New Trier’s Jackie Hirsch knew how much Barrington wanted to stop KayAnne Gummersall from scoring in the Class AA final Saturday night.
“She had three or four people on her all the time,” Hirsch said of New Trier’s all-time leading scorer.
But the Fillies couldn’t stop Hirsch and Jenny Stone. It was their second-half goals that gave the Trevians their third state championship in four years at North Central College in Naperville.
Hirsch, a 5-foot-6-inch junior, scored what may be the biggest goal of her career in the final two minutes to give New Trier a 2-1 victory over the Fillies.
The game-winning play started with a shot by New Trier’s Jessie Wall. It hit the post and seemed like Barrington would be able to clear the ball. But a charging Hirsch had other ideas.
“I’ve been making that run all year and I knew I would get rewarded sometime,” said Hirsch, who had five goals coming into the game. “And [the ball] just came to me.”
She smacked it past goalkeeper Jessica Prassel to cap an emotional comeback for the Trevians, victims of a rally by Neuqua Valley in the 2005 state championship game.
Barrington (24-2-4), suffering its first loss to an Illinois team, took a 1-0 lead in the 24th minute when freshman Mary Kubiuk willed her way past three New Trier defenders and scored from 10 yards.
That’s how things stood for 39 minutes until Gummersall helped get the Trevians (28-2) back into the game. She took the ball to the end line and crossed it to Stone, who scored for a 1-1 tie with 17:51 left.
“Jenny Stone and Jackie Hirsch, just amazing jobs,” said Gummersall, who ended her season with 48 goals and 24 assists and had 136 goals and 76 assists during her high school career. “This was just a huge team effort.”
Gummersall scored three goals–the first just 10 seconds into the game –in New Trier’s 3-0 semifinal victory over Wheaton North. In the third-place game, goals by Katie Oakes and Michelle Scandora gave Wheaton North a 2-0 victory over Lyons (21-8).
Kelly Simon and Claire Denz had assists for the Falcons (26-1-1).
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asutton@tribune.com
