Sterling girls soccer rallies past Princeton

STERLING – It took nearly two-thirds of the game, but the Sterling girls soccer team finally found an answer to slow down Princeton’s Mariah Hobson.

The Tigresses never did have an answer for the Golden Warriors’ Ellie Gasso, and the result was a 6-5 Sterling win on Saturday at Roscoe Eades Stadium.

The two high-scoring forwards combined for 9 of the 11 goals scored. Gasso knocked home five of them – the fourth time in her career she has reached that mark in a game. She did it by weaving through or running around a Princeton defense that was seemingly a step slow all day.


“It was fun to get some open room and actually get to utilize my speed on the field,” Gasso said. “Jasmin [Capilla] and I did a good job connecting down the middle. It was fun to see the midfields come together. We knew we were capable of playing those through-balls and finding that combo-point through the middle and getting goals, but we just haven’t executed on it so far this season. It was nice to see the pieces come together, all the things that we practice, and win a game.”

Gasso scored twice in the opening 5 minutes of play, off assists from Capilla and Olivia Niedermann, to stake the Golden Warriors (2-6) to an early lead, then Hobson took over. A speedy sophomore forward, she consistently got behind the Sterling defense and had numerous scoring chances. She scored with 27:57 left in the first half, then again with 5:42 remaining until halftime, but left some golden opportunities on the field.

Hobson was stopped three times on 1-on-1 scoring chances by Sterling keeper Jessica White in the first 28 minutes of play, and White also stopped a penalty kick by Hobson.

“I had a few wide-open shots, but my legs were pretty heavy today,” Hobson said. “My teammates really got me some great balls today, so I’m proud of them for that.”

Princeton (3-3) took a 3-2 lead on a goal by Savanna Birkey with 5:20 left in the first half.

The Tigresses’ biggest lead was two goals, at 5-3, following the last of Hobson’s four goals with 27:29 remaining in the second half. It was all Sterling the rest of the way.

Gasso scored with 24:45 left, with an assist from Hailey Walters, then knotted the score at 5-5 on a goal from Katherine Herrera with 14:58 remaining. Gasso assisted on that play.

The game-winner came from Gasso with 13:23 to play, with an assist from Capilla.

Princeton’s best chance to score again came with 10 minutes to go, after a Sterling hand ball in the goalie box resulted in a penalty kick. The PK was pulled left, however, by Birkey, and the Golden Warriors hung on from there.


“The team came to play today, and that ultimately got the win,” Sterling coach Alex Miller said. “They played together defensively. They played together offensively. They really worked to play a smart game against Princeton. Princeton didn’t make it easy by any means. It was a great team win overall.”

A big key was finding a way to slow down Hobson, who was quiet after scoring her team’s fifth goal. Miller credited defenders Lainey Block, Maria Garcia, Estefania Cayetano and Lizbeth Valdivia with stepping up their play against Hobson and the rest of the Tigresses.

“She’s one heck of a player and really made things challenging for us,” Miller said. “Defensively, we did a good job of figuring out how to play to our strengths to better handle her. Ultimately we had our center-mids and center-backs working together to not let her get that ball.”

Star of the game: Ellie Gasso, Sterling, 5 goals, 1 assist

Key performers: Mariah Hobson, Princeton, 4 goals; Jasmin Capilla, Sterling, 2 assists

Up next: Sterling at United Township, 6 p.m. Tuesday

Brian Weidman

Brian Weidman

Brian Weidman was a sports reporter for Sauk Valley News