GRAYSLAKE -- Host Grayslake Central beat Mother Nature on Thursday night, and that lead to a 1-0 win over Wauconda on a stormy evening at William Eiserman Field.

The weather shortened the match to the first half, and the result bolstered the Rams hopes for a second place Northern Lake County Conference finish.

Senior Paige Durley's 18th-minute goal was all the Rams needed in a contest that was delayed close to an hour before it was officially called due to the threat of more nasty weather in the area.

Should the Rams win their regular-season finale against Grant at home Tuesday night, they will share second place in the league with the Bulldogs.

" Beau (Shogren, Bulldogs manager) and I would have liked to have played a full 80 minutes tonight," said Rams manager Keith Andersson.
“But our team obviously was happy to get 40 minutes in to make it official and have that goal from Paige hold up for us.”

Wauconda (9-6-1, 5-2-0) was upbeat after the first half.

"While in the long delay I told the girls that I really loved the way they were playing in that first half, and that we were playing a much better brand of soccer than we have during the last couple of weeks," said Shogren.

"Unfortunately, we didn't get the opportunity to go out there for the second half to see what might have happened."

Grayslake Central (5-6-2, 4-2-0) rolled into this contest on the heels of a 9-0 win over North Chicago on its Senior Night celebration. The program honored seven from the Class of 2024, including four-year veteran Sara Armstrong.

"It has taken us a while to find ourselves," said Armstrong, who will attend Wisconsin-Madison and major in biomedical engineering. “We played some really good teams at the very beginning of our schedule, and we missed players to injuries and a variety of other reasons.

"But I really feel like lately we're getting close to where we always wanted to be. The hope is that we continue playing well with the playoffs about to begin."

When they do, the Rams, seeded 10th in the Deerfield Sectional, will open against seven-seed Vernon Hills (8-5-2), who are currently in second place in the Central Suburban League North Division.

"At times we've been able to play some terrific soccer," began Andersson.
“Especially when we possess, play simple and just slow things down and allow the game to come to us.

"We have a great player in Dahlia Rodriguez (10 goals, 10 assists) that we need to find going forward in our attack as often as we can. When we do, we have the players who can be dangerous in our opponent’s end."

Wauconda was the most dangerous team during the early going. After Bulldogs’ keeper Lily Schmidt stopped a left-footed attempt from Ava Ramsey, they had two glorious chances to find the opener.

Isabelle Gerle, one of four freshmen in Shogrens' first 11, tricked her way free and closed fast on keeper Karlee Santee.

Fortunately for the home side, Peyton Hoffman was in the vicinity. She attempted a tackle but instead blocked the sharp blast from Gerle.

"Yes, I really thought Isabelle had gotten in with a great move to her left. She just couldn't quite sneak it in," said Shogren, who has seven freshmen and four sophomores on his roster.

Moments later, junior Ava Hortillosa watched Santee somehow turn away her close-range effort through a maze of green and white Grayslake Central shirts during a sequence in which the Wauconda bench believed a foul should have been called.

Referee Todd Abraham issued a yellow card to a Bulldogs assistant before play resumed.

When it did, it signaled the start of “The Lily Schmidt Show.” The Wauconda keeper made the first of a handful of superb saves to keep the home side from denting the back of her net.

She came off her line to make a brave punch of a well-served corner from Rodriguez, then later turned away a nasty one-timer by Mallory Burrows at 12 minutes.

Grayslake Central had a bit of trouble solving the high line their guests played but nearly did so after Ava Henne played a nice ball to Rodriguez. She sent an early ball to the hard-charging Armstrong on the left side, but the pass was just too heavy for her teammate to latch on.

"Our attack has been a work in progress at times," said Armstrong. “But when we're connecting passes and possessing the ball in the midfield, like we did for a lot of that first half, we can put a lot of pressure on our opponents.”

The Ram’s Santner was strong in the air when she pulled down a curling free kick from Hortillosa at the quarter hour.

Minutes later the home side made the most of a brilliant run up the right side by Rodriguez, whose full-throttled pace allowed Durley to find some open space just outside the box.

Collecting and holding the Rodriguez helper long enough to carry to her right, the senior stayed composed before sending her well-placed shot past Schmidt, who had no chance to stop the eventual abbreviated-game winner.

"Just a great sequence for us on that goal: Dahlia has an amazing run up the right side; and that finish by Paige was outstanding," said Andersson with a smile.

Durley and Rodriguez shared the Chicagoland Soccer MVP of the Match honor for their shared success.

The lead could have doubled if not for another terrific save by Schmidt.

A lovely ball from deep in the Rams end by Madison Hoffman sprung Armstrong.

As she roared up the left side, she turned her hips inward to unleash a left-footed cracker that required Schmidt to-go in full extension to stop the 22nd minute blast or see it end up in the back of her net.

"I am not at all surprised about the way both keepers played tonight," began Shogren.

"Lily is a great leader and just fights through everything in and around our box. I knew it was going to take some quality in order to beat either keeper tonight."

There was plenty of end-to-end action during the final quarter hour of the half. 

Wauconda’s Kelsey Funkhouser headed away a piercing long ball from Hoffman to give the home side a corner. Rodriguez then watched the freshman take her shot off the line to keep things at 1-0.

Rodriguez tested Schmidt with a couple of looping efforts from different angles before the Wauconda duo of Hortillosa and sophomore Bella Ramirez looked to conjure up some trouble before the break.

"(Ava) Hortillosa is going to be a very dangerous player for us next year. Bella is a physical presence up-top. With another year under her belt, we hopefully will be making more connections up-top next spring," said Shogren.

"And Caryl Fisher continues to be a real rock for us as our defensive-mid."

When the whistle blew the first half over, seconds later the first Thor Guard horn sent both clubs indoors. As lighting in the western skies continued for the better part of an hour, the decision came to end this night of soccer for good.

"We played a pretty solid 40 minutes of soccer - Paige (Durley) and Ava Bradley up-top put a lot of pressure on Wauconda to help us get the win we came here for," said Armstrong.

"It was a good win for us against a very good Wauconda team," began Andersson.

"As I've said, we've had our struggles along the way, especially in the first part of our schedule when we played a great Class AA team like Deerfield, then followed up with three state-ranked teams at the Malnati's, including New Trier.

"We might have to think about returning there, but I feel that we get the chance to play some quality 3A opponents while giving some of our players, such as Dahlia, a chance to showcase their talents. That is vital when the coaches meet later on to decide who will be named All-State.

"We're typically in a room with 3A teams, many of which never get to see us play.

"(New Trier coach) Jim Burnside saw Dahlia in our match with them and really came away impressed with the way she plays. That was a great thing for her."

Starting lineups

Wauconda (4-4-2)
GK- Lily Schmidt
D- Emma Wisniewski
D- Kelsey Funkhouser
D- Meagan Gerle
D- Sophie Kloss
M- Claire Zimmerman
M- Caryl Fisher
M- Ava Hortillosa
M- Kaley Kirchwehm
F- Isabelle Gerle
F- Bella Ramirez

Grayslake Central (3-1-4-2)
GK- Karlee Santner
D- Kate Kruse
D- Peyton Hoffman
D- Avalyn Woods
M- Madison Hoffman
M- Sara Armstrong
M- Dahlia Rodriguez
M- Mallory Barrows
M- Ava Henne
F- Ava Ramsey
F- Paige Durley

Chicagoland Soccer MVPs of the Match: Paige Durley, sr., F, Grayslake Central; Dahlia Rodriguez, jr., MF/F, Grayslake Central

Referee: Todd Abraham

Scoring summary

First half
Grayslake Central: Durley (Rodriguez), 18'

Second half
Canceled due to weather