By Bobby Narang
DEERFIELD – North Shore Country Day senior midfielder Thomasina “Tommy” Kalotis waited a long time to score her first goal of the season.
So did sophomore teammate Margaret Fitzgerald also required patience, but that generally comes with the territory for defenders.
Both accomplished their goal in the Class A Rochelle Zell Regional championship Tuesday night.
Kalotis scored the opener late in the first half to spark an offensive surge that catapulted North Shore Country Day to a 3-0 against their second-seeded host. The third-seeded Raiders (5-6-1) advance to battle Sub-sectional A top seed Richmond-Burton in a Marian Central Sectional semifinal at 1 p.m. Saturday.
Rochelle Zell (12-5-1) saw its season come to an end despite several quality shot attempts, mainly by star senior forward Becca Berkeley, who is a two-time member of the Chicagoland Soccer Little All-State Team.
Tigers coach David Martinez said his team failed to capitalize on some chances.
“This group worked hard and prepared well,” Martinez said. “It’s an upperclassmen-heavy team. We have one sophomore, one freshman and the rest are all juniors or seniors. They play hard, and they do it together to support each other, which is important for a coach to see.”
North Shore Country Day coach Rebekah Kauffman said her players followed the game plan to perfection. The visitors wore out the host Tigers with their size, aggressiveness and physical play. All three goals were scored in a 22-minute-plus span that overlapped halftime.
“Our goal today was to come out and compete for every ball, for the space and every single inch out on the field,” Kauffman said. “I’m so proud of them, because that’s what they did. We tried to create offense with our defense, and they really came through. We’ve been working hard on that; so it’s great, this win.
“We talked about if we take away space that actually saves us from transitioning so much and going back on defense. Again, having them be able to put work into practice and having it pay off in a game hopefully builds momentum and confidence for us.”
Team captain Kalotis, a captain, certainly enjoyed herself in the postgame, becoming the first player to grab the regional championship plaque. She was happy to score her first goal of the season and even more thrilled to see it come in a marquee game.
A hustling heady play from the Chicagoland Soccer MVP of the Match gave North Shore Country Day the lead. It came after Rochelle Zell goalie Eliyah Hammel was injured and had to leave the match. After play resumed about five minutes later, Kalotis was ready. As the Tigers’ substitute goalie restarted play with a kick, she snuck in and scored just nine seconds after the game restarted. The 29th-minute goal gave the Raiders the only goal they needed.
Hammel, who then returned to the match, finished with six saves in 79 minutes and 51 seconds.
“It was all about timing and being in the right position,” Kalotis said. “It was to our advantage that unfortunately their goalie had to switch out, so it was about being in the right place at the right time.
“That goal felt really nice as a senior. It was possibly going to be my last game, so it was nice to secure that goal. The momentum changed after that. It was really nice to score. I felt it coming, a long time coming. I’ve had a lot of opportunities, especially in the Woodlands game. This time, I sealed the deal.
“We’re a very big and flexible team. We communicated well and were very supportive, and it came down to teamwork.
Kauffman credited the opening goal to her players watching the play unfold.
“That was very unfortunate for Rochelle Zell. A very confusing situation but the ability of pressure creates offense,” Kauffman said. “We had a player put on different pressure right away, another player got a touch and a third player was the one that scored. They all worked together and as a unit on that goal.”
Martinez said the injury to his starting keeper was unfortunate, but credited North Shore Country Day’s aggressiveness the entire match.
“With the rule regarding injuries (sitting out until the next stop in play), that’s what even one second does when you have an injury to your keeper,” Martinez said. “It was unfortunate. It’s not (our keepers) fault that happened.
“You can’t blame the rules. That one goal doesn’t stop the other two. We had a few things that we had to change, and that just didn’t happen today.”
The Tigers failed to score but sent countless shots that tested North Shore Country Day’s strong and physical backline and goalie Izzy Greenstein, who finished with five saves.
Berkeley nearly tied the game in the 32nd minute, but missed an empty net with a wide shot from eight yards. Late in the second half, Daisy Frank set up Berkeley for another try but the attempt went wide left with 19 minutes left in the game.
With 5:40 remaining, Berkeley had a breakaway but her soft tap hit a post.
“I’m proud on how our team performed, not only today but throughout the season,” said Berkeley. “We really worked hard in progressing, but North Shore Country Day was really strong.
“We definitely played hard. They had a lot of tall players, which was intimidating. I just kept pushing and moved forward and tried not to let them stop me from being me on the field. I thought that last shot was so close.”
North Shore Country Day was aggressive in the final third all game. The visitors tacked on a second goal on Fitzgerald’s blast with 37:31 remaining in the game.
“I just came out and got in the right spot and just kicked it,” Fitzgerald said. “It felt good because I didn’t think I would ever score since I play defense. This win feels really good -- to win a regional championship. We communicated, and our teamwork helped us today.”
The Raiders had two more close shots saved in the 62 seconds following Fitzgerald’s goal before Reese Meyers concluded the scoring on a 15-yard shot with just under 30 minutes left in the game. It was her fourth goal of the season.
“I think we were all focused together and worked toward a common goal and adjusted to the team we were playing and the conditions,” Meyers said. “This is great. Last year we had a big group of freshmen coming in, and we’ve had time to develop together. We all communicated, have good teamwork and a positive attitude.”
Rochelle Zell senior midfielder Ahava Cohen said the entire Tigers roster had a great work ethic.
“I feel so blessed to be on this team for four years,” Cohen said. “This is our strongest team, not because of our talent but our unity. I think it really meant a lot that everyone played hard every single practice and game. We all worked together and put a lot of effort on the field.
“They wore us out. We were tired, because we had a long break because of the (Jewish) holidays. We missed a lot of man-marking. I think we got a bit discouraged, which was hard. I don’t think this game represented us as a team.”
Cohen was sad to end her career but has fond memories.
“The Ida Crown game this year that we won was really good,” she said. “I put it all out there and played strong at my position. My sophomore year was special when I first got all-conference, because that was a big surprise.”
Martinez congratulated his five senior starters -- Cohen, Berkeley, Issy Wolle, Meira Lieberman and Abby Singer – for their contributions throughout their careers.
The Tigers advanced to the final with a 5-2 semifinal win over Schaumburg Christian.
“We were able to rest a lot of our players and a lot of our starters didn’t play in that game, so that was nice,” Martinez said. “We were prepared for today. We watched film and talked about what we need to do to stop a quality program.
“They just played better today. I’m proud of the team. The seniors worked hard and will be missed. We have some big shoes to fill with our five senior starters. They will be tough to replace.”
Starting lineups
North Shore County Day
GK: Izzy Greenstein
D: Zahra Omar
D: Isabel Roberts
D: Dixie Oelerich
D: Margaret Fitzgerald
MF: Reese Meyers
MF: Marina Bullock-Puzon
MF: Carly Lissner
MF: Avery Erwin
F: Kate Connolly
F: Daisy Stone
Rochelle Zell
GK: Eliyah Hammel
D: Michaela Halpern
D: Meira Lieberman
D: Issy Wolle
D: Sarena Sklar
MF: Moriya Mlotek
MF: Eliana Shapira
MF: Abby Singer
MF: Ahava Cohen
F: Elana Cohen
F: Becca Berkeley
Chicagoland MVP of the Match: Tommy Kalotis, sr., MF, North Shore Country Day
Scoring summary
First half
NSCD: Kalotis (unassisted), 29’
Second half
NSCD: Fitzgerald (Stone), 43’
NSCD: Meyers (unassisted), 46’
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