Allie Werner leaves high school with Peotone girls’ soccer’s all-time scoring record — and more fond memories than she can count.
The senior’s prep career ended on May 27 with a 3-0 loss to Lisle in the Class 1A Lisle Sectional semifinals at Benedictine University.
Lisle took a lead less than two minutes into the game and pulled away with two goals in the second half.
Peotone finished 14-5 overall and was second in the Illinois Central Eight at 6-1.
Werner, who will continue her career at Olivet Nazarene, looked beyond the last game at the bigger picture.
“I’m really happy with how everything turned out,” she said. “We won regionals four years in a row and there’s not many schools around here that do that. So being able to contribute all four years and give my best to bring my team to sectional games four years in a row really means a lot to me.”
As for the scoring record, that wasn’t something she was focused on earlier in her career.
“I honestly had no idea what the record was freshman, sophomore year,” she said. “Then at the end of junior year, (coach Ryan Murray) was like, ‘Let me look at it because you might be passing it.’
“So then we looked and I was pretty close. So I was like, I need to really focus on senior year and start banging them in to beat the record.”
Werner came into this season needing 15 goals to break the program record. She wound up with 46 to boost her career total to 130.
Setting the mark wasn’t easy, given how much attention Werner drew from opponents. But she rose to the moment.
“I like the challenge it gives me because they know that I like to come out and fight and score,” Werner said. “Knowing that they’re trying to mark me makes me want to fight even harder to get past that extra player that’s man-marking me.”
Like Werner, Murray had good memories of the season. The Devils extended their regional-title streak to five despite having one of their best players, Alexa Matichak, miss the whole year after undergoing hip surgery.
“We have these athletes that we’re able to bring in and train up,” Murray said. “So I mean, community-wise, I’m so excited with how our season went. It’s a great group of girls. …
“Wish we could have gone further … but everybody’s satisfied with how well we did.”