Ryan Murray didn’t really know what to expect in his second season as Peotone girls soccer coach.
There were some experienced players, but not a lot.
“This year was a very different team,” Murray said. “Last year’s senior group was 11 strong, eight of them starters. Most of them started from their freshman year. So those four years with them, that was almost like its own era.
“So this year was like a reset, this was a new start. … Three of the four starting defenders didn’t play on the team last year. One of our wings didn’t play hardly any minutes on varsity last year.”
Things didn’t start well. One of the team’s top veterans, Kate Cuthbertson, suffered a scary eye injury when she was struck in the face by a ball at close range and missed time.
The Blue Devils dropped their first four matches and were 1-5 after losing 4-1 to Lisle on April 17, But then it all turned around.
Peotone went 9-1-1 to end the regular season and won their fourth straight regional. The Blue Devils avenged that one defeat by edging Herscher 2-1 in a Class 1A sectional semifinal to reach the Sweet Sixteen.
Their season ended on May 27 with a 3-1 sectional final loss to U-High at Herscher, but the Devils (12-7-1) were definitely viewing the glass as half-full.
“Just overall, from the beginning of the season till now, an incredible transformation,” Murray said.
The Blue Devils hung tough with U-High after surrendering a goal in the first two minutes. It was still 1-0 at halftime. The Maroons scored early in the second half, but junior forward Allie Werner scored her team-leading 35th goal to make it 2-1 at 26:39 of the second. U-High added another goal at 15:47, but Murray was happy with his team’s defense.
“We went into the game knowing that they had a pretty strong attack,” he said. “… We set up a very particular formation. I’m pretty proud of them sticking to that formation, which kept (U-High) to pretty minimal shots on goal..”
The game was typical of the Blue Devils’ late-season efforts, according to junior forward Peyton Bisping.
“We definitely started to work as a team more,” said Bisping, who finished second on the club with 17 goals. “We started off not knowing very much of each other because we lost so many seniors. …
“And then we just ended up finding out each other’s rhythm and working together very well. It all came together.”