Girls soccer: Crystal Lake Central makes program history with third-place finish in IHSA Class 2A playoffs

NAPERVILLE – Crystal Lake Central relied on a team joke to open the way for the Tigers to make program history Saturday.

Central players had always joked that Kali Kaiser should take more shots from midfield after she scored on one of those attempts against Prairie Ridge. Kaiser went for it in the Tigers’ third-place match against De La Salle at North Central College and the joke landed, this time leading Central to a 5-1 win and the program’s first state trophy.

“It’s so surreal,” Kaiser said. “We’ve been working so hard for this and all of our hard work has finally paid off. It feels great.”

Central (19-4) wanted to end the season on a right note after the Tigers felt like they didn’t play to their full potential Friday in a 2-0 loss to Benet in the Class 2A semifinals. The Tigers offense came out firing with five shots on goals, two corner kicks and one free kick in the first 15 minutes, but they couldn’t find a way to put the ball in the back of the net.

That’s when Kaiser decided to just go for it. She launched the ball roughly 50 yards from the goal line and the ball sailed just over the De La Salle goalkeeper Emily Samuels’ arms to give Central a 1-0 lead with 24:04 left in the first half.

“It was a nice boost for our team,” Central coach Sarah Fack said. “We had a bunch of chances that we couldn’t quite put in so we’ll take it.”

The Tigers continued attacking and the scoring followed suit. Olivia Anderson made it 2-0 when she scored off a free kick with 17:35 left in the first half and Ava Knapp made it 3-0 with 1:50 left in the first half.

Central kept pressing and Hadley Ferrero scored to give Central a 4-0 lead with 29:52 left in the match before Anderson scored her second goal with 3:27 left in the match. De La Salle scored with 6:53 left in the match when Lauren Torres knocked in a penalty kick.

Fack was proud that the Tigers could end the season on a high note with a win on Saturday playing the way they had all season.

“It means a lot to them and it couldn’t have happened to a better group of kids,” Fack said. “We have wonderful kids, wonderful families and they worked hard, they worked for each other and it was a really nice and fun group to coach this year.”

The Tigers will lose three seniors — Katie Barth, Gwyn Brickey and Olivia Madalinski — from this season’s team that went undefeated in conference play to win the Fox Valley Conference, its first supersectional title and its second sectional title in program history.

“It’s so surreal. We’ve been working so hard for this and all of our hard work has finally paid off. It feels great.”

—  Kali Kaiser, Crystal Lake Central junior

After getting a taste of what the state tournament is like, the Tigers are motivated more than ever to make more history next season.

“Next year, we’re going bigger,” Kaiser said. “Third place is great, but first place is even better.”