ARLINGTON HEIGHTS — Gretchen Chianelli may have earned the nickname “Doc” Friday night.

“She’s surgical out there,” Hersey coach Michael Rusniak said of his junior midfielder, who scored the first goal in the Huskies’ 3-2 win over Rolling Meadows in the Mid-Suburban League finale for both squads at Forest View Stadium.

“Gretchen is precise and calculated,” he added. “She has really come into her own lately, stepping up her game and playing with more physicality. Sees the field well, too. In the last week or so, Gretchen and (sophomore forward) Gracie (Lisota) have worked well together in our attack.”

Over the years, American football running back duos have been dubbed “Thunder and Lightning.”

Is there something there for Chianelli and Lisota?

“Maybe Doc and Rocket Scientist,” Rusniak said after his repeat East Division champions improved to 12-7-1 overall and finished their league season at 9-2-0.

“Let me think some more about that.”

Early in the game Friday, Rusniak did not need to think about what was going on on the field. His club did not display the necessary vim to compete from the first whistle on the summery spring day. So he did something about it.

Five minutes in he ordered five subs — Sophia Duski, Freya McBride, Emily
Barrett, Dominique Bartoletti and Abby Molster — to enter the fray.

“That woke us up,” Huskies starting senior back Anni Caliendo said. “The team you saw play for most of the game today wasn’t us.”

Rusniak is as fun-loving and approachable as any coach in the area, but his ever-present smile disappeared when his squad appeared lethargic and reactive in his eyes.

“I switched things up to get more energy out there,” he said.

It worked. The Huskies netted their trio of goals in the next 32 minutes for a 3-0 halftime lead. 

“Meadows is always ready to play; we weren’t today,” Rusniak said. “Though I don’t have a lot of good things to say about our play in the second half, our group was still able to find a semblance of how we’d been playing in most of our other conference games.”

Lisota, a Chicagoland Soccer All-State Watch List selectee after her rookie season last spring, delivered the assist on the opener  in the 13th minute. Chianelli, the Chicagoland Soccer MVP of the Match, calmly connected on a smooth 10-yard shot to the left of Mustangs freshman goalkeeper Molly Dudle (two saves).

Later in the half, Rusniak gave Chianelli a well-deserved break after her strong first shift.

“Nice goal, Gretchy,” Rusniak said as a seated Chianelli swigged
water. 

In the 25th minute, Lisota doubled the lead via a PK, following a handball call in the box. McBride used her left foot to cap Hersey’s scoring in the 37th minute with a 15-yard, far-post shot.

Huskies junior midfielder Asha Bontje provided the assist.

The second half started promisingly for Hersey, with “Doc” making Rusniak feel good by executing effective moves.

“Good, Gretchen,” Rusniak said of a sequence in which Chianelli pressured Rolling Meadows’ defense.

“I love it, Gretchen,” the coach said a short time later, this time referring to a Chianelli pass.

Rolling Meadows’ Mustangs didn’t score their first goal until the second half, but they competed with purpose and urgency at the outset.

“For the first 20 minutes or so, I thought we had the better run of play,” Mustangs coach Mike Drenth said after his side slipped to 6-9-3, 3-6-2. “Trailing 3-0 entering the second half, I told our girls, ‘Don’t worry about the score. Show how you’re capable of playing.’ They did that.”

Rolling Meadows freshman midfielder Maddie Johnston tallied the home-away-from-home hosts’ first goal — an unassisted feat in minute 50 — and assisted on the other. 

Johnston set up her goal with an interception, after which she dribbled to establish ample space to launch a 15-yard shot past Huskies sophomore keeper Sam Fetzer (two saves).

Sophomore midfielder Lizzie Andriano narrowed Hersey’s advantage to 3-2 in the 63rd minute, drilling a high, eight-yard shot into the goal.

“We play with a lot of intensity, even when it’s against better teams,” said Johnston, one of five freshmen on the Mustangs varsity. “I feel we can come back at all times. We don’t give up. Our wingers (Andriano and senior Michaela Jackman) are fast and dangerous.”

Drenth praised Johnston for pouncing on her opportunity to jostle twine when it arose.

“Maddie played well and gutted it out,” Drenth said. “We have to do more of what she did today — capitalize on a chance.”

The delightfully intense Caliendo stood out for Hersey late, stymieing a number of Rolling Meadows rushes in the final two minutes. 

Fetzer grabbed a Mustangs corner in the 70th minute to quell a chance.

Rolling Meadows’ Andriano and Julia Ingemunson, a senior forward, applied serious heat on the Huskies’ defense in the 79th minute ahead of an overcooked shot from Ingemunson.

Hersey, an Honorable Mention team in Chicagoland Soccer Top 25, visits no. 3 Barrington for the MSL Cup championship match at 7 p.m. Wednesday. Rolling Meadows won’t play again until it faces host and no. 20 Stevenson in a Class 3A regional semifinal at 6:30 p.m. May 14. Meadows is seeded 12th, and Stevenson earned the no. 5-seed. 

Hersey lost 2-1 to host Barrington on April 24, nearly a year after bowing to the Fillies — the eventual Class 3A state runnerup — by the same score (in overtime) in the 2023 MSL Cup. 

“We’re excited to play Barrington again,” Chianelli said. “We played very well against them earlier, winning a lot of 50/50 balls and not being nervous.”

“I’ve been proud of our approach against Barrington’s teams,” Rusniak said. “I’m looking forward to battling that team again. You look at what we did today — our decision-making wasn’t great. But what’s encouraging to me is knowing our leaders don’t have to be told to focus better our next time out.”

Footnotes

The venue for Friday’s match shifted from Rolling Meadows High School to Forest View Stadium because the Mustangs campus athletic facility was used to host the MSL girls track and field meet. … Rolling Meadows took seven corner kicks to Hersey’s one. … Meadows’ frosh keeper Dudle and senior defender Maddie Dudle are the daughters of Buffalo Grove coach Pat Dudle, who also serves as a Rolling Meadows assistant girls basketball coach. … Hersey’s Caliendo, on Chianelli: “She’s such an unselfish player, such a team player.” … Chicagoland Soccer’s recent Watch List for subscribing teams spotlighted Lisota, senior forward Abi Beck, junior midfielder/defender Kiki Craft, senior midfielder Faith Sena and senior defender Finley Wilcox.

Starting lineups

Hersey
GK Sam Fetzer
D Finley Wilcox
D Anni Caliendo
D Natalie Suto
D Grace Balis
MF Asha Bontje
MF Gretchen Chianelli
MF Faith Sena
MF Kiki Craft
F Gracie Lisota
F Abi Beck

Rolling Meadows
GK Molly Dudle
D Payton Ullrick
D Abby Rogers
D Anna Kast
D Maddie Dudle
MF Lizzie Andriano
MF Eve Kakavetsis
MF Michaela Jackman
MF Maddie Johnston
MF Chiara Divito
F Julia Ingemunson

Chicagoland Soccer MVP of the Match: Gretchen Chianelli, jr.,
MF, Hersey

Scoring summary

First half
Hersey — Chianelli (Lisota), 13’
Hersey — Lisota (PK), 25’
Hersey — Freya McBride (Bontje), 37’

Second half
Rolling Meadows — Johnston (unassisted), 50’
Rolling Meadows — Andriano (Johnston), 63’