championship.
The Huskies (11-11-1) had a simple game plan against the Blazers: Keep them on the defensive. It worked like a charm especially in the first half. OPRF was able to control the tempo of the game and keep the ball down by Trinity’s goal. Sarah Bunch scored her first goal at 6 minutes in the first half with an assist by Taylor Kula. Trinity goalie Marissa Garbacz kept very busy with shots on goal. OPRF’s sharp passing set up numerous scoring opportunities. Before long, Jenny Donley joined Bunch in the scorer’s column with a goal at 11:31, assisted by Kasi Blaha. A pass by Tasia Race set up Bunch, and in a burst of speed, Bunch scored her second goal of the game at 27:15. The Huskies ended the first half up 3-0 with all of the momentum going their way.
The second half began with the Huskies still on the attack. They had two shots on goal that barely missed.
The Blazers (10-8-2) tried to get the momentum to swing their way. Eleni Nichols answered the call with a goal at 9:20 to get Trinity on the scoreboard.
“Jill Coleman sent it right through. I got a nice breakaway and a nice shot,” said Nichols after the game. A corner kick to Nichols set up another scoring opportunity, but it missed wide.
As the Blazers tried to take more chances to get back in the game, they left Bunch a little too open. The senior completed the hat trick at 22:59 with an assist by Donley. Bunch’s three goals for the game helped to give the Huskies a commanding 4-1 lead. With time winding down, Debby Marder scored one more time for the Huskies to put the icing on the cake and seal the win.
Although disappointed by the loss, this was Trinity’s first time playing in a regional championship. Coach Dave Preston praised the play of Nichols, only a sophomore.
“[Eleni] scored 24 goals this year, and was named All-conference as well as All-area.” He then reflected on the season, “This was our best season. We’re a very young team. We have a lot of promise for the future.”
Bunch now has 22 goals for the year and plans to attend the University of California?#34;Santa Barbara. After the win she said, “I feel that we came out strong from the get go.” Jenny Donley chimed in, “One of our problems all year has been finishing. Sometimes we don’t score as many goals as we’d like to, but we scored nine goals in our last game and now five today.”
The unsung hero of the game could easily be mid-fielder Amanda Corcos.
“[Amanda] doesn’t get a lot of attention, but she is real strong. She is the anchor back there,” said Hunt.
OPRF met Nazareth in the Lyons Sectional semifinal Tuesday night (after deadline). A win would have them playing in the sectional final Thursday at Lyons Township ( 7 p.m.). The Huskies could possibly face West Suburban (Silver) Conference rival Lyons Township, who has knocked them out of the playoffs the last three years in a row.