Herscher blanks Bishop McNamara to claim ninth straight regional title

HERSCHER − Inclement weather, a lengthy lightning delay and a Bishop McNamara team fighting for its season all stood between the Herscher girls soccer team and its ninth straight regional title Tuesday evening in the Class 1A Herscher Regional championship.

But the Tigers fought through the early rain, maintained focus through the nearly 40-minute delay in the first half and ended up downing the Fightin’ Irish 8-0 to keep that streak alive.

Molly Huizenga helped to anchor the defensive effort Tuesday that gave the Tigers their 10th shutout of the season. She is also part of a six-player senior class that has now won a regional title each season of their four seasons.

“It’s been a really special year, and it feels really fulfilling to get this ninth regional win in a row,” she said. “I think we’ve grown immensely as a team since the beginning of the year. We’ve obviously had our hardships, but we’ve overcome them as a team, and we proved ourselves.”

Juniors Sophie Venckauskas and Gianni Jaime got the scoring going for the Tigers. Jaime found Venckauskas with a pair of nice passes through the early rain and wind, and Venckauskas finished off both.

Then with about 16 minutes to go in the first half, lightning in the area forced players off the field and fans out of the stands.

With the teams off in their locker rooms for the next half hour, Jaime said the Tigers were able to keep the energy level up so the team felt they could come back out and finish off the half strong in what was still a close game.

“I think it definitely helped that we bond so well as a team,” she said. “We stayed hyped throughout the entire delay, and we knew we had to continue to get at them.”

The weather eased up after the delay, but the Tigers did not. A few short minutes after play resumed, Jaime collected the ball after her corner kick was steered away from the goal and sent it back into the net to make it 3-0.

The Irish had a couple solid chances before halftime, still trailing just 3-0. Ava Brockell had a shot sail wide, and Ella Langellier had her chance saved by Herscher’s Danica Woods.

After those stops, Jaime scored again on a pass from Venckauskas. Jaime then returned the favor, assisting on a goal from Venckauskas that gave her a first-half hat trick.

Jaime netted her third and fourth goals in the second half – one unassisted and one on a pass by Brooke King – before notching her fourth assist on a goal from Gianna High in the game’s final minute.

“You can see we’re stepping up in our game, and we went out and just focused on playing as a team and controlling that ball,” Herscher coach Christopher Longtin said. “Our communication was way up, and we struggled with that at the beginning of the year.

“I think we’re clicking and the pieces are starting to fall into place here. Hopefully we can keep it up.”

For the Fightin’ Irish (7-10), the season came to an end Tuesday, as did the high school careers of the team’s nine seniors.

The Irish went down swinging with lots of late pressure applied to Woods and the Herscher defense. Although none of those chances managed to break the shutout, coach Jason Dionne said he was happy with how the team finished.

“Our message is that the hard work and commitment you put into yourself and your teammates is a reward in itself,” he said. “The score wasn’t what we wanted today, but we were happy that we got to play some good soccer together and send the seniors off hard.”

Herscher will play next Friday night in the semifinals of the Class 1A Coal City Sectional, facing the winner of Wednesday’s Chicago Christian Regional championship between Peotone and Joliet Catholic.

With another regional title under their belts, Huizenga said the Tigers have their eyes set on the team’s third sectional title in the last four seasons and hopefully a bit more after that.

“It would be super awesome to make it to state,” she said. “Us seniors have worked really hard the last three years, and it would be super special to go all the way with this group.”