Gianni Jaime still remembers her first time taking the pitch for the Herscher girls soccer team four years ago, the first of more than 70 wins and counting that the Tigers have earned since then.

“Starting as a freshman, my first game I was pretty nervous,” Jaime said. “Just getting confidence over the years, kind of just continuing to play has helped me grow as a player. I think it’s gone by super fast, but I’m grateful for everything that’s happened over the years.”

Fast forward four years, Jaime and her six four-year varsity classmates celebrated senior night against Illinois Central Eight Conference foe Manteno on Tuesday. Jaime, who became the program’s second-ever 100-goal scorer this season, added to her school-record assist total on a first-half feed to classmate Sophie Venckauskas before Gianna High’s late free kick gave the Tigers breathing room in a 2-0 win.

The Tigers (17-2, 7-0 ICE) wrapped up their fifth straight undefeated conference record with the win over a Manteno (9-8, 3-3) team that entered the day winners of five of their last six.

“I really couldn’t have (imagined a better night), and it’s not even just the score in the end,” Venckauskas said. “It’s about the good vibes with my teammates, and it’s definitely a bittersweet feeling of it being my turn for senior night.”

As Tigers head coach Chris Longtin joked seems to be a theme with senior-night nerves, the visiting Panthers were the early aggressors, stringing together passes and runs for two scoring chances in the game’s first five minutes.

But after the Herscher defense turned those away, the Tigers went on the attack and never stopped.

They had a handful of looks themselves over the next 20 minutes and finally cashed one in when Jaime drew attention from the Manteno defense just inside the middle of the field and threaded a perfect pass to Venckauskas, who made a defender miss before getting the Tigers on the board in the 25th minute.

“She just gets that ball down there,” Venckauskas said of Jaime. “Obviously, everyone steps to her, she just slides it over or plays it through. She’s really good about playing that open space.”

Scoring chances for both teams dried up toward the middle of the game, but junior Gianna High gave the Tigers insurance that goalkeeper Addie Wilkins and the stout defense in front of her never needed when she booted in a free kick six minutes into the second half.

Like Jaime, Longtin vividly remembers when the seniors first took the pitch four years ago, members of the last team that played on their old grass field. While their high standard – the Tigers will look for their 10th straight regional title this postseason – never wavered, it’s something he’s enjoyed watching them learn on their own.

“When they come in as freshmen, they’re a little nervous,” Longtin said. “They don’t necessarily know what we’re about, but that’s not something we focus on. We focus on playing well and improving every game. When we do that, these things show in the end.

“They don’t know it in the beginning, but they start to understand after a year or so that if we put the work in, the details matter and we get to go places. I’ve been blessed to have girls that work very hard and do what they do very, very well.”

The Tigers have a week off before they host Hope Academy in their regular-season finale next Tuesday. The Panthers have trips to Marion Catholic on Thursday and Crete-Monee on Friday before they finish up with a home clash with Lisle next Tuesday.

And although the scoreboard might not have indicated it, Panthers coach Erik Greenquist knows that if the Panthers play as hard and disciplined as they did against a juggernaut Herscher team, they can enter regionals with a few wins strung together.

“I think they left it on the field,” Greenquist said. “I teach them that we (coaches) are just managing the game, it’s all them out there. Hopefully we can take this momentum to the postseason. They’ve got goals, and I told them that if they can mimic this, it’ll be fun to watch.”