vs. Northbrook High School - 02.01.23

On a brutally cold and wet Wednesday evening, your Stratford Spartans Girls Varsity Soccer Team hosted Northbrook High School on the turf of Tully Stadium. With a handful of parents bundled up in the stands, the match got underway with a lot of back-and-forth to start the game, but at the 19 minute mark Senior Lauren Ahearn worked the ball from the left side back towards the middle of the field, zig-zagging between defenders until she found Sophomore Allison Goodwin on a cross as Goodwin was charging the goal, where she fired left side, past the outreached glove of the Raider goalie to put SHS on the board, 1-0. With about 12 minutes to go until halftime, Senior Kristin Geczik dribbled straight up the middle of the field between defenders, ultimately giving it up to Sophomore Ryann Weber, who was able to laser a shot in between the goalie’s fingertips and crossbar to increase the lead to 2-0 and take us to halftime.

As the temperature continued to dip toward freezing and a light rain started, the second half got underway. About 12 minutes into play, the Raiders were called for a foul, and Senior Ellie Stephenson took the free kick from about 20 yards out. The Northbrook goalie made a great stop on a very hard-hit ball, but couldn’t handle it cleanly… however, Senior Elise Lavern was able to handle the deflection and made an immediate cross to wide open Senior Elle Howell, who was able to fire it in the back of the net for the third Stratford goal of the night. During the last 15 minutes of the game, Ahearn and Sophomore Mary Paul worked together in perfect unison. Ahearn was able to find Paul twice in the span of three minutes and add two more assists and two more goals to the SHS stat column, taking the Spartans to 5-0. As time was winding down on a bitterly cold evening, Paul would take one last corner kick from the Northbrook end – and it would end up being one of the most exciting of the night, as Junior Lizzie Emerson placed herself right in front of the goal to redirect the incoming kick with a perfect header on the open side of the net to cap the night off with a sixth and final goal.

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vs. Spring Woods High School - 02.04.23

After a week of freezing temps, the Varsity Girls Soccer Team had their first District away game at Spring Woods Stadium vs. the Spring Woods Tigers. The Lady Spartans would take the field on a bright and warm early afternoon in their all-white kits ready to battle. Just 11 minutes into the match, Senior Kendall Emery would make a run up the left sideline past the defenders toward the Tiger goal, receiving a pass from midfield in stride, but then gave it up as she approached the end line, crossing it to trailing Sophomore Allison Goodwin for an easy goal to get on the board, 1-0. Less than two minutes later, Senior Kristin Geczik would fire from the middle of the field, but the shot was deflected and Sophomore Ryann Weber was there to put it in the back of the net and take us to 2-0. As we approached halftime, the ball was cleared to the left side to Senior Elise Lavern, who beat her defender and held the ball until Freshman Sydney Valentine got open for a cross and beat the Tiger goalie, firing top-shelf to close out the first half 3-0.

As the second half was just getting underway, Sophomore Whitney Bui lofted a soft shot to Weber near the goal, and Weber headed it to the left of the goalie, who blocked it but couldn’t secure it, leading to a goal from Senior Lauren Ahearn to make it 4-0. Ahearn and Weber would get their chance to work together on the next possession, but this time it was Ahearn passing to Weber, who gave it up to Goodwin, working the ball from left to right with a strong shot, adding a fifth goal to the tally, 5-0. On the ensuing kickoff, Stratford would get the steal, and Ahearn would make a very long run from midfield, leaving her defender wondering what happened and then did the same to the goalie, beating her one-on-one to the far post to go to 6-0. Two possessions later, Ahearn once again made a run up the left side, crossing the ball to Sophomore Mary Paul, who was able to squeeze the ball between the right post and the Spring Woods goalie’s outstretched glove to increase the lead to 7-0 with 26 minutes remaining in the game. It was at this point that Stratford played the remainder of the game a man down, 10 vs 11. However, even down one it was tough to stifle the Spartans. Freshman Sara Benton would feed Freshman Sydney Valentine on the run, where Valentine would shoot far right post to go up 8-0 with more than 20 minutes to play. Then four minutes later, Benton would get another one in the assist column with a pass to the left side to Ahearn, who would find the back of the net one last time for the Spartans in this game. With this victory, the Lady Spartans remain undefeated in District play and get their fourth win in a row.

This week was a good warm-up for the next couple of games, where the competition will only get tougher in matches against Cy Ridge HS on Tuesday and Memorial HS on Friday. Come out and support Varsity Girls Soccer this week!