Area Sports Roundup: Sandburg golfer Jillian Cosler opens high school sports season with a bang

By Jeff Vorva
Staff Writer

The 2022-23 high school sports season opened with a bang.

Practices were allowed to begin on Aug. 8 and the IHSA unleashed boys and girls golfers on Aug. 11; and there was some excitement the next day.

Sandburg’s girls golf team participated in the Prep Tour Showcase at Hickory Point Golf Course in Decatur and senior Jillian Cosler tied for second with a one-under par 71.

Nicole Johnson of Edwardsville was the champ in the 89-golfer field with a 70. Cosler tied Stevenson’s Allie Santos and Glenbrook North’s Martha Kuwahara for second, one shot back.

Cosler was coming off a 79-79 performance at Cog Hill, where she participated in the Girls Junior PGA Championships the first week of August. While she didn’t make the cut for the finals, she said the tournament was a great experience.

“It was crazy being there,” she said. “Cog Hill is where I practice and I like to call it my home base there in the summer. So, seeing all of the other girls traveling from Japan and Kenya and seeing how many girls were there, while I was 15 minutes away from home, was crazy.

“Then showing up at the range and seeing all of the different swings of the top golfers in the nation was eye-opening. It wasn’t nerve-wracking but it inspired me to get better. I know there is so much more that I can do.”

Cosler is following a long line of strong Sandburg golfers that coach Todd Allen has mentored. She has verbally committed to playing college golf Bradley.

Trinity gets votes in soccer

Trinity Christian College was one of three teams in the Chicagoland Collegiate Athletic Conference to earn votes in the women’s national soccer rankings by NAIA coaches, along with defending CCAC Tournament champions St. Ambrose and regular-season title holders Judson.

Last season, the Trolls placed second in the conference, reaching the tournament final before making a semifinal appearance in the National Christian College Athletic Association National Championship.

Two-time CCAC Player of the Year Brianna Uhl returns to Trinity after leading the league with 32 goals in 2021, second-most in the NAIA. Joining Uhl on the 2022 squad is fellow All-CCAC first team selections Demi Scibetta and Litzy Corona as well as last year’s second-team honoree Selah Hopkins.

SXU picks Harkness

Jim Harkness has been named the new head coach of the Saint Xavier women’s soccer team. He becomes the sixth head coach for the program that started playing in 1997.

Harkness was an assistant coach for the Cougars’ men’s soccer team from 2005-12 and helped SXU win back-to-back Chicagoland Collegiate Athletic Conference Tournament championships in 2010 and 2011. The team appeared in the NAIA Opening Round during those seasons.

Before joining the Saint Xavier men’s soccer staff, Harkness was the head coach for the Moraine Valley Community College’s women’s soccer team from 2000-04.

He was an assistant coach at Brother Rice from 1996-2000. Harkness played soccer collegiately at Eastern Illinois from 1990-94 before turning pro and playing for the Chicago Power and Detroit Rockers of the National Professional Soccer League. He also played for the Chicago Stingers of the United Systems of Independent Soccer League.