Herscher’s state title bid falls short

Updated: May 28, 2011 10:59PM

Herscher’s first appearance in the state championship match didn’t go quite as the Tigers hoped it would.

In fact, there wasn’t much about the game they liked. Alton Marquette romped to 5-0 victory in the Class 1A final Saturday night at Naperville Central to win its first state title and deny the Tigers (19-2-1) their first.

It was just the second time Herscher has given up more than one goal this season. The Tigers had shut out 16 opponents and allowed seven previous goals.

Senior star Nicki Wisnasky led the way for the Explorers (19-5-1) with three goals and an assist. The Central Missouri signee finished the year with 45 goals and 15 assists and had 106 career goals.

“The better player won tonight,” Herscher coach Alan High said. “(Wisnasky) is a phenomenal player. I thought we controlled possession most of the game. It was just one of those things where she’s a flat-out excellent soccer player.”

Wisnasky opened the scoring 6:26 into the match when she launched a 30-yard shot from the right wing. Herscher goalie Loryn Bruer bobbled the ball over her head and was unable to recover before the ball trickled over the goal line.

That was the only Marquette goal that could be blamed on Bruer, a sophomore who has only been playing soccer for two years and didn’t begin playing goalkeeper until midway through last season. She kept the Tigers in the game in the early going by making two brilliant saves on breakaways by Wisnasky and Caroline Hoefert.

“They have such an amazing team and they hit some really good shots tonight,” Bruer said. “Our team, we played with all our heart. It was a difficult game but I’m really proud that we got this far.”

The Herscher defense could not hold the line for long against the dangerous Wisnasky, who made it 2-0 with 11:57 remaining in the first half, getting a step on a defender in the right side of the Tigers penalty area and blasting a 12-yard shot into the upper-left corner.

The Explorers then broke the game open by pumping in three goals in a seven-minute span early in the second half.

Caroline Claywell started the barrage with 38:11 to go when she headed home a cross from Dunaway. Three minutes later, Cassie McFadden ripped a 20-yard free kick around the defensive wall and over Bruer’s head and four minutes after that, Wisnasky completed her hat trick by rising in traffic and nodding home a throw-in by McFadden.

The Tigers attacked until the end in an all-out effort to avoid being shutout for just the third time, but shots by Taylor Devine and Gabi Tobeck just missed wide in the closing minutes.

“I’m proud of our girls,” High said. “We played our tails off the entire game, did not quit from buzzer to buzzer. They’ve got huge hearts. I can’t ask anything more of them.”

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