VERNON HILLS — Finally, they battled.
Rain forced the postponement of the Grayslake Central-Vernon Hills nonconference match April 2. The teams rescheduled and agreed to meet May 9.
Then, after both sides saw the Class AA state tournament pairings, they agreed to wait until the playoffs.
Finally, on Tuesday night, seventh-seeded Vernon Hills hosted 10th-seeded Grayslake Central in a regional semifinal Tuesday night in chilly, windy conditions at Rust-Oleum Field.
“We relish playing a competitive program like Grayslake Central’s,” Cougars second-year head coach Cory Smith said minutes before kickoff. “Keith (Rams coach Andersson) is a great coach whose teams are always tough, and they’ve been playing very well as of late (4-1-0 in last five games).”
“Tough” and synonyms of the word predominated the talk after Vernon Hills’ 1-0 victory. Andersson and a few of his Rams (6-7-2) uttered “tough” to describe the setback. Smith’s Cougars (9-7-2) survived a pair of dangerous opportunities from the hardy visitors in the final two minutes.
Vernon Hills scored the match’s only goal in the 48th minute on junior midfielder Frannie Poulos’ redirect off a spot-on, near-post cross from junior forward Sophie Ackerman. Poulos’ sixth goal of the season traveled about three yards.
The victory the Cougars a spot in their regional final at 5 p.m. Friday against second-seeded sectional host Deerfield, the top-ranked team in the Chicagoland Soccer Class AA Super 7 poll.
Deerfield, which defeated 15th-seeded Northside 9-0 in Tuesday’s first semifinal, is up 1-nil in the season series against the Cougars. The Warriors won 4-2 at home April 12 in large part due to senior midfielder and two-time all-stater Emily Fox’s hat-trick.
Vernon Hills could look ahead. Grayslake Central was left to wonder what if?
“One goal. That’s soccer,” Andersson said moments after the final horn sounded. “Game of inches. It is what it is.
“This group was great. Good kids, outstanding students. It’s so nice when you get to coach students who do as well as our players do in the classroom.
“I’m excited to see what our seniors will do next in their lives.”
Only four seniors — midfielders and co-captains Sara Armstrong and Ava Ramsey, and backs Paige Durley and Avalyn Woods — started for the Rams on Tuesday night.
Armstrong, one of the top athletes at the school, will graduate as a two-time Class AA state championship team member in cross country (2021, 2022).
“Sara,” Andersson recalled,” scored on bombs for us this spring. She’s got a cannon of a leg.”
So do Grayslake Central sisters Madison Hoffmann, a junior co-captain and midfielder, and Peyton Hoffmann, a freshman centerback. They play basketball — both are tall guard/forwards — in the winter and imposing soccer in the spring.
Against Vernon Hills, they were up to their formidable selves, booming clears and blocking shots and turning more than a few rushes by Cougars into good chances spoiled.
“They are our twin towers,” Andersson said. “What I like about Peyton is how polished of a player she is as a freshman.”
Peyton Hoffmann and Ackerman shared the Chicagoland Soccer MVP of the Match honor.
Play had to be halted in the 26th minute when a referee was notified about Peyton Hoffmann’s bloodied left knee. The clever Hoffmann hiked up her left sock to cover the messy knee in a sneaky attempt to stay in the game, but a referee ordered the young Ram to get the wound checked out by the trainer.
She soon returned to action. The injury failed to hamper her play one iota.
“She’s got Hoffmann genes,” Rams junior midfielder and co-captain Dahlia Rodriguez said, referring to the athleticism that runs in the family. Rodriguez nearly netted the equalizer with only 49 seconds left in regulation, banging a shot off the crossbar from about 20 yards. Thirty-five seconds later, Vernon Hills senior goalkeeper Carly Sides made the last of her nine saves on a Madison Hoffmann header from close range.
“Soccer is such a game of inches, isn’t it?” Smith said. “We got a wonderful cross from Sophie, and Frannie provided a great finish with her one-timer. This game came down to taking advantage of one of our opportunities, after getting a handful of corner kicks, a handful of through-balls and a handful of
crosses.”
Vernon Hills senior co-captain and midfielder Ava Lukyan displayed her speed, resilience and soccer savvy all night.
“She’s the heart of our team,” Poulos said of Lukyan, who’s one of seven senior starters for Vernon Hills.
As soon as the humble Lukyan — standing two yards or so from Poulos at midfield — heard the compliment, she turned a shade of red and looked like she wanted to be anywhere else in the world.
Lukyan would probably prefer whiffing on a penalty kick to receiving praise.
“Knowing this could have been our last game of the season motivated us to play hard,” Lukyan said. “Our whole team plays with a lot of heart.”
Footnotes
Grayslake Central freshman keeper Karlee Santner stopped five shots Tuesday night. … Vernon Hills’ Smith, who grew up in the Cleveland area, played soccer at Wheaton College and started serving as a varsity assistant at Vernon Hills in 2013. He succeeded Mike McCaulou in 2023. … Madison Hoffmann, a Chicagoland Soccer All-State Watch List pick (along with teammate Armstrong) after the 2023 season, teamed up with doubles partner Natalia Malaczek to go 3-2 at the Class A girls tennis state tournament last fall. The pair of Rams reached the fourth round of the back draw. … Grayslake Central entered Tuesday night’s action with a collective goal differential of 15-1 in its previous five games (4-1-0). … Grayslake Central edged Vernon Hills 2-1 on April 4, 2023. ... Andersson, on Rams senior back Avalyn Woods, whose course load this spring is packed with AP courses: “She left it all on the field tonight. Avalyn worked incredibly hard each minute she was out there.” Woods plans to attend the University of California, Santa Cruz. … Rodriguez, a Chicagoland Soccer Player to Watch, has been getting looks from coaches at Marquette and Eastern Illinois University. “Good schools, good programs,” Andersson said. “Dahlia deserves the looks.” … To Andersson, the most memorable moment of the season was Grayslake Central’s 1-0 defeat of visiting Wauconda on May 2. Durley scored off an assist from Rodriguez in the Northern Lake County Conference game. … Durley served as Grayslake Central’s boys soccer team manager the past two seasons. “Paige,” Andersson said, “was spectacular in that role.”
Starting lineups
Grayslake Central
GK Karlee Santner
D Jordan Sutter
D Paige Durley
D Peyton Hoffmann
D Avalyn Woods
MF Sara Armstrong
MF Ava Henne
MF Ava Ramsey
MF Mallory Barrows
MF Madison Hoffmann
F Dahlia Rodriguez
Vernon Hills
GK Carly Sides
D Lydia Kessel
D Sara Budziak
D Arielle Gluck
D Lauren Hampton
MF Emily Hammond
MF Meagan Winckler
MF Frannie Poulos
MF Sarah Zimmerman
MF Ava Lukyan
F Sophie Ackerman
Chicagoland Soccer MVPs of the Match: Sophie Ackerman, jr., F,
Vernon Hills; Peyton Hoffmann, fr., D, Grayslake Central
Scoring summary
First half
No scoring
Second half
Vernon Hills — Poulos (Ackerman), 48’
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