JCA turns in big second half to defeat Peoria Notre Dame

MENDOTA – The Joliet Catholic Academy girls soccer team turned in another strong showing in its Class 2A Mendota Supersectional match against Peoria Notre Dame on Monday.

Although the Irish defense probably was the most formidable challenge the potent Angles offense has faced this postseason, JCA (15-1-1) turned in a dominant second-half performance to come away with a 4-1 victory and a trip to state.

JCA will face St. Ignatius at 12:30 p.m. Friday at Fremd in the state semifinals. St. Ignatius defeated Payton, 2-0, on Monday.

JCA coach Oscar Valdez said his team controlled the first 10-plus minutes with its passing, as it has all season. Despite multiple JCA chances, however, the Notre Dame defense was able to withstand the pressure.

“The defense was amazing from [Notre Dame],” Valdez said.

Valdez added that the Angels attackers continued to make runs and get open for through-balls, which created more chances. JCA also pressured the Irish in their own defensive half, which forced several turnovers to spark attacks.

Angels junior Emma Gruber broke the deadlock nearly 12 minutes into the match after her team recovered a shallow goal kick just outside the Irish box. Gruber found space and tucked a shot into the back of the net for a 1-0 advantage.

Valdez lauded Gruber for her aggressive defense and tackling, which helped spark the JCA offense.

“We just needed to have the same mentality we’ve had throughout the whole entire season and just knew that we had to be hard and stay hard the entire game,” Gruber said “I think we did that.”

Peoria Notre Dame (15-3-2) created its own chances, forcing the JCA defense to be more active compared to recent matches. The Irish had their best chances on the few counterattacks JCA defenders weren’t able to quickly sniff out.

The Irish appeared to string together more solid possessions toward the end of the first half, so Valdez urged his players to set the tone in the final 40 minutes.

“We talked [at halftime] that we have to attack in the beginning [of the second half] because whoever scores the next goal will dictate the game,” Valdez said.

Forward Morgan Furmaniak took her coach’s advice to heart about eight minutes into the half when she received a pass in front of goal, turned and blasted it in to stretch JCA’s lead to 2-0.

About three minutes later, Gruber kept the momentum going when her pass found midfielder Alaina Wildenradt, who score to make it 3-0.

Just a minute later, Furmaniak found Gruber, who scored her second goal.

JCA defenders did their part with hard tackles from players such as Natalie D’Andrea, Brynn Higgins and Emy Diaz. The aggressive defense might have proved too much with about 21 minutes left when an Irish player went down in the box and the referee called for a penalty kick.

Notre Dame’s Claire Girard lined up to take it, but JCA keeper Abby Pasternak saved the shot to maintain her clean sheet.

“I knew she could do it, because she’s done it before,” Higgins said of Pasternak.

The shutout was not to be, however, as Girard redeemed herself, scoring with a about 12 minutes left in the match. Valdez said the Irish were sending waves of players in at the end as the seconds ticked away on their season.

“We were tired, but we were resilient,” he said. “We never stopped, and I told the girls, we never stop until the end.”