Batavia beats the clock, Glenbard East
Late 1st half goal gives Lady Bulldogs win in battle of unbeatens
By Dave Owen
LOMBARD – Batavia has produced a Basketball Hall of Famer (Dan Issel), a Super Bowl quarterback (Ken Anderson), a Grammy-winning songwriter (Jackie DeShannon), an Emmy-winning sportscaster (Craig Sager), and a world-class research facility (Fermilab).
With more nights like Thursday, the Batavia girls soccer team has a shot to join that elite list of the famous and influential.
The visiting Lady Bulldogs faced defending Class 3A third-place state finisher Glenbard East, ranked fourth in the Chicagoland Soccer Top 25, in a nonconference showdown of unbeaten teams. Fourteenth-ranked Batavia (7-0-0) rode an improbable goal just 9.4 seconds before halftime to post a 2-1 win over the Rams.
With the score tied 1-1 as the seconds wound down, Batavia’s Keegan Maris sent a perfect pass from 45 yards toward Cameron Hindel who raced down the middle of the field toward the net. Sprinting between two defenders, Hindel beat the clock with a 10-yard rocket low inside the left post for a 2-1 halftime lead that held.
“I love playing with Keegan, and we’ve been working on 45-degree balls over the top,” Hindel said. “Keegan just played that, and I knew there were like 20 seconds left, and I just had to attack that. That was my mentality, that ‘I want this, I want this.’”
Maris’ great send sparked the chance, and Hindel’s speed and finish did the rest.
“Cam just took it by herself and scored an awesome goal,” Maris said. “She was awesome.
“We were upset that we had let them tie it – we had let up a little bit after we scored our first goal. We saw two minutes left on the scoreboard and thought we might as well end it on a good note. I played it to Cam, and then Cam just did her thing.”
Before setting the table for the eventual deciding goal, Maris, Chicagoland Soccer's MVP of the Match, set the tone for Batavia’s huge effort with a great first 10 minutes of play.
Just 3:30 into the match, she lined a 25-yard shot off the crossbar then hustled to field the rebound. Her 8-yard second try was denied on a diving one-handed save inches from the goal line at the right post by Rams goalkeeper Faith Davies.
Unfazed by the dual denials, Maris’ next chance struck gold. Off a Hindel cross from the left side, Maris blasted a low 12-yard shot just inside the left post for a 1-0 lead.
“I felt (no.) 18 (Maris) was the best player on the field tonight for either team,” Glenbard East coach Kent Overbey said. “She was dominant up-top, and (on the first goal) a hard cross comes in, and she just crushes a first-time ball off the inside of the post.
“I was amazed – that was a great shot. You don’t see a clean technical finish like that very often.”
But Glenbard East (5-1-1) wasn’t down for long.
Mimi Camacho headed a Sam Johnson chip to the box just wide in the 10th minute, and Batavia goalkeeper Jenny Scara made a nice reaching grab of Katie Hansen’s well-struck, high 45-yard direct kick in the 14th minute.
Later in the half, Scara saved 25-yard tries from Alyse Donato and Mattie Pusateri. A Dana Plotke attempt in the box off a 55-yard Hansen free kick was blocked by Batavia’s Jessica Sneesby.
But 13 minutes before halftime, star defender Hansen’s prowess on set pieces evened the score.
Off a Pusateri corner kick, a Batavia clearing attempt at the near post was intercepted by Hansen. Her 8-yard drive inside the near (left) post marked her sixth goal of 2017, five of them on set pieces.
“Right away we’re on our heels (down 1-0), but we battle back,” Overbey said. “We’ve been strong on set pieces this year. Mattie slings a good a ball in there, and Katie has been very clinical on finishes on set pieces. She was able to step forward and we get the equalizer.”
The Rams rode their momentum to a near-miss 10:20 before halftime – a Lindsey Novak 25-yard shot off a Johnson throw-in went just wide right.
But just as Glenbard East seemed to be finding its footing, Batavia sprung its last-seconds shocker.
“They switch the ball very well and are very disciplined in what they’re doing,” Overbey said of Batavia. “The first 10 minutes I thought we struggled shifting the defense, but then I thought we did a great job in the middle 20 minutes.
Then that last minute – we’re pushing numbers, and it’s a mental error on our part.
“All of a sudden they switch the ball,” Overbey added, “the girl (Hindel) makes a nice cut inside, and she’s in on the keeper. We’ve got a lot of experience back from last year, but we’re fresh in some places. We have two new starters in back, and really Katie’s the only one in the same spot as last year. We’re trying to break two center defenders in together, and there’s going to be some mistakes.”
With its 2-1 lead, Batavia was able to fend off a Rams’ comeback with great discipline and error-free defensive execution.
“I thought the girls did a great job of competing tonight,” Batavia coach Mark Gianfrancesco said, “and even more so the second half. We could have finished a couple chances, but I thought we really controlled a lot of the play.”
Glenbard East came off a 2-2 Tuesday tie against Bartlett, in which they trailed 2-0 before finishing with a flourish.
“You look at their game against Bartlett – the first half they were a little shell-shocked, and the second half they came out guns a blazing and scored two goals,” Gianfrancesco said. “That’s what we thought might happen, but we took a little steam out of them by controlling the pace of the game. That helped.”
Maris and Hindel were just two of the many Batavia standouts in the win.
“I saw a lot of people doing nice things tonight,” Gianfrancesco said. “Keegan looked good up-top, Cam had a nice game, Anna Rakos in the middle, and Mackenzie Foster especially in the first 20 minutes really dominated the middle, and then having her up-top at the end created a little pressure.
“And I thought in the back we did a nice job communicating, and (sophomore defender) Jenna Nichols in the middle really organized a lot of stuff. And that was really her first time playing in that spot – she did a nice job.”
Batavia kept up its second half offensive. Pusateri nicely blocked an Avery Davis shot from in front two minutes into the half. Piron redirected a Morgan Wahlen 20-yard free kick just wide with 34:05 left, and a Hindel 25-yard shot went just over the net with 23 minutes to go.
“That (late first half goal) kills you,” Overbey said, “because in the second half the wind’s in our face, and we’re struggling to get anything out of our own half.
“And on top of it, their keeper (Scara) was lights out. She made some good saves look routine. We did some things we’ve been doing, and it wasn’t enough. She was sure handed, the best we’ve seen this year.”
Davies’ shift from goalkeeper to midfielder with 17 minutes left provided a late spark for the Rams, but not before new Glenbard East goalkeeper Renee Wesling had to make a save on a Maris header with 14:50 to play.
Batavia goalkeeper Scara made a one-hop save on Davies’ 22-yard free kick from the right side with 10:50 left.
Then, despite losing senior defender Brooke Polignone to an ankle injury with 6:46 to play, Batavia’s never wavered. Nichols made a nice block at the left post of a strong Davies throw-in to the crease, then another Davies throw-in from 12 yards with 5:50 left led to a scrum left of the net, but no shot and an eventual Batavia goal kick.
“Coming in we had the mentality that we really wanted to win this,” Hindel said. “We came out, knew what we needed to do, and we got on the field and made sure we were talking and were working together.
“It was just communication, and winning balls out of the air is another important thing for us.”
Batavia finished strong, generating back-to-back Maris corner kicks in the 77th minute. Then with 2:10 to go, a 35-yard Rakos free kick rocketed off the crossbar to narrowly miss a 3-1 winning margin.
Knowing of Glenbard East’s 2016 postseason run, Batavia never let up – allowing no Rams shots in the final five minutes.
“We knew in this game, they had such a great season last year and we had an opportunity to prove ourselves as a real contender this year,” Maris said. “We knew this was a great opportunity for us – we were just really excited, and we played all 80 minutes as a team.”
The huge road win takes Batavia’s good feelings over an unbeaten start to new heights.
“We have so much confidence in ourselves now,” Maris said, “knowing we can beat a team of extreme quality. We’re excited.”
Said Gianfrancesco: “We have the type of team that’s a gritty team. If we’re down or tied, we keep fighting back. These type of tests allow to see where we are, and melds the girls together even more.”
Coming off a sluggish start against Bartlett on Tuesday, Glenbard East continues to search for its pre-spring break magic that produced an impressive win over Lincoln-Way East before taking the Windy City Ram Classic title.
“I think we started out slow,” Plotke said of the Batavia match. “Coming out of spring break, even against Bartlett we started slow. And with the (40 degree) weather it’s hard getting back, especially when we’re playing better teams than we were in the beginning of the season.”
Batavia’s excellent play, rustiness after spring break and other challenges combined for Glenbard East’s first setback since the state semifinals last June.
“They’re super dangerous, well organized and hard to break down,” Overbey said of Batavia. “And unfortunately lately we’ve been slow to start.
“That’s the best team we’ve faced this year. We knew Mark would have them ready to go. It was a good challenge, and we’ll be better for it. We’ll fix some things and have those issues sorted out.”
An injury to midfielder Amy Chiero has required some lineup shuffling.
“We lost Amy Chiero, and it’s a domino effect,” Overbey said. “We dropped Mimi (Camacho) back, and she and Ali (Liljestrand) work well together as attacking center mids, and Alyse (Donato) and Gen (Severini) are platooning at defensive center mid. They’re all doing a great job, but that’s a new position for Mimi, who’s a striker, so she’s adjusting.
“We’re frankly just trying to find our way. It’s early, we had a great start, but if you look at the quality of opponent now, it’s obvious we have to get better at a lot of places.
“This is the first time we’ve had a hard schedule coming out of spring break,” Overbey added. “We’re on our heels, coming in after a tough game against Bartlett and facing the most dangerous opponent we’ve seen so far. We had our hands full.”
Plotke sees areas to focus on.
“We definitely need to come out stronger, be stronger on the ball and win more headers,” Plotke said. “We’re winning a lot of those already, but we still need to get to the ball first.”
After seeing his team turn any 2016 downturns into a dream postseason, Overbey remains very upbeat.
“We’ll learn from it,” he said. “To be 5-1-1 going into the PepsiCo (Showdown, which starts Saturday)– if you’d told me that in February, I’d be pretty happy.”
Batavia’s happiness level is off the charts.
“I’m really proud, and so happy for our team,” Maris said. “We knew coming in that if we work for this, we can do this. It’s really satisfying.”
Starting lineups
Batavia
GK Jenny Scara
D Amy TenHaken
D Brooke Polignone
D Jenna Nichols
D Alex Piron
M Mackenzie Foster
M Cameron Hindel
M Anna Rakos
M Morgan Wahlen
F Keegan Maris
F Avery Davis
Glenbard East
GK Faith Davies
D Paige Taylor
D Katie Hansen
D Sam Johnson
D Genevieve Severini
M Ali Liljestrand
M Dana Plotke
M Mimi Camacho
M Mattie Pusateri
F Elizabeth Toledo
F Lindsey Novak
MVP of the Match: Keegan Maris, sr., F, Batavia
Late 1st half goal gives Lady Bulldogs win in battle of unbeatens
By Dave Owen
LOMBARD – Batavia has produced a Basketball Hall of Famer (Dan Issel), a Super Bowl quarterback (Ken Anderson), a Grammy-winning songwriter (Jackie DeShannon), an Emmy-winning sportscaster (Craig Sager), and a world-class research facility (Fermilab).
With more nights like Thursday, the Batavia girls soccer team has a shot to join that elite list of the famous and influential.
The visiting Lady Bulldogs faced defending Class 3A third-place state finisher Glenbard East, ranked fourth in the Chicagoland Soccer Top 25, in a nonconference showdown of unbeaten teams. Fourteenth-ranked Batavia (7-0-0) rode an improbable goal just 9.4 seconds before halftime to post a 2-1 win over the Rams.
With the score tied 1-1 as the seconds wound down, Batavia’s Keegan Maris sent a perfect pass from 45 yards toward Cameron Hindel who raced down the middle of the field toward the net. Sprinting between two defenders, Hindel beat the clock with a 10-yard rocket low inside the left post for a 2-1 halftime lead that held.
“I love playing with Keegan, and we’ve been working on 45-degree balls over the top,” Hindel said. “Keegan just played that, and I knew there were like 20 seconds left, and I just had to attack that. That was my mentality, that ‘I want this, I want this.’”
Maris’ great send sparked the chance, and Hindel’s speed and finish did the rest.
“Cam just took it by herself and scored an awesome goal,” Maris said. “She was awesome.
“We were upset that we had let them tie it – we had let up a little bit after we scored our first goal. We saw two minutes left on the scoreboard and thought we might as well end it on a good note. I played it to Cam, and then Cam just did her thing.”
Before setting the table for the eventual deciding goal, Maris, Chicagoland Soccer's MVP of the Match, set the tone for Batavia’s huge effort with a great first 10 minutes of play.
Just 3:30 into the match, she lined a 25-yard shot off the crossbar then hustled to field the rebound. Her 8-yard second try was denied on a diving one-handed save inches from the goal line at the right post by Rams goalkeeper Faith Davies.
Unfazed by the dual denials, Maris’ next chance struck gold. Off a Hindel cross from the left side, Maris blasted a low 12-yard shot just inside the left post for a 1-0 lead.
“I felt (no.) 18 (Maris) was the best player on the field tonight for either team,” Glenbard East coach Kent Overbey said. “She was dominant up-top, and (on the first goal) a hard cross comes in, and she just crushes a first-time ball off the inside of the post.
“I was amazed – that was a great shot. You don’t see a clean technical finish like that very often.”
But Glenbard East (5-1-1) wasn’t down for long.
Mimi Camacho headed a Sam Johnson chip to the box just wide in the 10th minute, and Batavia goalkeeper Jenny Scara made a nice reaching grab of Katie Hansen’s well-struck, high 45-yard direct kick in the 14th minute.
Later in the half, Scara saved 25-yard tries from Alyse Donato and Mattie Pusateri. A Dana Plotke attempt in the box off a 55-yard Hansen free kick was blocked by Batavia’s Jessica Sneesby.
But 13 minutes before halftime, star defender Hansen’s prowess on set pieces evened the score.
Off a Pusateri corner kick, a Batavia clearing attempt at the near post was intercepted by Hansen. Her 8-yard drive inside the near (left) post marked her sixth goal of 2017, five of them on set pieces.
“Right away we’re on our heels (down 1-0), but we battle back,” Overbey said. “We’ve been strong on set pieces this year. Mattie slings a good a ball in there, and Katie has been very clinical on finishes on set pieces. She was able to step forward and we get the equalizer.”
The Rams rode their momentum to a near-miss 10:20 before halftime – a Lindsey Novak 25-yard shot off a Johnson throw-in went just wide right.
But just as Glenbard East seemed to be finding its footing, Batavia sprung its last-seconds shocker.
“They switch the ball very well and are very disciplined in what they’re doing,” Overbey said of Batavia. “The first 10 minutes I thought we struggled shifting the defense, but then I thought we did a great job in the middle 20 minutes.
Then that last minute – we’re pushing numbers, and it’s a mental error on our part.
“All of a sudden they switch the ball,” Overbey added, “the girl (Hindel) makes a nice cut inside, and she’s in on the keeper. We’ve got a lot of experience back from last year, but we’re fresh in some places. We have two new starters in back, and really Katie’s the only one in the same spot as last year. We’re trying to break two center defenders in together, and there’s going to be some mistakes.”
With its 2-1 lead, Batavia was able to fend off a Rams’ comeback with great discipline and error-free defensive execution.
“I thought the girls did a great job of competing tonight,” Batavia coach Mark Gianfrancesco said, “and even more so the second half. We could have finished a couple chances, but I thought we really controlled a lot of the play.”
Glenbard East came off a 2-2 Tuesday tie against Bartlett, in which they trailed 2-0 before finishing with a flourish.
“You look at their game against Bartlett – the first half they were a little shell-shocked, and the second half they came out guns a blazing and scored two goals,” Gianfrancesco said. “That’s what we thought might happen, but we took a little steam out of them by controlling the pace of the game. That helped.”
Maris and Hindel were just two of the many Batavia standouts in the win.
“I saw a lot of people doing nice things tonight,” Gianfrancesco said. “Keegan looked good up-top, Cam had a nice game, Anna Rakos in the middle, and Mackenzie Foster especially in the first 20 minutes really dominated the middle, and then having her up-top at the end created a little pressure.
“And I thought in the back we did a nice job communicating, and (sophomore defender) Jenna Nichols in the middle really organized a lot of stuff. And that was really her first time playing in that spot – she did a nice job.”
Batavia kept up its second half offensive. Pusateri nicely blocked an Avery Davis shot from in front two minutes into the half. Piron redirected a Morgan Wahlen 20-yard free kick just wide with 34:05 left, and a Hindel 25-yard shot went just over the net with 23 minutes to go.
“That (late first half goal) kills you,” Overbey said, “because in the second half the wind’s in our face, and we’re struggling to get anything out of our own half.
“And on top of it, their keeper (Scara) was lights out. She made some good saves look routine. We did some things we’ve been doing, and it wasn’t enough. She was sure handed, the best we’ve seen this year.”
Davies’ shift from goalkeeper to midfielder with 17 minutes left provided a late spark for the Rams, but not before new Glenbard East goalkeeper Renee Wesling had to make a save on a Maris header with 14:50 to play.
Batavia goalkeeper Scara made a one-hop save on Davies’ 22-yard free kick from the right side with 10:50 left.
Then, despite losing senior defender Brooke Polignone to an ankle injury with 6:46 to play, Batavia’s never wavered. Nichols made a nice block at the left post of a strong Davies throw-in to the crease, then another Davies throw-in from 12 yards with 5:50 left led to a scrum left of the net, but no shot and an eventual Batavia goal kick.
“Coming in we had the mentality that we really wanted to win this,” Hindel said. “We came out, knew what we needed to do, and we got on the field and made sure we were talking and were working together.
“It was just communication, and winning balls out of the air is another important thing for us.”
Batavia finished strong, generating back-to-back Maris corner kicks in the 77th minute. Then with 2:10 to go, a 35-yard Rakos free kick rocketed off the crossbar to narrowly miss a 3-1 winning margin.
Knowing of Glenbard East’s 2016 postseason run, Batavia never let up – allowing no Rams shots in the final five minutes.
“We knew in this game, they had such a great season last year and we had an opportunity to prove ourselves as a real contender this year,” Maris said. “We knew this was a great opportunity for us – we were just really excited, and we played all 80 minutes as a team.”
The huge road win takes Batavia’s good feelings over an unbeaten start to new heights.
“We have so much confidence in ourselves now,” Maris said, “knowing we can beat a team of extreme quality. We’re excited.”
Said Gianfrancesco: “We have the type of team that’s a gritty team. If we’re down or tied, we keep fighting back. These type of tests allow to see where we are, and melds the girls together even more.”
Coming off a sluggish start against Bartlett on Tuesday, Glenbard East continues to search for its pre-spring break magic that produced an impressive win over Lincoln-Way East before taking the Windy City Ram Classic title.
“I think we started out slow,” Plotke said of the Batavia match. “Coming out of spring break, even against Bartlett we started slow. And with the (40 degree) weather it’s hard getting back, especially when we’re playing better teams than we were in the beginning of the season.”
Batavia’s excellent play, rustiness after spring break and other challenges combined for Glenbard East’s first setback since the state semifinals last June.
“They’re super dangerous, well organized and hard to break down,” Overbey said of Batavia. “And unfortunately lately we’ve been slow to start.
“That’s the best team we’ve faced this year. We knew Mark would have them ready to go. It was a good challenge, and we’ll be better for it. We’ll fix some things and have those issues sorted out.”
An injury to midfielder Amy Chiero has required some lineup shuffling.
“We lost Amy Chiero, and it’s a domino effect,” Overbey said. “We dropped Mimi (Camacho) back, and she and Ali (Liljestrand) work well together as attacking center mids, and Alyse (Donato) and Gen (Severini) are platooning at defensive center mid. They’re all doing a great job, but that’s a new position for Mimi, who’s a striker, so she’s adjusting.
“We’re frankly just trying to find our way. It’s early, we had a great start, but if you look at the quality of opponent now, it’s obvious we have to get better at a lot of places.
“This is the first time we’ve had a hard schedule coming out of spring break,” Overbey added. “We’re on our heels, coming in after a tough game against Bartlett and facing the most dangerous opponent we’ve seen so far. We had our hands full.”
Plotke sees areas to focus on.
“We definitely need to come out stronger, be stronger on the ball and win more headers,” Plotke said. “We’re winning a lot of those already, but we still need to get to the ball first.”
After seeing his team turn any 2016 downturns into a dream postseason, Overbey remains very upbeat.
“We’ll learn from it,” he said. “To be 5-1-1 going into the PepsiCo (Showdown, which starts Saturday)– if you’d told me that in February, I’d be pretty happy.”
Batavia’s happiness level is off the charts.
“I’m really proud, and so happy for our team,” Maris said. “We knew coming in that if we work for this, we can do this. It’s really satisfying.”
Starting lineups
Batavia
GK Jenny Scara
D Amy TenHaken
D Brooke Polignone
D Jenna Nichols
D Alex Piron
M Mackenzie Foster
M Cameron Hindel
M Anna Rakos
M Morgan Wahlen
F Keegan Maris
F Avery Davis
Glenbard East
GK Faith Davies
D Paige Taylor
D Katie Hansen
D Sam Johnson
D Genevieve Severini
M Ali Liljestrand
M Dana Plotke
M Mimi Camacho
M Mattie Pusateri
F Elizabeth Toledo
F Lindsey Novak
MVP of the Match: Keegan Maris, sr., F, Batavia