Huntley defender Katie Costantino was relieved by a near-miss shot late in the first half that could have fueled the host Golden Eagles’ upset hopes during Tuesday’s Class 3A Jacobs Regional opener.
“They started working the ball around pretty well after they scored and that next play (a missed header) was a real eye opener for us,” said Costantino, the Austin Peay recruit.
Actually, Huntley dodged a second dangerous opportunity before Taryn Jakubowski continued her stellar play. She helped rally the Red Raiders to the halftime lead and followed it with a quick second-half goal in a 4-1 victory.
The win advanced Huntley (16-3) to a 5 p.m. Friday championship game vs. the winner of Dundee-Crown and Crystal Lake South. Despite throwing a scare into the top seed, the season ended for fourth-seeded Jacobs (4-16-1).
“We knew they’d fight hard and regional play is a different atmosphere no matter how you try to prepare your team,” Huntley coach Kris Grabner said. “They had a good service and if their player was a step quicker, it could’ve been a different game. McHenry got one good chance and beat us, if we don’t finish our opportunities, it’s an unlucky day for us.”
The game could not have started any more favorably for Huntley as Jakubowski’s 13th assist led to Deana Hecht’s right-side shot after just 38 seconds.
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“It’s always good to get up early and it provided some relief for all of younger players lacking tourney experience to calm down a little knowing we had a lead,” Hecht said. “Unfortunately, we did have a lull and they capitalized during that time. We did regoup and stepped up our play in the second half.”
While seven opportunities didn’t produce a second goal for Huntley, Jacobs broke through 6:25 before halftime when Talia Surges assisted on a goal by Mikaela Thomas, who got just enough foot on the ball to chip it over Huntley goalkeeper Paige Renkosik.
Four minutes later, Renkosik had to rush out to win a 50-50 ball on a Golden Eagle breakaway. Having survived that scare, Renkosik punted a ball that Alyssa Kaufman used to set up Jakubowski. The junior’s fifth game-winner was a left-side chip shot that sailed over Jacobs goalkeeper Liz Foster and under the crossbar.
“(Jacobs) stepped up their game and we had to focus on stretching out their defense a little more in the second half,” Jakubowski said. “All good teams come hard so the bottom line is to extend your season and we did that.”
Huntley did that in part by extending its lead to 3-1 at 68:41 when Kaufman’s 13th assist led to Jakubowski’s 14th goal. Jakubowski and Hecht, an IPFW signee, both added several close calls.
The Red Raiders’ attack eventually produced a 23-9 advantange for overall shots and a 15-7 edge for shots on goal. A muffed punt by Foster was quickly put back by Hecht for her 25th goal of the year, an unassisted strike with 13:32 left to be played.
“We know the next game will be a real challenge, the key for us defensively is to continue communicating, find our forwards like we did in the second half, and if a team should score, make certain we play that much harder for the next fiive minutes,” Costantino said.
Nemeth is a freelace writer.