Madden goals boost Fenwick over Oak Park

Updated: May 12, 2011 10:31PM

Fenwick’s first regular season under coach Robert Waston has turned into a season of firsts.

The Friars won the East Suburban Catholic Conference for the first time earlier this week and ended the regular season Thursday night at neighborhood rival Oak Park-River Forest with their first win in at least five years over the Huskies.

Clare Madden scored three goals for the third time this season to lead Fenwick to a 4-2 victory. The Friars (14-7-2) tied a school record for wins in a season heading into the Class 3A playoffs next week. Two of Madden’s goals came during a three-goal burst after OPRF (10-5-2) scored the game’s first goal in just 29 seconds.

“We came out here and just wanted to have fun,” Madden said. “OPRF is so much fun to play against.”

Freshman Tess Trinka stunned Fenwick with a right-footed liner past goalkeeper Sydney Galvez-Daley off a header from senior Emily Gullo. Gullo, who scored her team-leading 17th goal of the season with 7:06 remaining in the first half, played her final game at Memorial Stadium.

“I’ve never lost to Fenwick,” Gullo said. “Bad games happen. This was exciting. There were a lot of goals.”

After the game, OPRF coach Paul Wright announced that he was stepping down after the season. Wright will continue as the boys head coach. He introduced his replacement, Ignacio Ponce, who ended this season as the assistant sophomore girls coach.

All of the game’s scoring came in the first half. The Huskies had two prime opportunities to tie the game in the final two minutes on a shot by Shelby Cozette and a header by Gullo. Madden ended the game with her final goal, her 17th on the season, with 7.6 seconds remaining.

The Huskies lost two starting defenders in the first half when Rachel Durbin (broken nose) and Renata Voci (charley horse) came out nearly 11 minutes apart. Durbin is expected to play in playoff opener at St. Ignatius Tuesday, but Voci’s status is unknown.

After Trinka’s opening goal, Audrey Kiefer tied the game five minutes later after beating Durbin to the ball for a right-footed shot past keeper Darcy Hargadon.

Madden scored back-to-back goals after weaving through the OPRF defense to put the Friars ahead 2-1. Her next goal, with 9:36 to go in the first half, came after Madden dodged a few defenders and then ripped a right-footed dart from 25 yards out past a diving Hargadon.

“It was a complete team effort. We came to play,” said Watson, who also coaches Fenwick’s boys team. “We started showing up after we gave up that goal in the first minute. I’d rather not give up that first goal to be honest with you. We hang our hat on our goalkeeping and defense.”

Fenwick finished a 7-1-1 season in the ESCC with a scoreless tie against Nazareth May 10. All other teams in the conference had more than one loss this season.

“It was a pleasant surprise, but I would not say it was too big of a surprise,” Watson said. “I know we have a lot of talent and a lot of potential. We came together when we needed to.”

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