With retirement in the not-so-distant future, OPRF High School’s longtime head field hockey coach Barb Liles wouldn’t mind directing a few more teams to the Illinois High School Field Hockey Association (IHSFHA) state tournament. This year’s squad, though without a standout star, may have enough zip and zealousness to return the Huskies to state championship glory.
Tori Karsten and her 39 goals may be in Delaware-the University of, to be sure-and in the early season the offense has had to scratch and claw for goals, but Liles said she isn’t too concerned yet.
“Tori was a great player last season, but that was last season. You move on and you hope someone steps up to fill in,” said Liles, who has been coaching field hockey at OPRF for 29 years and plans to retire after the 2008-’09 school year. “We haven’t had that kind of offensive production yet this season, but my philosophy is you only need one goal to win a game, let good defense do the rest.”
The Huskies (8-3-1) did retain six starters from last year’s team that finished runner up to Lake Forest in the IHSFHA state championship. The group includes Maddie Prodanovic (midfielder), Alison Colucci (forward), Emma Jasinski (back) Grave Shirreff (forward), Shannon Weigel (midfielder), and goalkeeper Kelsey Rosenquist.
“(Kelsey) Rosenquist has been looking real strong for us,” Liles said before the Huskies entered into their own annual Huskie Invitational over the weekend. “She has been very consistent and I have a lot of confidence in her.”
New faces to the team that have already solidified starting positions include Lizzy Optholt (midfielder), Abby Rosenwinkle (sweeper), Molly Sinnott (forward), Karen Zelby (back) and Kristin Kwakwa (forward), whose speed has been a factor in OPRF’s early season success.
“Our goal is to make it to the final four, and that is for sure in our reach this year,” said Liles. “The competition gets better every year, which is good for us all. We have to fight that much more to keep from falling out of contention.
“I look at this team and think we’re on the right track. We need more of a scoring punch, but we’ll get there; we’ve got time.”
Last weekend, OPRF went 3-1 at the Huskie Invitational, a 16-team tournament that draws schools from as far as Texas, Missouri and Kentucky. The Huskies defeated Deerfield 1-0 in the first round, and Kincaid-Texas 3-0 in the second round. On Saturday, OPRF fell 1-0 to Mary Institute Country Day (MICD), but regrouped to shutout Antioch 4-0 in the afternoon game.
Sacred Heart of Louisville won the tournament with a 3-1 victory over MICD.
The Huskies travel to two-time defending state champ Lake Forest on Saturday (10 a.m.).
