Fremd's Norenberg stands tall vs. Conant

Fremd reached the championship game for the second time in three years by edging Conant 2-1 on penalty kicks Friday in the Class 3A state semifinals at North Central College in Naperville.

The Vikings face Hinsdale Central in Saturday's state championship.

Fremd, which handed the Cougars their only two losses this spring, won the shootout 3-1 as junior goalie Allison Norenberg saved Conant’s first two attempts and guessed right on the fourth shot, which caromed off the underside of the crossbar and out.

“Before she kicks it I decide which way I’m going to go,” said Norenberg, who made 11 saves during 120 minutes of regulation and four overtimes. “I look at the eyes and from there figure out which way to go.”

Conant (19-2-4) took a 1-0 lead on Breanna Fitzpatrick’s goal with 3:39 left in the first half. The Vikings (20-4-1) didn’t get the equalizer until Laura Mayer scored on a 25-yard free kick with 6:55 left in regulation.

“I think we had some solid chances to put the game away,” Conant coach Jason Franco said. “If we had gone up 2-0 it would have been a whole different story. But hats off to them.”

Mayer, Danielle Romano and Elise Kotsakis scored during the shootout and Norenberg — who also stopped two penalties during the Vikings’ only other shootouts this year — did the rest.

“I’ve got a lot of confidence in her,” Fremd coach Steve Keller said of Norenberg.  “We’ve worked on that a lot. The practice paid off.”