Bartlett displays class, Downers Grove South shows opening-minute flash
Mustangs top Bartlett after moving pre-game presentation
By Dave Owen
STREAMWOOD -- The hosts Bartlett (5-4-1) moved visiting Downers Grove South with a pregame presentation to honor the memory of Mustangs senior defender Kailee Miller, who was killed in a late March auto accident.
When play began, the Mustangs (5-2-1) stunned the Hawks and the crowd with a goal just 21 seconds into the match. Downers South scored again in the 10th minute and went on to a 3-1 nonconference win at Millennium Field in Streamwood.
“We talked before the match about what happened last year, when (Bartlett) scored within 26 seconds,” Downers South coach Chris Hernandez said of the Hawks’ 3-2 win in 2014. “It was so important for us to get off to a good start and show that intensity from the beginning.”
Autumn Rasmussen dribbled in on goal up the left side off the opening whistle. Her end line chip towards the goal mouth connected with Alexa Dimovsky, whose 6-yarder into the open right side of the net put the Mustangs up 1-0 in the soccer equivalent of the blink of an eye.
“I just saw the opportunity so I went for it,” Rasmussen said of her rush."
As much as that goal made an impact on the game, what happened before play began impressed Downers Grove South the most.
“What a class act they are,” Hernandez said of Bartlett. “They had a very touching tribute to Kailee before the match started. They presented each one of our starters with a flower in memory of her. That’s something I really wanted to thank them for.”
In what has been an emotionally wrenching spring, his players were equally touched.
“That meant a lot and showed a lot of character from their side,” Mustangs junior defender Sara Foernssler said. “I thought that was really cool.”
Downers Grove South players pay tribute to their teammate by all wearing “Miller 11" warmup shirts during the pregame.
“She was definitely the strength of our team,” Rasmussen said. “It was so hard to lose her and it still is, but we all strive to play how she played and give the effort that she gave.”
The Mustangs’ travails have hit a familiar emotion for the Hawks.
“We have a player who’s out the whole season with back fractures from a car accident the weekend after tryouts,” Bartlett coach Ben Beary said. “She’s healthy and we’re thankful for that. But when we found out about their team and what happened, it really meant something.
“My captains took it upon themselves to do that for them because we know what we went through, and we can only imagine what they’re going through. For that team to be playing like they are is amazing.”
As great as his team’s pregame actions were, Beary saw the continuation of a disappointing trend once play began.
“We’ve been preaching how we need to start games better, with more intensity and urgency,” Beary said, “and here we go again giving up a goal in the first 30 seconds and another goal soon after that. We started on our heels, bad touch after bad touch compounded itself, and we got frustrated really fast.”
That frustration grew in the 10th minute.
Moments after Bartlett goalkeeper Tessa Jatczak made a great diving save on Meghan Riordan’s 15-yard drive, the ensuing Natalia Pinto corner kick towards the middle of the box found an open Miyax Leon. Her low 10-yard shot into the center of the net made the score 2-0 Mustangs.
“We knew they were going to be a tough team,” Foernssler said, “so we wanted to come out and try to score a goal as soon as possible and try to put them away in the first half.”
The Mustangs nearly put the game on ice twice late in the half. Riordan’s 8-yard shot on a drive up left wing with 11:10 left was caught by Jatczak, then a Riordan cross to the far post three minutes later narrowly missed connection with a teammate.
Then Bartlett (5-4-1) seized some momentum entering the half.
After Mustang goalkeeper Meghan Diddia’s sliding catch of a low 25-yard Mariela Alba shot 5:10 before halftime, Alba put away her next chance.
Off a short touch pass from Jenna Noesen, Alba sidestepped a defender on left wing and lined an 18-yarder inside the right post to cut the Bartlett deficit to 2-1 with 1:57 left in the half.
Alba has been an offensive leader all season for the Hawks, and had the antidote Tuesday to her team’s rough start.
“I think we just weren’t expecting them to come out as hard as they did,” Alba said of the quick 2-0 hole. “We just weren’t ready for it. It gets in your head when they score 30 seconds in, but you have to tell your team to keep going, don’t stop, it’s not the end of the game.
“I just made sure I pressured the ball. One of my jobs in the middle is to get to the ball and make sure they didn’t get the ball to their forwards. Our transition was lacking, but in the second half we did step it up a lot. Our communication in the middle was a lot better.”
Bartlett opened the second half with their own instant attack. Just 30 seconds in, inches separated the Hawks from a tie.
After Diddia made an initial short hop save on Noesen’s 18-yard shot, Brooke Bednarke’s rebound try at the right post was deflected just wide by a Mustang. On the ensuing corner kick, Bartlett freshman Alyssa Modugno sent a shot wide of the net.
The Mustang defense survived that flurry. But in a span of 25 seconds of play starting with 10:30 left, Bartlett again nearly drew even on consecutive corner kicks.
First Bednarke nicely lined a high 25-yarder from right of the net that Diddia had to leap to swat over the crossbar. Bednarke’s ensuing corner kick deflected to Molly O’Malley, whose 6-yard point blank try was caught by Diddia.
“I knew they were going to come on strong,” Foernssler said, “and that we had to get the ball up as quickly as possible and play the outsides. They were really good at pressuring.”
Bartlett junior Mariah Martinez took over at goalkeeper in the second half and also faced pressure. Her block of an 8-yard Riordan shot with 33:30 left thwarted one chance, then a bizarre play came inches shy of a goal.
After Martinez’s catch of a Dimovski 20-yard shot, the ensuing Bartlett clearing attempt hit Dimovski in the face and rolled backward just inches wide of the open left post.
That painful but near lucky bounce for the Mustangs was followed by a pure skill play by Rasmussen with 5:02 to go.
The MVP of the Match stepped between two Bartlett players for an offensive zone steal, then lined a left side 20-yarder just under the crossbar for a key insurance goal and a 3-1 lead.
“Downers is a really good team, and their tactic of strength in the middle and sending it to their speed up top beat us today,” Beary said. “It frustrated us and kept us out of our game.
“Normally we’re able to possess a lot better and a lot cleaner than that. The whole game was sloppy for us, and I think it’s because Downers worked harder on that transition into the attack and we could never get set. And when we did get set we were chasing the ball on defense, and that wears on you.
“I’m happy with the way we bounced back (down 2-0) but not happy overall,” Beary said. “It wasn’t our best day.”
After a rare sub-.500 season last year, Downers South has united after its early season tragedy to play solid soccer.
“I think the support of our whole team and coaches really helps,” Foernssler said. “Just leaning on each other has really helped us get through.”
First-year coach Hernandez has been integral in the turnaround.
“Their coach has done a great job,” Beary said. “They’re organized, and they work hard for the whole 80 minutes.”
Hernandez has also brought technical changes to the Mustangs.
“We started with a new shape, and we have basically a new back line,” Foernssler said. “Just the shape and working with each other with a lot of practice has really helped us.”
Added Rasmussen: “I think our new style of play is working, of looking to play feet. And everyone’s been working for each other. We’ve really been utilizing the strengths of every player.
“I think the changes have really been working for us. Everyone’s really working hard, and we have a lot of goals that we’re driven to meet.”
The rich girls soccer history at Downers South includes the winningest coach in Illinois prep soccer in Barry Jacobson. Just three years removed from a third place state finish (a team that featured current starters Ava Porlier and Leon), the Mustangs are back to thinking big.
“We’re hoping to go as far as possible,” Foernssler said. “We’ve obviously seen a lot of improvement from last year with new players and new coaches. We’re hoping to at least win regionals this year.”
Tuesday’s win followed a deceiving 1-2 record at the Quad Cities Tournament over the weekend, with losses by a 1-0 score and in the ninth round of penalty kicks.
“I know the girls were a little disappointed that they didn’t get three wins in Iowa,” Hernandez said, “but their performances are right up there.”
Bartlett lost its second-straight game after a 4-0-1 streak.
“We have to start games better,” Beary said. “Urgency from the start still isn’t there, even though we’re getting beat in the first 20 minutes game after game.
“The second thing is that we’re not getting enough shot opportunities, and part of the reason is that we get into our possession mode and instead of playing through balls we’re playing balls to feet when we get into the attacking third. Once we start playing those breakthrough balls we’ll start getting more shots, then we’ll get more confidence and it’ll kind of steamroll from there.”
Despite the rough first 10 minutes on Tuesday, Bartlett’s back line has excelled.
“Our defense has been solid the last four or five games,” Beary said. “They’ve kept us in a lot of games. Unfortunately we made some mistakes in the back today that cost us, but that’s something we can shore up pretty easily with the veterans we have back there.”
The offensive end is a bigger focus.
“It takes a team effort,” Beary said. “You have to win the ball in the middle, look for the breakthrough and the forward makes a run. Then you’ll start getting 10 shots, 15 shots, but we’re not even close to that yet.”
Starting lineup
Downers Grove South
GK: Meghan Diddia
D: Sara Foernssler
D: Hannah Rossi
D: Sydney Clements
D: Marcela Calderon
M: Miyax Leon
M: Natalia Pinto
M: Avaliese Porlier
M: Meghan Riordan
F: Autumn Rasmussen
F: Alexa Dimovski
Bartlett
GK: Tessa Jatczak
D: Jamie Kenna
D: Shannon Brohan
D: Miranda Hedeen
D: Melissa Gal
MF: Brooke Bednarke
MF: Jenna Dombrowski
MF: Jenna Noesen
MF: Mariela Alba
F: Carrigan Sablik
F: Jessica Mirsky
MVP of Match: Autumn Rasmussen, F, Downers South
Mustangs top Bartlett after moving pre-game presentation
By Dave Owen
STREAMWOOD -- The hosts Bartlett (5-4-1) moved visiting Downers Grove South with a pregame presentation to honor the memory of Mustangs senior defender Kailee Miller, who was killed in a late March auto accident.
When play began, the Mustangs (5-2-1) stunned the Hawks and the crowd with a goal just 21 seconds into the match. Downers South scored again in the 10th minute and went on to a 3-1 nonconference win at Millennium Field in Streamwood.
“We talked before the match about what happened last year, when (Bartlett) scored within 26 seconds,” Downers South coach Chris Hernandez said of the Hawks’ 3-2 win in 2014. “It was so important for us to get off to a good start and show that intensity from the beginning.”
Autumn Rasmussen dribbled in on goal up the left side off the opening whistle. Her end line chip towards the goal mouth connected with Alexa Dimovsky, whose 6-yarder into the open right side of the net put the Mustangs up 1-0 in the soccer equivalent of the blink of an eye.
“I just saw the opportunity so I went for it,” Rasmussen said of her rush."
As much as that goal made an impact on the game, what happened before play began impressed Downers Grove South the most.
“What a class act they are,” Hernandez said of Bartlett. “They had a very touching tribute to Kailee before the match started. They presented each one of our starters with a flower in memory of her. That’s something I really wanted to thank them for.”
In what has been an emotionally wrenching spring, his players were equally touched.
“That meant a lot and showed a lot of character from their side,” Mustangs junior defender Sara Foernssler said. “I thought that was really cool.”
Downers Grove South players pay tribute to their teammate by all wearing “Miller 11" warmup shirts during the pregame.
“She was definitely the strength of our team,” Rasmussen said. “It was so hard to lose her and it still is, but we all strive to play how she played and give the effort that she gave.”
The Mustangs’ travails have hit a familiar emotion for the Hawks.
“We have a player who’s out the whole season with back fractures from a car accident the weekend after tryouts,” Bartlett coach Ben Beary said. “She’s healthy and we’re thankful for that. But when we found out about their team and what happened, it really meant something.
“My captains took it upon themselves to do that for them because we know what we went through, and we can only imagine what they’re going through. For that team to be playing like they are is amazing.”
As great as his team’s pregame actions were, Beary saw the continuation of a disappointing trend once play began.
“We’ve been preaching how we need to start games better, with more intensity and urgency,” Beary said, “and here we go again giving up a goal in the first 30 seconds and another goal soon after that. We started on our heels, bad touch after bad touch compounded itself, and we got frustrated really fast.”
That frustration grew in the 10th minute.
Moments after Bartlett goalkeeper Tessa Jatczak made a great diving save on Meghan Riordan’s 15-yard drive, the ensuing Natalia Pinto corner kick towards the middle of the box found an open Miyax Leon. Her low 10-yard shot into the center of the net made the score 2-0 Mustangs.
“We knew they were going to be a tough team,” Foernssler said, “so we wanted to come out and try to score a goal as soon as possible and try to put them away in the first half.”
The Mustangs nearly put the game on ice twice late in the half. Riordan’s 8-yard shot on a drive up left wing with 11:10 left was caught by Jatczak, then a Riordan cross to the far post three minutes later narrowly missed connection with a teammate.
Then Bartlett (5-4-1) seized some momentum entering the half.
After Mustang goalkeeper Meghan Diddia’s sliding catch of a low 25-yard Mariela Alba shot 5:10 before halftime, Alba put away her next chance.
Off a short touch pass from Jenna Noesen, Alba sidestepped a defender on left wing and lined an 18-yarder inside the right post to cut the Bartlett deficit to 2-1 with 1:57 left in the half.
Alba has been an offensive leader all season for the Hawks, and had the antidote Tuesday to her team’s rough start.
“I think we just weren’t expecting them to come out as hard as they did,” Alba said of the quick 2-0 hole. “We just weren’t ready for it. It gets in your head when they score 30 seconds in, but you have to tell your team to keep going, don’t stop, it’s not the end of the game.
“I just made sure I pressured the ball. One of my jobs in the middle is to get to the ball and make sure they didn’t get the ball to their forwards. Our transition was lacking, but in the second half we did step it up a lot. Our communication in the middle was a lot better.”
Bartlett opened the second half with their own instant attack. Just 30 seconds in, inches separated the Hawks from a tie.
After Diddia made an initial short hop save on Noesen’s 18-yard shot, Brooke Bednarke’s rebound try at the right post was deflected just wide by a Mustang. On the ensuing corner kick, Bartlett freshman Alyssa Modugno sent a shot wide of the net.
The Mustang defense survived that flurry. But in a span of 25 seconds of play starting with 10:30 left, Bartlett again nearly drew even on consecutive corner kicks.
First Bednarke nicely lined a high 25-yarder from right of the net that Diddia had to leap to swat over the crossbar. Bednarke’s ensuing corner kick deflected to Molly O’Malley, whose 6-yard point blank try was caught by Diddia.
“I knew they were going to come on strong,” Foernssler said, “and that we had to get the ball up as quickly as possible and play the outsides. They were really good at pressuring.”
Bartlett junior Mariah Martinez took over at goalkeeper in the second half and also faced pressure. Her block of an 8-yard Riordan shot with 33:30 left thwarted one chance, then a bizarre play came inches shy of a goal.
After Martinez’s catch of a Dimovski 20-yard shot, the ensuing Bartlett clearing attempt hit Dimovski in the face and rolled backward just inches wide of the open left post.
That painful but near lucky bounce for the Mustangs was followed by a pure skill play by Rasmussen with 5:02 to go.
The MVP of the Match stepped between two Bartlett players for an offensive zone steal, then lined a left side 20-yarder just under the crossbar for a key insurance goal and a 3-1 lead.
“Downers is a really good team, and their tactic of strength in the middle and sending it to their speed up top beat us today,” Beary said. “It frustrated us and kept us out of our game.
“Normally we’re able to possess a lot better and a lot cleaner than that. The whole game was sloppy for us, and I think it’s because Downers worked harder on that transition into the attack and we could never get set. And when we did get set we were chasing the ball on defense, and that wears on you.
“I’m happy with the way we bounced back (down 2-0) but not happy overall,” Beary said. “It wasn’t our best day.”
After a rare sub-.500 season last year, Downers South has united after its early season tragedy to play solid soccer.
“I think the support of our whole team and coaches really helps,” Foernssler said. “Just leaning on each other has really helped us get through.”
First-year coach Hernandez has been integral in the turnaround.
“Their coach has done a great job,” Beary said. “They’re organized, and they work hard for the whole 80 minutes.”
Hernandez has also brought technical changes to the Mustangs.
“We started with a new shape, and we have basically a new back line,” Foernssler said. “Just the shape and working with each other with a lot of practice has really helped us.”
Added Rasmussen: “I think our new style of play is working, of looking to play feet. And everyone’s been working for each other. We’ve really been utilizing the strengths of every player.
“I think the changes have really been working for us. Everyone’s really working hard, and we have a lot of goals that we’re driven to meet.”
The rich girls soccer history at Downers South includes the winningest coach in Illinois prep soccer in Barry Jacobson. Just three years removed from a third place state finish (a team that featured current starters Ava Porlier and Leon), the Mustangs are back to thinking big.
“We’re hoping to go as far as possible,” Foernssler said. “We’ve obviously seen a lot of improvement from last year with new players and new coaches. We’re hoping to at least win regionals this year.”
Tuesday’s win followed a deceiving 1-2 record at the Quad Cities Tournament over the weekend, with losses by a 1-0 score and in the ninth round of penalty kicks.
“I know the girls were a little disappointed that they didn’t get three wins in Iowa,” Hernandez said, “but their performances are right up there.”
Bartlett lost its second-straight game after a 4-0-1 streak.
“We have to start games better,” Beary said. “Urgency from the start still isn’t there, even though we’re getting beat in the first 20 minutes game after game.
“The second thing is that we’re not getting enough shot opportunities, and part of the reason is that we get into our possession mode and instead of playing through balls we’re playing balls to feet when we get into the attacking third. Once we start playing those breakthrough balls we’ll start getting more shots, then we’ll get more confidence and it’ll kind of steamroll from there.”
Despite the rough first 10 minutes on Tuesday, Bartlett’s back line has excelled.
“Our defense has been solid the last four or five games,” Beary said. “They’ve kept us in a lot of games. Unfortunately we made some mistakes in the back today that cost us, but that’s something we can shore up pretty easily with the veterans we have back there.”
The offensive end is a bigger focus.
“It takes a team effort,” Beary said. “You have to win the ball in the middle, look for the breakthrough and the forward makes a run. Then you’ll start getting 10 shots, 15 shots, but we’re not even close to that yet.”
Starting lineup
Downers Grove South
GK: Meghan Diddia
D: Sara Foernssler
D: Hannah Rossi
D: Sydney Clements
D: Marcela Calderon
M: Miyax Leon
M: Natalia Pinto
M: Avaliese Porlier
M: Meghan Riordan
F: Autumn Rasmussen
F: Alexa Dimovski
Bartlett
GK: Tessa Jatczak
D: Jamie Kenna
D: Shannon Brohan
D: Miranda Hedeen
D: Melissa Gal
MF: Brooke Bednarke
MF: Jenna Dombrowski
MF: Jenna Noesen
MF: Mariela Alba
F: Carrigan Sablik
F: Jessica Mirsky
MVP of Match: Autumn Rasmussen, F, Downers South