'It means everything to them'
Apr. 15—CHAMPAIGN — For the first 10 minutes of Sunday's second-annual Champaign-Urbana Girls' Soccer Showcase at Demirjian Park, fans calmly enjoyed the nicest day of the season to that point. Just past noon, a slight breeze complemented the 80-degree heat, and Uni High and Danville were battling for the first goal of the day.
From there, if you blinked, you missed Cali Cooper single-handedly give the Illineks a 4-0 lead, which turned into a 7-0 win.
"I just made sure to take my chances," Cooper said. "When I had space and saw the goal, I just went ahead and shot."
Cooper broke the scoreless seal in the 11th minute and followed that with a long-range goal three minutes later. She connected for a hat trick just 15 minutes into the game and made it a 4-0 Uni High (2-8) lead seven minutes after that.
The sophomore's fourth and final goal was her most impressive. Another shot from well outside the goalie box, Cooper lofted the ball over the defense and tucked it perfectly above the leaping goalie's hands and below the crossbar. It was a shot Danville coach Ron Sillings said would be impossible to save no matter who was in net.
"It's wonderful," Uni High coach Cora McQueen said of Cooper's power and precision. "Anytime we have space, we have Cali and Sophie (Anderson) who can take those shots easily. It's awesome."
The Vikings (3-10) had a few solid scoring chances later in the first half. In the 25th minute, Lindsey Porter dribbled past multiple defenders but missed her ensuing shot just left of the net. In the 34th minute, Uni High's goalie got tripped up, leaving an open net, but the ball was deflected out of bounds.
Two minutes later, Meleah Williams' free kick popped straight up into the air off the hands of the goalie, who then dove on the ball just before it crossed the line.
Danville just couldn't find the back of the net. Despite the deficit, Sillings constantly clapped his hands with a smile on his face and hollered words of encouragement to his players.
"We're a building team," Sillings said. "Every time we make three consecutive passes, it's a win for me. Three is going to turn into four, and four is going to turn into five. We'll just keep building on it."
The Illineks added three more goals in the second half for good measure, two from Anderson and one from Annalise Williams. Cooper said she was happy to see some of her teammates get involved in the scoring, especially on the University of Illinois stage.
"Soccer means a lot to me, and it was great to see them supporting girls' soccer in the area," Cooper said. "It was great to be able to play in front of all the fans and my family. It was great, and we played a good game."
That excitement was similar with the coaches.
Sillings said his players had to calm him down when they first stepped on the field at Demirjian Park. It was a last-minute decision for Danville to join when St. Thomas More had to back out after weather postponed the event, and "We said, 'Heck yeah.'"
"This opportunity, I hope it's not once in a lifetime," Sillings said. "I hope it's once a year, but for some of these seniors, this is once in a lifetime to play on this field. How rad is it to be able to play on this field? I got chills when I walked through the gate."
This was the second-annual C-U Girls' Soccer Showcase. Uni High didn't participate in the event last year, so Sunday was a special moment for the Illineks.
"It means everything to them," McQueen said of the opportunity to play in the event. "We are so happy to be here now. It's a beautiful field with all the fans here to represent girls' soccer. I love to see it."
Sages take down Tigers
Monticello wanted to start fast, and they did just that. Megan Allen found some open space and drilled the ball into the net to give the Sages an early lead over Urbana 40 seconds into the game.
Seven minutes later, Addison Finet fired a bullet from long range into the top-right corner of the net to put the Sages ahead 2-0. They used that early confidence to take a 5-2 win.
"We really wanted this one," Monticello coach David McDaniel said. "We executed our game plan fairly well. The girls deserve this one, and we're proud of them."
This was Monticello's (15-1) first-ever win over Urbana (4-7). A few players started hugging and jumping up and down as the clock hit zeros, showing just how much this game meant to them.
Chloe Sikora made two free kicks midway through the second half to tie it at 2, and she later hit the crossbar on another.
The score was tied for maybe 60 seconds until Finet scored a breakaway goal to retake the lead for Monticello. Leah Renne netted one of her own two minutes later, and Allen scored her second goal in the 73rd minute to put the nail in the coffin.
"I'm real proud of the girls' resiliency," McDaniel said. "Again, this win goes to them. They earned it."
Maroons outlast Chargers
Champaign Central got the best of crosstown rival Centennial 4-3, but it was only close for the second half.
The Maroons (6-3) went into halftime with a 3-0 lead, but the Chargers (6-4) got right back into it with two goals in the first four minutes of the second half. They traded one more goal apiece before the final seconds ticked off the clock to give Central a tight victory.
Rylie Schulze led the Maroons with a hat trick, and Cricket Wagner scored the team's lone other goal. Alicia Fernandez scored two goals for the Chargers, and Payton Kaiser added one.
