After a regular season finish of 17-4-4, the GBS Girls’ Soccer team shut out both Warren and Carmel to win the Regional title and punch a ticket to the sectional tournament.
Goals from Nicole Sroubek, Taylor Fuderer, Eleni Haramaras and Lindsey Oldshue led to the team’s 4-0 defeat of Warren in the first playoff matchup. The Blue Devils, going into the playoffs, had won 8 of their last 11 games.
The Lady Titans tied Warren 1-1 in an early season matchup despite outshooting the Blue Devils 23-2. Coach Seong Bong Ha reflected on the draw as a sign of motivation for the rematch.
“The girls were really disappointed to tie Warren 1-1 with outshooting them [by] that much,” said Ha.
Three days later, the Lady Titans were back on their home turf defending their postseason record and shutout streak. They converted vs. Carmel, topping the Lady Corsairs 2-0 in the Saturday afternoon heat. The win marked the girls’ 10th consecutive shutout, over which time they have scored 43 goals.
An eighth minute goal from senior defender Keeley Nolan, initially put the Titans on top 1-0. Nolan followed that up with an assist to junior forward April Cronin in the 46th minute, leading her team to a 2-0 shutout of the Corsairs.
The girls continued their playoff run Tuesday with a 6-2 victory over Palatine High School. Cronin had four goals in the victory.
Despite the recent success, the regular season win versus Maine South was cited by all captains as an important moment to spring the team to the recent success.
“I think a big turning point was the game against Maine South,” senior captain Eleni Haramaras said. “Last week we have had a couple of wins that were not against the best teams. We got down 2-0 against Maine South, and then came back 3-2. That symbolized to our team that we can be successful.”
After the win versus Maine South, the tides turned and the defense had not let up a goal from April 24 to May 22. Senior Keeley Nolan also thought the game was a confidence booster.
“It really shows how much you can change the play of the game when you put your mind to it,” Nolan said.
“When we were down 2-0 we just had to wake up and when we finally did…after the third goal we knew we knew we were all over them,” Nolan said.
The girls look to keep the momentum going Tuesday night as they will advance to the Sectional Championship vs. Buffalo Grove. The game will be held at Palatine and starts at 6 p.m.
