SOUTH ELGIN – South Elgin goalkeeper Lilly Rodriguez patrolled the pipes mostly as a keen observer in Saturday’s match against Freeport. With the Storm backline and midfield tying the opponent’s offense into knots, the freshman keeper needed to meet only a few challenges in the 4-0 nonconference win.

The Pretzels’ attack was also decidedly less salty due to the loss of all-state forward and Illinois State recruit. Autumn Diduch. 

South Elgin (10-6-0) scored twice in each half. Nevaeh Gyurko and Lucy Tomasi both notched braces in the victory. Rodriquez earned her fifth clean-sheet of the season.

Rodriguez’s inactivity warmed South Elgin coach Jerzy Skowron’s heart.

“I’ll be the first one to tell that I love a bored goalkeeper. No disrespect to Freeport, but I think our girls did a fantastic job of making Lilly really bored there today,” Skowron said. “The pressure we applied up-front and in the midfield just did not allow Freeport to have the freedom to play some difficult stuff in our defensive half.”

The Storm offense started with its defense.

“Since we dominated most of the game, in my opinion, we didn’t really need our defense to be under so much pressure,” said South Elgin centerback Ashley Gonzalez. “And whenever our defense got the ball, we built up from that really well.”

Freeport manager Nick Namio was forced to revise his team’s strategy.

“My all-state forward was on the bench so that changed the game. She got hurt on Thursday,” Namio said. “I felt like we played a little bit more defensive than we normally play, because we knew we would be under pressure. We needed a perfect game from the goalie position. To get behind like that in the first half, we knew we had a tough road ahead of us.”

Gyurko scored her first goal in the eighth minute. The sophomore took a feed from Callie Miller and fired a shot from the left corner of the penalty box. Freeport keeper Delaney Schulz got on a hand on the attempt and knocked it to the ground but was unable to stop the ball from rolling across the goal line.

“My first one was from a little bit far out,” Gyurko said. “I turned and just had a shot on goal, and it went in.”

Tomasi doubled the Storm lead at the 22:51 mark of the first half. The freshman charged up the middle of the field and blasted the ball toward the goal from just outside the penalty box boundary. Schulz again got a hand out but suffered the same result.

“The first (goal) I was dribbling up the field. I think I had more speed going up, because I was faster and I placed it,” said Tomasi. “The grass made the ball a little slower, but it still went in.”

Namio tweaked his lineup further at the start of the second half. Rachel Guzman came off the bench to take over goalkeeping duties and Schulz played in the midfield.

“I was short field players, so I was just trying to get more field presence,” said the Freeport coach. “So, Delaney played the field second half. Rachel did well in the goal for us.”

Guzman made an immediate impact on the match for the Pretzels.

Three minutes into the second half, Christina Slovik was awarded a penalty kick. Guzman knocked away her blast.

Freeport’s’ best scoring opportunity came on a corner kick in the 48th minute. Cadence Diduch, Autumn’s twin sister, lined up in the left corner. But instead of sending the ball toward the goal, the senior tapped it to Natalie Namio, who took a chip shot that landed just outside the left post.

Rodriguez pounced on the ball and cleared it before Freeport could do any damage.

At the 18:13 mark of the period, Gyurko earned the brace with her team-leading 17th goal of the season. After taking a cross in the box from Slovik, the forward positioned herself in front of the goal and knocked the ball in.

“Christina had an amazing assist, and I just tapped it,” said the sophomore.

A minute later, the forward just missed a hat-trick. Her shot grazed the top of the crossbar.

Gyurko, the Chicagoland Soccer MVP of the Match, said the win was a total team effort.

“I definitely thought that we played hard and as a team,” she said. “I do think we had a little bit of trouble finishing up-top, but once we had some chances, we put them away.”

Tomasi’s brace and 10th goal of the campaign, came in the 74th minute on a tap from the left corner of the goal box.

“I was on the left side, and I was again dribbling up with my speed,” she said. “I just kind of booted it toward the top corner, and it just floated in.”

Skowron would like to see more results from his squad’s attacks.

“We were possessing the ball very well and moving the ball around. Even though we had a ton of shots today, nothing was really dangerous enough to make the score six, seven, eight to nothing like it probably could have been,” the South Elgin coach said.

“We’re still learning how to finish and how to place the ball. We’re still in that just-kick-it mode. Hopefully we improve on that approach as we head into the twilight of the (Upstate Eight) conference schedule.

Saturday marked the return of Storm sophomore midfield Ellie Vidic, who was injured in the team’s season-opener on March 12.

“Today was Ellie’s first game back since Glenbard West. She was finally healthy enough to play,” Skowron said. “I thought she was a little too excited at times, but I thought she looked very good considering she had about 3-4 weeks off.”

The cross-state contest is becoming an annual event.

“This is our third year playing South Elgin,” the Freeport coach said. “We were looking for a team to play outside of the area.”

Last year, South Elgin played at the northwest Illinois school. After the 1-0 victory, the Storm took in the local sites. The team learned that Freeport teams’ unique moniker honors the fact that their hometown was once known as “Pretzel City, U.S.A.”

Starting lineups

Freeport
GK: Delaney Schulz
D: Sophia Pederson
D: Rudy Diduch
D: Cadence Diduch
D: Rachel Busker
MF: Katelyn Saxby
MF: Karen Arauz
MF: Kennadee Lind
F: Camryn Gorham
F: Mary Jose Avila
F: Natalie Namio

South Elgin
GK: Lilly Rodriguez
D: Ashley Gonzalez
D: Mia Traver
D: Madelyn Baker
D: Emme Bokalders
MF: Christina Slovik
MF: Cali Miller
MF: Jateme Owens
MF: Alexiah Garcia
F: Avianna Hernandez
F: Nevaeh Gyurko

Chicagoland Soccer MVP of the Match: Nevaeh Gyurko, so., F, South Elgin

Scoring summary

First half
SE: Nevaeh (Miller), 8’
SE: Tomasi (Hernandez), 18’

Second half
SE: Nevaeh (Slovik), 62’
SE: Tomasi (Goetz), 74’