Seniors Lexi Rodriguez and Kathryn Sugg played on opposing soccer teams Saturday, but they’re friends off the field.
The starting goalkeepers for Fenwick and Trinity already had plans to hang out together that evening.
As both players left Schaumburg’s Olympic Park on different buses, Sugg finalized plans with Rodriguez, yelling: “I’ll text you.”
The neighborhood rivals traveled to Schaumburg for their rare meeting. The last time the two teams met, in 2013, Fenwick won 3-1 in 2013.
Rodriguez and Sugg communicate with each other regularly and live only two blocks apart in Elmwood Park.
The former classmates at St. Vincent Ferrer in River Forest went their separate ways following graduation, but met again as opponents Saturday in the first round of the Pepsico Showdown at Olympic Park.
Eighth-seeded Fenwick (2-3) defeated Trinity 1-0 on senior Caroline Knight’s goal off Lauren Stibich’s assist two minutes into the second half.
Rodriguez was rarely tested by the Blazers (3-3).
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“I was excited,” Rodriguez said. “I wanted to beat a team that I knew so well.”
“I was not nervous,” Sugg said. “We know a lot of people. We know each other so it was a lot more fun.”
The game was the first time Rodriguez and Sugg faced each other on the varsity level. Sugg is in her first season as a goalkeeper, since Trinity’s projected starter, junior Rosanna Mazzula, is out with a concussion.
When Rodriguez and Sugg played together at St. Vincent Ferrer, they were linemates on the midfield.
“I’ve been a goalie since I was 9, but I’ve played on and off in the field and at goalie,” Rodriguez said.
Rodriguez and Sugg had always planned to go to different high schools. Rodriguez followed her older brother, Bruce, who graduated from Fenwick in 2005.
Rodriguez said her friends at Trinity include soccer players Kaitlin Buss, Shannon McGuire and Alicia and Monica Gomez, who were away on a spring break vacation.
Sugg wanted to attend a different school than her twin brother, Michael, who plays baseball for Fenwick.
“It was good going to a different school,” Sugg said. “It was a matter of meeting different people.”
Fenwick advanced to play Plainfield Central in the second round Tuesday.
Twitter @geomwilcox