Girls soccer notes: Crystal Lake Central’s Brooklynn Carlson helps Tigers to fast start

Sarah Fack knows when Brooklynn Carlson gets off to a hot start in a match, things are going well for Crystal Lake Central.

The Tigers coach watched Carlson score two goals in the first 38 seconds of their match against Grant on April 7 on her way to a hat trick. She score the first two goals against Huntley in her team’s win on Tuesday night.

“When she starts strong, the team starts strong,” Fack said. “If we’re together on the same page, she tends to get the goals, and when she gets goals, it motivates everyone around her, too. Those games are fun to have when she starts like that.”

Carlson has scored 10 of her team’s 26 goals in seven matches and found different ways to score. The forward knows how to find space and how to handle difficult situations, such as strong winds during Tuesday’s win over Huntley.

Carlson said she hasn’t done anything different this season and has just attacked and gone where the ball takes her.

“I’m just really motivated I guess,” Carlson said. “With the team around me, we have such great players and I want to play up to them, so whatever they do, I see how good they’ve been playing and I want to play good too.”

Richmond-Burton overcomes adversity, again

Casey DeCaluwe wasn’t happy with the way his Richmond-Burton squad started its match against Woodstock North on Monday, but how the Rockets finished has the coach encouraged that his players can respond to any adversity they face.

Richmond-Burton (8-0-1, 3-0 KRC) fell behind 2-0 in the first 15 minutes before it regrouped to tie the match at two at halftime and then move on to win 7-2 and stay undefeated.

“Once we settled down and started playing soccer, we handled the game much better.” DeCaluwe said.

The Rockets didn’t come out with the same intensity as the Thunder, and Woodstock North played physical and caught Richmond-Burton off guard, DeCaluwe said.

Reese Frericks continued her hot start to the season, which earned her the Northwest Herald’s Athlete of the Week honors, and earned a hat trick, scoring her team’s first two goals to tie the match before the half. Layne Frericks knocked in two more goals.

DeCaluwe has used different formations throughout the season to help prepare his team for different situations. Richmond-Burton has overcome early deficits before, including another 2-0 one against Grayslake North that the Rockets came back to tie.

The coach was proud of the way his team responded again.

“Overcoming adversity was one of the things we talked about that we’re not going to go into all our games and have an early lead, so how do you respond to that,” DeCaluwe said. “I think we showed maturity in doing that.”

Huntley working things out

It might be tempting to throw away the tape from matches like Huntley’s windy affair against Crystal Lake Central on Tuesday night, but Red Raiders coach Matt Lewandowski knows he can find important details in every match as he tries to find the right mix for his team.

“You can learn something in any game,” Lewandowski said. “We saw some tiny details that we can fix and make better, and ultimately that’ll make us better in the end.”

Huntley is out-scoring its opponents 11-8, but in its match against the Tigers, sophomore Gabriella Farraj scored her team’s lone goal with 1:57 left in the match. The Red Raiders managed one goal with the wind on their back in the second half, failing to capitalize on some chances.

The team is working on its communication. Lewandowski said. His foal is for the Red Raiders to be ready by the time the postseason starts, but in the meantime he’ll work on bringing his two groups together.

“Our skill is in our lower players and our experience is in our older players,” Lewandowski said. “We need to find a way to get the two to come together. Once we get everything sorted out, we’ll be fine.”

Dundee-Crown’s Mensik does it all

Dundee-Crown coach Rob Moulton knew Berkley Mensik would be a big boost for his team this season when she decided to play high school soccer her senior year, but even Moulton couldn’t have imagined Mensik’s impact.

“She’s fantastic,” Moulton said. “You can’t ask for a better player for a team, especially for me being a first-year coach. She’s a great leader, great character, great drive, great competitor.”

Mensik has scored 15 goals in Dundee-Crown’s six matches this season and tallied 30 points. She’s been involved in all of the Chargers’ goals in their last four matches, scoring seven goals and setting up the other three.

Moulton knows how important Mensik is to the offense based on the defensive attention she gets.

“The defense really sucks in and she is there to distribute as well,” Moulton said. “She gives other players an opportunity to score just on her presence and her hard work.”