NAPERVILLE – Willows Pia Chapello clutched the Eagles new state trophy with an iron grip early Friday afternoon.

However, the senior goalie didn’t want to keep the trophy away from her team. Instead, she implored every single teammate to kiss the Class A state third place trophy.

The Eagles ended a long state drought by reaching the state tournament for the second time in program history. Previously, the Des Plaines school earned a third place trophy in 2011.

“We’re going to carry this around all day and then put it in our trophy case and try and get more to come,” Chapello said of the trophy.

The Eagles (21-3-1) enjoyed the added bonus of knocking off their Independent School League rivals after suffering a 2-1 conference-title-deciding defeat to the Maroons on May 2.

Willows rode an early first half penalty kick goal by Veronica Presberg to a 1-0 victory over University (Chicago) Friday at Benedetti-Wehri Stadium on the campus of North Central College.

Presberg, the Chicagoland Soccer MVP of the Match, set the tone with her goal in the seventh minute. Her hard-hit penalty kick smacked off the upraised hands of University (Chicago) goalie Olivia Quiles (four saves), who stood her ground in the middle of the net, but the ball continued to rise into the top netting for a 1-0 lead.

“It was all just a mind game on the PK,” Presberg said. “It was a bit of a mis-hit, but just went over the goalie’s head. It was all about a mental game against the goalie. That gave us an extra wind, and it was all about fighting it out and holding it.

“After that first goal, we had to put it away. It gave us an extra energy, and we took it from there and got some good runs in and some good through-balls. 

“I’ve been a starter since my sophomore year, so this is special to get a trophy. It’s been an upward battle for us since my sophomore year. We have kept building up and up to get to this point. I’m very proud of this team.”

Willows junior defender Julia Lechner, a three-year starter, said the backline played outstanding to earn the clean-sheet. Chapello finished with seven saves in the win.

“Next year we have to go further,” Lechner said. “It may be harder since we’re losing some key seniors, but we know what it feels like, and we all want to come back here. We all have a lot of emotions. 

“We were a bit surprised when they started coming out at us hard. Our defense adapted, so the minute they started pressing us, we knew we had to control it, slow it down and get the ball out.”

Chapello kept emphasizing that the team played together to create the win.

“From the very beginning, we decided to focus for 80 minutes and to play for each other with our last 80 minutes with our team and the seniors,” she said. “The backline did a good job. We had to have someone cover and be ready to communicate to be ready for all of their through-balls. We won a lot of 50/50 balls, and Veronica had a great goal on her penalty kick. We all gave a lot of effort to get this victory.”

Willows coach Kayla Driver said her players managed to pull together to outlast a strong surge by the Maroons. The Eagles bounced back from Thursday’s 2-0 state semifinal defeat to Althoff in a strong way, according to Driver.

“Holding onto a 1-0 lead for 73 minutes is tough, but the girls showed up and grinded for it,” Driver said. “For us, we definitely had something to play for, because University (Chicago) is in our conference. It was special for us. Since University (Chicago) won the conference, we were fired up to play a common opponent.

“This is huge for us. It’s been over 10 years since we got to state and to end the season on a high is amazing for us. This was electric for us. It was such an exciting game, just like in the first game when they got a late-winner. For us to get a step ahead in state means everything. The goal set the tone for us the rest of the first half. In the second half, we got little leggy. It was about survival, but they grinded it out for the last half.”

University (Chicago) coach Josh Potter said it was tough to not score a goal in both state games, plus to lose to their conference rivals. Potter said Willows played a stellar 80 minutes.

“First off, Kayla is a fantastic coach, and she’s taken that program to new heights,” Potter said. “They fought hard and played incredible, so credit to them. They earned it. For us, it was a game of margins and that’s why it’s so tough to lose this way. 

“But at the end of the day, you have to score to win. We didn’t put the ball in the back of the net either (state) game. You have to score to win. It’s a good lesson for us. We qualified and entertained the fans. We don’t play a cheap style of soccer.”

Potter added he plans to step down as the head coach but expects the program to keep its upward ascent. The Maroons also failed to score in Thursday’s 1-0 state semifinal loss to Williamsville.

“This is my last season,” he said. “I’ve been here eight seasons. I want to thank the whole community for supporting me. I’m going to continue as an athletic director. I had so many people support me.”

Sophomore forward Leyla Yates, who finished with a team-best 13 goals, said the Maroons had several chances to tie the game, but couldn’t recover from allowing the early penalty kick goal.

“You have to persevere though all the losses and sadness and all of the emotions,” Yates said. “It was a tough loss. We took two tough state losses, which was hard. We can learn from this experience.

“That early goal was tough. We had a lot of opportunities but couldn’t finish. We will move on and come back stronger next season.”
 
 
Starting lineups

University (Chicago)
GK: Olivia Quiles
D: Sohana Schneider
D: Stella Sturgill
D: Orly Eggener
D: Maya Pytel
MF: Haley Sturgill
MF: Ana Rossi
MF: Lucy Aronsohn
MF: Norie Kaufman-Sites
F: Leyla Yates
F: Elspeth LaCroix-Birdthistle
 
Willows
GK: Pia Chapello
D: Maria Rodriguez
D: Ariella Donahue
D: Julia Lechner
D: Erin Mongoven
MF: Veronica Presberg
MF: Mary Seuffert
MF: Emily Elder
MF: Bernadette Presberg
F: Simone Burns
F: Tess Anastasi
 
Chicagoland Soccer MVP of the Match: Veronica Presberg, sr., MF, Willows
 

Scoring summary

First half
Willows: V. Presberg (penalty kick) 7’

Second half
No scoring