Upset loss may teach IC a lesson or 2
Aurora Central uses 80th-minute goal to defeat Lady Knights 3-2
By Matt Le Cren
ELMHURST – IC Catholic Prep and Aurora Central Catholic could meet in the Class 1A Concordia University Supersectional next month.
It is not an implausible scenario considering the Knights are seeded first in their sectional and the Chargers second in theirs.
If it happens, the excitement could be palpable -- both sides will have plenty of motivation.
On the one hand, IC will be out for revenge after being upset by the Chargers 3-2 on Monday night at Plunkett Park in Elmhurst. By the same token, ACC will come in with the knowledge they are capable of beating the Knights.
“I hope we do (play again) because that means we’ve made it there,” IC coach Tom Schergen said. “This was a good game for us, too.
“Our assistant coach said it at the end, 'You have to fail sometimes to succeed.' This is a game we failed a little bit.
“Now we’ve got a little adversity so let’s see how we come forward. It’s good to play these games during the regular season. You need these games that push you back and forth so the next time you’re approached with this situation, you know how to handle it.”
The Knights didn’t handle this game particularly well, continuing their habit of slow starts. Tessa Langan scored a pair of game-tying goals for IC but Mary Canning’s goal with 43 seconds left gave the visiting Chargers what they believe is their first-ever win over the Knights, who lost at home for the first time this season after winning their first five games.
“I don’t think we’ve ever beat them so that was a huge win,” ACC coach Kristy Kane said. “We tend to have difficulty with them. We’ve lost to them by more than we should have in the recent past, so this is huge for us.”
The Chargers (7-3-2, 2-2-0) scored on the first and last shots of the game, while the Knights controlled much of the rest of the action.
Gina Martino scored on a 25-yard shot at the 35:26 mark of the first half to give the visitors a 1-0 lead, casting an uneasy hush over the home crowd.
“We tend to do that a lot this year,” Langan said of the early deficit. “We don’t always bring the energy at the beginning, and it takes them to score a goal for us to get fired up.”
The Knights have rallied several times to win games this season. Not this time.
“I think it’s taught us to bring the energy at the beginning,” Langan said. “So hopefully at some point we’ll learn from that.”
The Chargers certainly learned something about themselves, winning despite coughing up a pair of leads and having to withstand a withering barrage in the final 15 minutes.
The game appeared headed to overtime when Shannon LoPresti made a steal on the left wing and worked a give-and-go down the left side. She eventually passed to Canning, who was parked just outside the top of the box.
Canning, a sophomore, didn’t even look toward the net before lifting a one-timer over the head of IC goalkeeper Gabby Smola and into the net with 43 seconds remaining.
“She’s only a sophomore, but she’s come so far,” Kane said. “She’s always been fast but over the off-season she really worked on her moves and her shot.
“She deserved it. It was an amazing goal.”
Canning and LoPresti had been causing trouble for the Knights for much of the night, using their speed and determination to create opportunities on counterattacks. She was ready when her chance came.
“They were just kind of wheeling back and forth and I was like, ‘Oh, it’s coming to me,’” Canning said. “I was just like, ‘I need to do something with this.’
“I didn’t even see where it was going to go, but it went over (Smola’s) head.”
The significance of the result for the Chargers cannot be overstated.
“I think it really helps us, because we know we can do it,” Canning said. “We just need to push ourselves and work together.”
IC did plenty of that in twice coming from behind, but the effort was perhaps too draining.
“We were really tired at the end,” Langan said. “I know our center midfielders, especially, were getting really worn out from sprinting around the field the entire game.”
Langan was her usual active self and did all she could to rally the troops.
The senior now has 11 goals on the season, one behind sophomore Olivia Hurt for the team lead.
Langan tied the game 1-1 with 7:59 left in the first half. A long throw-in from the right corner was headed up into the air by a defender and Langan headed it through a crowd and past ACC goalie Alex Montalbano.
But Montalbano proved to be the bane of the Knights whenever they tried to take the lead. Langan took a pass from freshman Bella Leslie and raced untouched into the left side of the box before firing a rocket from five yards out.
Montalbano made the stop, knocking the ball to the ground before picking it up with, eerily, 43 seconds left before halftime.
LoPresti then put the Chargers back in front with 32:30 to go in the second half, running onto a long ball over the top and outracing two defenders into the box before dribbling around Smola.
But Langan again kept her squad in it with a spectacular finish at the 9:38 mark. Grace Fuller passed into the right corner to Langan, who took the ball nearly to the end line before rifling a shot from a sharp angle that went off the hands of the leaping Montalbano and inside the far post.
“I was going for either (a shot or a cross),” Langan said. “I didn’t have a goal in mind necessarily, but I was just looking for someone to make contact with it.”
Langan’s strike energized the Knights, who dominated the action after that. They would have had the go-ahead goal with 5:35 remaining if not for the play of Montalbano and defender Meghan Johnson, who rejected IC freshman Abi Wagner on back-to-back bullets from point-blank range.
Montalbano dove to her left to deny the first shot but was still on the ground when Wagner rushed in and fired the rebound from seven yards out. Johnson reflexively blocked it off the line and her teammates eventually cleared it.
“It was actually really terrifying for me because it’s happened before where I’ve saved a ball like that,” Johnson said. “It’s scary but you just do it. It’s stressful always having to be right there.”
So how did the Chargers hold off the Knights despite being outshot 14-9?
“We have a really good defense,” Johnson said. “We’re really close and very strong together.
“We communicate, and we’re just always there and we learn a lot from each other, especially (when) the older ones teach the younger ones. We do our best and we always learn from our mistakes.”
Schergen said the Knights, who had a three-game winning streak snapped, can benefit from the loss.
“These are the games you learn from,” he said. “As long as you can learn from these games, you’re going to be where you need to be.”
Schergen was impressed that the Chargers were where they needed to be in this game.
“It’s a tough one, especially when you dominate play as much as you do,” Schergen said. “Their goalie came up with some big saves, some saves that normal high school goalies don’t make. There were some balls that you think are goals, and she came up big for them.
“ACC played hard; they scrapped. They did everything they needed to do to win the game, and they caught us on a counter a couple times. We pushed, and they countered, and it was a good strategy by them.
“Give them a lot of credit, but I think our girls played with a lot of heart and a lot of effort, too. We just didn’t finish.”
Starting lineups
Aurora Central Catholic
GK Alex Montalbano
D Anna Dudziak
D Natalie Bruss
D Meghan Johnson
D Victorie Opperman
M Reilly Mahon
M Stephanie Cardenas
M Payton Rogers
F Gina Cortino
F Mary Canning
F Shannon LoPresti
IC Catholic Prep
GK Rochelle Spizziri
D Suzy Maloney
D Liz Maloney
D Tess Reardon
D Kaitlyn Grady
D Annine Guinan
M Abi Wagner
M Tess Langan
M Grace Fuller
F Sophie Zanoni
F Olivia Hurt
Chicagoland Soccer MVP of the Match – Mary Canning, so., F, Aurora Central Catholic
Aurora Central uses 80th-minute goal to defeat Lady Knights 3-2
By Matt Le Cren
ELMHURST – IC Catholic Prep and Aurora Central Catholic could meet in the Class 1A Concordia University Supersectional next month.
It is not an implausible scenario considering the Knights are seeded first in their sectional and the Chargers second in theirs.
If it happens, the excitement could be palpable -- both sides will have plenty of motivation.
On the one hand, IC will be out for revenge after being upset by the Chargers 3-2 on Monday night at Plunkett Park in Elmhurst. By the same token, ACC will come in with the knowledge they are capable of beating the Knights.
“I hope we do (play again) because that means we’ve made it there,” IC coach Tom Schergen said. “This was a good game for us, too.
“Our assistant coach said it at the end, 'You have to fail sometimes to succeed.' This is a game we failed a little bit.
“Now we’ve got a little adversity so let’s see how we come forward. It’s good to play these games during the regular season. You need these games that push you back and forth so the next time you’re approached with this situation, you know how to handle it.”
The Knights didn’t handle this game particularly well, continuing their habit of slow starts. Tessa Langan scored a pair of game-tying goals for IC but Mary Canning’s goal with 43 seconds left gave the visiting Chargers what they believe is their first-ever win over the Knights, who lost at home for the first time this season after winning their first five games.
“I don’t think we’ve ever beat them so that was a huge win,” ACC coach Kristy Kane said. “We tend to have difficulty with them. We’ve lost to them by more than we should have in the recent past, so this is huge for us.”
The Chargers (7-3-2, 2-2-0) scored on the first and last shots of the game, while the Knights controlled much of the rest of the action.
Gina Martino scored on a 25-yard shot at the 35:26 mark of the first half to give the visitors a 1-0 lead, casting an uneasy hush over the home crowd.
“We tend to do that a lot this year,” Langan said of the early deficit. “We don’t always bring the energy at the beginning, and it takes them to score a goal for us to get fired up.”
The Knights have rallied several times to win games this season. Not this time.
“I think it’s taught us to bring the energy at the beginning,” Langan said. “So hopefully at some point we’ll learn from that.”
The Chargers certainly learned something about themselves, winning despite coughing up a pair of leads and having to withstand a withering barrage in the final 15 minutes.
The game appeared headed to overtime when Shannon LoPresti made a steal on the left wing and worked a give-and-go down the left side. She eventually passed to Canning, who was parked just outside the top of the box.
Canning, a sophomore, didn’t even look toward the net before lifting a one-timer over the head of IC goalkeeper Gabby Smola and into the net with 43 seconds remaining.
“She’s only a sophomore, but she’s come so far,” Kane said. “She’s always been fast but over the off-season she really worked on her moves and her shot.
“She deserved it. It was an amazing goal.”
Canning and LoPresti had been causing trouble for the Knights for much of the night, using their speed and determination to create opportunities on counterattacks. She was ready when her chance came.
“They were just kind of wheeling back and forth and I was like, ‘Oh, it’s coming to me,’” Canning said. “I was just like, ‘I need to do something with this.’
“I didn’t even see where it was going to go, but it went over (Smola’s) head.”
The significance of the result for the Chargers cannot be overstated.
“I think it really helps us, because we know we can do it,” Canning said. “We just need to push ourselves and work together.”
IC did plenty of that in twice coming from behind, but the effort was perhaps too draining.
“We were really tired at the end,” Langan said. “I know our center midfielders, especially, were getting really worn out from sprinting around the field the entire game.”
Langan was her usual active self and did all she could to rally the troops.
The senior now has 11 goals on the season, one behind sophomore Olivia Hurt for the team lead.
Langan tied the game 1-1 with 7:59 left in the first half. A long throw-in from the right corner was headed up into the air by a defender and Langan headed it through a crowd and past ACC goalie Alex Montalbano.
But Montalbano proved to be the bane of the Knights whenever they tried to take the lead. Langan took a pass from freshman Bella Leslie and raced untouched into the left side of the box before firing a rocket from five yards out.
Montalbano made the stop, knocking the ball to the ground before picking it up with, eerily, 43 seconds left before halftime.
LoPresti then put the Chargers back in front with 32:30 to go in the second half, running onto a long ball over the top and outracing two defenders into the box before dribbling around Smola.
But Langan again kept her squad in it with a spectacular finish at the 9:38 mark. Grace Fuller passed into the right corner to Langan, who took the ball nearly to the end line before rifling a shot from a sharp angle that went off the hands of the leaping Montalbano and inside the far post.
“I was going for either (a shot or a cross),” Langan said. “I didn’t have a goal in mind necessarily, but I was just looking for someone to make contact with it.”
Langan’s strike energized the Knights, who dominated the action after that. They would have had the go-ahead goal with 5:35 remaining if not for the play of Montalbano and defender Meghan Johnson, who rejected IC freshman Abi Wagner on back-to-back bullets from point-blank range.
Montalbano dove to her left to deny the first shot but was still on the ground when Wagner rushed in and fired the rebound from seven yards out. Johnson reflexively blocked it off the line and her teammates eventually cleared it.
“It was actually really terrifying for me because it’s happened before where I’ve saved a ball like that,” Johnson said. “It’s scary but you just do it. It’s stressful always having to be right there.”
So how did the Chargers hold off the Knights despite being outshot 14-9?
“We have a really good defense,” Johnson said. “We’re really close and very strong together.
“We communicate, and we’re just always there and we learn a lot from each other, especially (when) the older ones teach the younger ones. We do our best and we always learn from our mistakes.”
Schergen said the Knights, who had a three-game winning streak snapped, can benefit from the loss.
“These are the games you learn from,” he said. “As long as you can learn from these games, you’re going to be where you need to be.”
Schergen was impressed that the Chargers were where they needed to be in this game.
“It’s a tough one, especially when you dominate play as much as you do,” Schergen said. “Their goalie came up with some big saves, some saves that normal high school goalies don’t make. There were some balls that you think are goals, and she came up big for them.
“ACC played hard; they scrapped. They did everything they needed to do to win the game, and they caught us on a counter a couple times. We pushed, and they countered, and it was a good strategy by them.
“Give them a lot of credit, but I think our girls played with a lot of heart and a lot of effort, too. We just didn’t finish.”
Starting lineups
Aurora Central Catholic
GK Alex Montalbano
D Anna Dudziak
D Natalie Bruss
D Meghan Johnson
D Victorie Opperman
M Reilly Mahon
M Stephanie Cardenas
M Payton Rogers
F Gina Cortino
F Mary Canning
F Shannon LoPresti
IC Catholic Prep
GK Rochelle Spizziri
D Suzy Maloney
D Liz Maloney
D Tess Reardon
D Kaitlyn Grady
D Annine Guinan
M Abi Wagner
M Tess Langan
M Grace Fuller
F Sophie Zanoni
F Olivia Hurt
Chicagoland Soccer MVP of the Match – Mary Canning, so., F, Aurora Central Catholic