Joliet West girls soccer takes care of Joliet Central in late-season Southwest Prairie match

JOLIET – With only a few games left in the regular season, there was plenty at stake in Tuesday’s matchup between Joliet West and Joliet Central.

Joliet West had been stuck in sixth place in the Southwest Prairie Conference girls soccer standings for a few weeks. Joliet Central, meanwhile, had been looking for its first conference win after a promising start to the season.

Joliet West prevailed.

Emma Vugteveen continued her outstanding freshman campaign with five goals to disappoint the Joliet Central home crowd, as the Tigers got the 8-2 win.

Joliet West (14-6, 5-3 SPC) has been stuck just behind Oswego East in the standings, but Tuesday’s win moved them within a game of the Wolves. It was also the seventh straight victory for West after a 7-6 start to the season.

“This is always the most emotional game of the year,” West coach Alan Stewart said. “The girls always come to play in this rivalry, and it’s always closer than the score appears. We’ve taken care of business, but they’ve always played well. Give them a bunch of credit.”

It was also another sensational day in a season full of them for Vugteveen. She now has 25 goals on the spring to go with nine assists, both of which lead the team.

“I had a lot of energy out there today, and I was feeling good going into the game,” Vugteveen said. “I think it was really important that we went up by a few to make sure we’re feeling good for tomorrow [against Oswego East].”

It wasn’t just the Vugteveen Show, however.

She scored the opening goal nine minutes in and added a header in the 28th minute. Alicia Casillas scored a minute later, and Isabel Cordoba snuck one in past the keeper in the 35th minute to make it 4-0 at halftime.

Casillas and Cordoba now have 11 and eight goals on the year, respectively.

Joliet Central (5-11, 0-9) refused to quit despite the score being what it was and managed a goal in the 44th minute by Juli Calderon, her ninth of the year.

The Steelmen also got an outstanding game in net from keeper Cali Judd. The score would have been far more lopsided in the first half were it not for some impressive stops. Judd finished the night with 18 saves to give her 173 for the season.

However, Vugteveen made it a hat trick with a penalty kick in the 52nd minute to stretch the lead to 5-1 for the Tigers. She added scores in the 67th and 70th minutes, while Jada Perez added her team’s eighth goal in the 72nd.

Victoria Davila scored a goal for the Steelmen in the final minute to give the match its final score.

“It was a good game,” Central coach Stephanie Phillips said. “We’ve still got a lot more to go. We are looking forward to our first playoff game against Richards in about a week. We’ll be looking for a win there. The message today was just to enjoy the moment, as it was our last official home game.”

Next up for Central will be another chance to pick up a first conference win as the Steelmen visit Plainfield Central on Tuesday. That will be their penultimate game of the regular season and final home game.

As for the Tigers, their best chance to finally move ahead of sixth place will come Wednesday at home against Oswego East.

“We had a top-five finish in conference last year, so our goal was top four this year,” Stewart said. “We have three losses in conference, so it’s going to come down to the Oswegos, and it starts with Oswego East tomorrow.”