RIVER FOREST – Senior forward Layne Frericks was the last player to leave the bench. Her face was liquid, the tears streaming down her face. The emotions cut like a knife.
“This team means everything to me,” she said. “Especially playing with my older sister Reese, and now my younger sister Blake, and my parents and everything they’ve done for me. “They pushed me to where I am today.
I’m crying so much because of what they mean, and what we’ve done these past four years.” Layne Frericks’ 55th minute goal breathed new life into the Rockets until a late score by Willows yielded a heartbreaking 2-1 loss Saturday in a Class 1A supersectional at Dominican University. Richmond-Burton (18-3-1) saw its eight-game winning streak snapped.
The Rockets’ quest for their second state finals appearance in the last three years ended in bittersweet and contested fashion. The officials ruled a Rachel Mendlik free kick in the 69th minute that Willows’ keeper Pia Chapello mishandled did not cross the goal line. “When you get one that gets taken off the board, it’s pretty difficult to overcome that,” Rockets’ coach Casey DeCaluwe said.
The electrifying game featured teams ranked No. 1 (Richmond-Burton) and No. 5 (Willows) in the Class 1A state rankings of Chicagoland Soccer.
The clash featured scintillating individual performances with the Rockets’ standout forwards Frericks, Rachel Mendlik and midfielders Jordan Otto and Bri Maldonado going up against Willows’.
