Despite having a chance for a sixth shutout erased, South Elgin goalie Jourdan Valkner held her composure.
Missy Greco viewed her goal and assist as simply part of Monday’s 4-1 comeback victory over Streamwood.
However, South Elgin coach Tiffany Disher didn’t take the 1-0 halftime deficit quite so well. She admitted to a concern that her crew was thinking back to 2014’s trio of shutouts (5-0, 6-0 and 5-0) over Streamwood.
The Upstate Eight crossover didn’t help either side’s league slate, but the Storm (7-1) can shoot for a third straight win and to improve on a 1-1 Valley Division record in Tuesday’s game with Bartlett.
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For Streamwood (1-4), it marked the second straight game in which the Sabres couldn’t hold a 1-0 lead and signifies a four-game skid to go with an 0-2 River Division standard prior to a Tuesday visit from Batavia.
“I was concerned the players may not be taking them seriously enough because of last year’s three wins,” Disher said. “I knew Streamwood has some good players who could take advantage of a lack of focus. That goal, thankfully, served as a real wakeup call. Once we found the net, I was confident we’d find it again.”
The initial goal after 24:43 was a ferocious 12-yarder from left of center by Streamwood’s Tawny Carroll. The senior’s third goal of the year remained the only first-half score thanks to a combination of Sabre goalie Nathalie Guindon’s saves plus timely clears by defenders Esmeralda Navarro and Christina Corona.
“Tawny was told to get more shots and she used her (non-dominant) left foot for a good ball into the far corner,” Streamwood coach Matt Polovin said. “But South Elgin has a good team and we needed more from her and our offense. We let their number seven get enough space for a nice shot, Esmeralda unfortunately fell and they capitalized on that. The final score was a result of a goal in last seconds.”
Carroll’s blast was Streamwood”s only shot on goal for the first half and Valkner stopped the three she faced in the second half. In addition to the 16-4 edge in on-frame attempts, South Elgin boasted a 24-6 advantage for overall attempts.
“They scored, but my team has my back. I knew we’d get it back,” Valkner said. “We talked at halftime about capitalizing on our opportunities and we did that in the second half.”
Just 3:54 into the second half, Greco used Grace Franks’ pass for a 16-yard laser.
“Grace gave me an amazing ball so I just had to place it in the corner,” Greco said about her team-best ninth goal.
Fifteen minutes later, Ella Struwing saw Navarro slip and charged forward only to have Guindon race out of the goal box to make a kick block. Navarro doubled back and stopped a Struwing follow-up before Guindon jumped up and got in front of another Struwing shot. But the fourth time was the charm for Struwing, who tallied her seventh goal.
There was 9:24 remaining when Greco’s through ball sprung Delaney Kelleher for a left wing attack for which Greco was finally willing to accept some praise.
“Delaney made a great run, but yeah, I was proud of that play. It’s one of my better assists,” Greco said.
Kelleher capped the scoring with 17 seconds left by finishing a corner kick from Citali Sanchez.
Steve Nemeth is a freelance reporter for The Courier-News.