In Local Girls Soccer Rivalry, Fenwick Beats OPRF 4-2

You can call this episode of the girls soccer rivalry between Fenwick and Oak Park-River Forest “The Shootout at the Oak Park Corral.”

By the time the dust cleared in a bang-bang first half, Fenwick had a 3-2 lead. As the sun set in the west in the closing seconds of the showdown, senior sharpshooter Clare Madden scored her third goal of the game to seal a 4-2 victory for the visiting Friars Thursday evening.

“Best player on the field, I think,” Fenwick coach Robert Watson said of Madden.

It was Fenwick’s first win against OPRF (10-5-2) in at least the past five years.

“We played well, all of us,” Madden said. “It was tough, but we came together as a team. We proved we’re good. We’re underrated.”

A larger-than-normal crowd turned out on both sides. The feisty, enthusiastic fans saw an entertaining one.

“Obviously it’s a phenomenal environment,” Watson said. “Oak Park is an extremely good team, so it’s a big win for us. It’ll give us momentum going into state. Obviously Clare’s a phenomenal player, but you’ve got to credit all 11 here. It was a complete team effort. Our goalkeeper (Sydney Galvez-Daley) made a lot of saves. Our sweeper (Mia Patrevito), I think is the best in the state.”

The Friars (14-7-2) tied a program record for victories in a season with 14.

OPRF probably set a record for fastest goal in the rivalry. Tess Trinka took a pass from Emily Gullo and booted the ball into the goal from the left side just 29 seconds into the contest.

But it took Fenwick just over five minutes to answer. Audrey Kiefer beat a defender to the ball in front of the OPRF net and scored to tie the game.

Four minutes later, Madden slid down the right side and slipped the ball into the goal, putting the Friars in front 2-1.

In the 31st minute, Madden struck again with a brilliant individual effort. She somehow dribbled through a pair of defenders on the left wing and then beat a third defender before blasting a bullet into the net, giving the visitors a 3-1 edge.

“Wow,” a fan in the stands said after Madden’s maneuvering. “Put that on YouTube.”

“My coach has been telling me all season to just take people on,” Madden said. “He’s given me a lot of confidence so I finally decided to listen.”

Just two-and-a-half minutes later, Gullo headed in a goal off a pass from Sara McCall to bring the Huskies within 3-2.

“We came to play,” OPRF coach Paul Wright said. “If you take a look at the first half we gave up a couple quality shots and they scored. I felt like we possessed the ball for the majority of the first half.”

After participants and fans alike caught their collective breaths at halftime, the physical action tightened in the final 40 minutes.

Thanks in part to Fenwick’s back line led by Patrevito and Meredith St. Clair, OPRF didn’t get put a shot on goal in the second half until its final minutes. Shelby Cozette and Gullo each put a header on net, but Galvez-Daley stopped both attempts.

Then Madden recorded her third hat trick of the season when she scored her 17th goal of the season with seven seconds remaining to put an exclamation point on the Friars’ victory.

“She was all over the place,” Wright said of Madden.