Girls soccer: Richmond-Burton takes down Willows Academy in 1A sectional seminfinal

WOODSTOCK – Richmond-Burton’s Layne Frericks had just jumped back onto the field after a nasty collision earlier in the second half Wednesday when she headed the ball into the net for the Rockets’ fifth goal of the day.

The sophomore’s goal capped a 5-1 win over Willows Academy in a Class 1A Marian Central Sectional semifinal, and showed Frericks will be ready to go for Friday’s sectional championship against DePaul College Prep.

Frericks went down at center field after taking elbow an to the face and was bleeding as she walked off with trainers. Frericks missed several minutes and had just reentered with about eight minutes remaining when Margaret Slove set up for a corner kick. Slove’s corner bounced right back to her after hitting a Willows player, and she crossed it into the box, right to the head of Frericks.

“My head was a little dizzy, but I timed it perfectly and it was a perfect ball from Margaret,” Frericks said. “I kept my eyes on the ball and just threw my head at it.”

Layne Frericks also assisted the team’s second and fourth goals, both to her sister Reese, a junior.

“We know how to read each other’s runs,” Layne Frericks said. “I play her the ball, and she gets there because she’s really fast. I have the most chemistry with her.”

The Rockets (19-1-1) put up three goals in the first half, but had to hold off some early pressure from Willows.

R-B broke through in the 25th minute on a Brianna Maldonado goal off a corner kick from Slove. The Rockets added another goal seven minutes later on Reese Frerick’s first score.

“Hats off to Willows Academy,” R-B coach Casey Decaluwe said. “They came out and put us under pressure that first 10 minutes, and I think we had to sort of weather the storm, and then when we found that goal, I could see us start to settle in.”

Slove extended R-B’s lead to 3-0 late in the first half on a goal off of a cross from Jordan Otto.

“We’ve definitely been working on playing faster, playing more as a team, and just really connecting out there,” Slove said. “This is just another step toward our main goal, which is to get to the Final Four. It was a big win today.”

The Rockets fell one match short of reaching the Class 1A state semifinals last season, losing to Timothy Christian, 1-0, in a supersectional.

Layne Frericks said the team’s dynamic has improved from last season, a trend the sophomore expects to continue.

“The team is really strong, and it’ll be the same thing next year,” Layne Frericks said. “We have no seniors on varsity, so next year is going to be even stronger. We have a couple more freshmen coming in, including one of my sisters.”

Decaluwe has many aspirations for the team moving forward in the postseason. First up will DePaul College Prep, which the Rockets will face at 4:30 p.m. Friday.

“Our big goal is to make it to state, which is one that this team has been laser-focused on since we lost in the supersectional last year,” Decaluwe said. “We’re really starting to see the 1-2 combinations, the overlap runs. We’re playing our best soccer right now.”