Frosh leads New Trier to 3rd place finish
Weaver notches brace as Trevians end new invite with 3-0 win
By Patrick Z. McGavin
NORTHFIELD -- The most remarkable sequence made by Emma Weaver came early in the second half. She drove the ball down the right line. As a Loyola defender moved in for the tackle, Weaver punched the ball into the air to elude her defender and continue her push toward the Ramblers’ goal.
The play did not result in a goal, but the moment crystallized the daring blend of talent, drive and creativity that sets Weaver apart. She is not a normal freshman, one who is typicallt tentative and unsure of her way; she is a talent already in full bloom.
Weaver scored two goals as the Trevians, ranked third in the Chicagoland Soccer Top 25, continued their string of near-unstoppable play by knocking out rival Loyola 3-0 in the third place game of the North Shore Invitational on Saturday afternoon.
The precocious Weaver's scintillating play earned her the Chicagoland Soccer MVP of the Match honor. Her brace Saturday followed an earlier hat trick in what has started as a six-goal prep debut.
Weaver has great size, speed and agility that betrays her youth and melds in a combination of aplomb and striking naturalist ability. Her two goals were a moment of beauty, though one technically was a matter of luck.
Even so, luck is what you make of it.
This game was also New Trier and Loyola. The two schools are closely entwined and were the two programs that engineered this first edition of this invitational that included the top three teams -- Naperville North, Barrington and New Trier -- in Chicagoland Soccer’s Top 25 poll.
Regardless of the circumstances, the two teams are going to go hard against each other.
“Obviously we know they are a very good team,” Loyola junior forward Stephanie Ramsay said. “A lot of them play on my club team. They are a very strong team. We needed to play our game and not be fearful, which I think we definitely were in the first half.”
The rhythm during the first half was more respectful and gradual. New Trier played with the strong wind advantage. The Trevians built their attack slowly and methodically, waiting for the opportunity to strike.
Patience is also a significant virtue and a quality worth developing. In the 32nd minute, New Trier (10-1-0) finally took flight. Senior defender Caroline Iserloth played a ball over the top on the left edge that Weaver ran under.
“Her ball was amazing, and I just ran to it and got the touch,” Weaver said.
Loyola's standout sophomore keeper Maggie Avery was pulled out of the box. Weaver saw her chance and finely lofted the right-footed shot over the keeper's head and inside the second post.
Weaver pictured the goal as less than an expression of her singular talent and more a culmination of strong team action.
“We have really good team chemistry so we know if we work as a team on and off the field it will show out there,” said Weaver, whose sister Jessica is a former New Trier star who play at DePaul. “If we are dynamic and communicate well, then we are going to play well. We try to get ready right as walk onto the field.”
Loyola (6-5-0) played the Trevians mostly even in the first half, despite the Trevians playing with the considerable advantage of the strong wind. The Ramblers showed greater daring, purpose and a willingness to mix it up with the Trevians. Against more offensively talented teams, like Barrington or St. Charles North, Loyola has played more defensive.
Loyola amped it up with greater urgency in the second half, taking advantage of the wind and the greater ability to play in the air.
“I think we definitely turned it around,” Ramsay said. “We were somewhat chasing them in the first half. I think once we started to actually possess the ball, we had a good string of passes to go forward. I think in the second half there was greater energy.”
Junior midfielder Cate Shellenback made a strong cross into the box. Freshman forward Elly Zern, part of a wave of a bright young Ramblers talent, showed her own special prowess for getting to the edge for dangerous actions. Ramsay also had a near breakaway that was thwarted when the referee ruled she inadvertently had an illegal touch.
For nearly 20 minutes of the second half, Loyola played some of its best soccer of the year.
“We got to 60 quality minutes against one of the truly elite teams in the state,” Loyola coach Craig Snower said. “The second goal was a bit of a backbreaker, and we still have to learn there is no reason to give up the third one because you are feeling sorry for yourself. Now we have to find a way to get to 80 minutes of top soccer.
“There definitely has been improvement the last few weeks.”
The game changed in the 61st minute. Weaver again was in the center of events.
She drove a ball down the right edge and looked to deliver a cross. She blasted the ball and the wind played havoc with it, floating it in the air currents and placing it beyond the grasp of Avery for the crucial second goal.
“That was supposed to be a cross, I will be honest with you,” Weaver said. “I was lucky it went in.”
In the 64th minute, senior midfielder Hannah Arment punctuated the victory by slipping through the seams of the Ramblers’ back and hammering home a short ball from about nine yards.
“The game was evenly matched throughout, and Loyola always come out very strong against us,” Arment said. “We talked about having runs on top. They were kind of backing up on defense. We wanted to keep those diagonal runs and get those through-balls and that ended up working.
“I saw there was just one defender behind he, and I took a touch around her.”
The game was tighter than the score indicated, indicative of the quiet progress Loyola has made. After the difficult one-sided loss against no. 2 Barrington, Loyola administered the first loss of Glenbrook South and shut out an improving Hinsdale Central team in the continuation of pool play.
“After the second goal we kind of put our heads down,” Ramsay said. “We did not give up but our level of play definitely decreased. We definitely have some work to do, but we can work from this. I think this is a good place to go from here.”
Since conceding two goals to top-ranked Naperville North in the opening eight minutes in the first game of the event a week ago, New Trier was untouchable, winning each of the final three games by a margin of 3-0.
“I thought our last three games have been some of our best soccer against really good competition,” New Trier coach Jim Burnside said. “We got the wake-up call last week. We realized we cannot expect just to come out and do what we do. We needed to ratchet it up.”
Burnside likened the quest to the Sisyphean struggle of rolling a boulder up a mountain.
“It’s the time of the season, I tell the girls,” Burnside said. “You get it to the top and then you have to see what is going to happen. It is either going to roll back and crush you, and you have to start over again, or you push it over the hill and it starts rolling down and the energy starts taking over the boulder. I think (after the Naperville North loss) we pushed it over the top and the energy is starting to build.
“We are confident and having fun.”
Starting lineups
Loyola
GK: Maggie Avery
D: Lauren Daffada
D: Faith Craddock
D: Bella Broccolo
MF: Emily Chrisman
MF: Ally West
MF: Cate Shellenback
MF: Vanessa Murray
F: Stephanie Ramsay
F: Maggie Brett
F: Anna Perona
New Trier
GK: Katy Symantiez
D: Megan Murdoch
D: Caroline Iserloth
D: Sam Urban
D: Sydney Parker
MF: Lily Conley
MF: Hope Baisley
MF: Emma Weaver
MF: Hannah Arment
MF: Avery Schuldt
F: Whitney Hoban
Chicagoland Soccer MVP of the Match: Emma Weaver, fr., MF, New Trier
Weaver notches brace as Trevians end new invite with 3-0 win
By Patrick Z. McGavin
NORTHFIELD -- The most remarkable sequence made by Emma Weaver came early in the second half. She drove the ball down the right line. As a Loyola defender moved in for the tackle, Weaver punched the ball into the air to elude her defender and continue her push toward the Ramblers’ goal.
The play did not result in a goal, but the moment crystallized the daring blend of talent, drive and creativity that sets Weaver apart. She is not a normal freshman, one who is typicallt tentative and unsure of her way; she is a talent already in full bloom.
Weaver scored two goals as the Trevians, ranked third in the Chicagoland Soccer Top 25, continued their string of near-unstoppable play by knocking out rival Loyola 3-0 in the third place game of the North Shore Invitational on Saturday afternoon.
The precocious Weaver's scintillating play earned her the Chicagoland Soccer MVP of the Match honor. Her brace Saturday followed an earlier hat trick in what has started as a six-goal prep debut.
Weaver has great size, speed and agility that betrays her youth and melds in a combination of aplomb and striking naturalist ability. Her two goals were a moment of beauty, though one technically was a matter of luck.
Even so, luck is what you make of it.
This game was also New Trier and Loyola. The two schools are closely entwined and were the two programs that engineered this first edition of this invitational that included the top three teams -- Naperville North, Barrington and New Trier -- in Chicagoland Soccer’s Top 25 poll.
Regardless of the circumstances, the two teams are going to go hard against each other.
“Obviously we know they are a very good team,” Loyola junior forward Stephanie Ramsay said. “A lot of them play on my club team. They are a very strong team. We needed to play our game and not be fearful, which I think we definitely were in the first half.”
The rhythm during the first half was more respectful and gradual. New Trier played with the strong wind advantage. The Trevians built their attack slowly and methodically, waiting for the opportunity to strike.
Patience is also a significant virtue and a quality worth developing. In the 32nd minute, New Trier (10-1-0) finally took flight. Senior defender Caroline Iserloth played a ball over the top on the left edge that Weaver ran under.
“Her ball was amazing, and I just ran to it and got the touch,” Weaver said.
Loyola's standout sophomore keeper Maggie Avery was pulled out of the box. Weaver saw her chance and finely lofted the right-footed shot over the keeper's head and inside the second post.
Weaver pictured the goal as less than an expression of her singular talent and more a culmination of strong team action.
“We have really good team chemistry so we know if we work as a team on and off the field it will show out there,” said Weaver, whose sister Jessica is a former New Trier star who play at DePaul. “If we are dynamic and communicate well, then we are going to play well. We try to get ready right as walk onto the field.”
Loyola (6-5-0) played the Trevians mostly even in the first half, despite the Trevians playing with the considerable advantage of the strong wind. The Ramblers showed greater daring, purpose and a willingness to mix it up with the Trevians. Against more offensively talented teams, like Barrington or St. Charles North, Loyola has played more defensive.
Loyola amped it up with greater urgency in the second half, taking advantage of the wind and the greater ability to play in the air.
“I think we definitely turned it around,” Ramsay said. “We were somewhat chasing them in the first half. I think once we started to actually possess the ball, we had a good string of passes to go forward. I think in the second half there was greater energy.”
Junior midfielder Cate Shellenback made a strong cross into the box. Freshman forward Elly Zern, part of a wave of a bright young Ramblers talent, showed her own special prowess for getting to the edge for dangerous actions. Ramsay also had a near breakaway that was thwarted when the referee ruled she inadvertently had an illegal touch.
For nearly 20 minutes of the second half, Loyola played some of its best soccer of the year.
“We got to 60 quality minutes against one of the truly elite teams in the state,” Loyola coach Craig Snower said. “The second goal was a bit of a backbreaker, and we still have to learn there is no reason to give up the third one because you are feeling sorry for yourself. Now we have to find a way to get to 80 minutes of top soccer.
“There definitely has been improvement the last few weeks.”
The game changed in the 61st minute. Weaver again was in the center of events.
She drove a ball down the right edge and looked to deliver a cross. She blasted the ball and the wind played havoc with it, floating it in the air currents and placing it beyond the grasp of Avery for the crucial second goal.
“That was supposed to be a cross, I will be honest with you,” Weaver said. “I was lucky it went in.”
In the 64th minute, senior midfielder Hannah Arment punctuated the victory by slipping through the seams of the Ramblers’ back and hammering home a short ball from about nine yards.
“The game was evenly matched throughout, and Loyola always come out very strong against us,” Arment said. “We talked about having runs on top. They were kind of backing up on defense. We wanted to keep those diagonal runs and get those through-balls and that ended up working.
“I saw there was just one defender behind he, and I took a touch around her.”
The game was tighter than the score indicated, indicative of the quiet progress Loyola has made. After the difficult one-sided loss against no. 2 Barrington, Loyola administered the first loss of Glenbrook South and shut out an improving Hinsdale Central team in the continuation of pool play.
“After the second goal we kind of put our heads down,” Ramsay said. “We did not give up but our level of play definitely decreased. We definitely have some work to do, but we can work from this. I think this is a good place to go from here.”
Since conceding two goals to top-ranked Naperville North in the opening eight minutes in the first game of the event a week ago, New Trier was untouchable, winning each of the final three games by a margin of 3-0.
“I thought our last three games have been some of our best soccer against really good competition,” New Trier coach Jim Burnside said. “We got the wake-up call last week. We realized we cannot expect just to come out and do what we do. We needed to ratchet it up.”
Burnside likened the quest to the Sisyphean struggle of rolling a boulder up a mountain.
“It’s the time of the season, I tell the girls,” Burnside said. “You get it to the top and then you have to see what is going to happen. It is either going to roll back and crush you, and you have to start over again, or you push it over the hill and it starts rolling down and the energy starts taking over the boulder. I think (after the Naperville North loss) we pushed it over the top and the energy is starting to build.
“We are confident and having fun.”
Starting lineups
Loyola
GK: Maggie Avery
D: Lauren Daffada
D: Faith Craddock
D: Bella Broccolo
MF: Emily Chrisman
MF: Ally West
MF: Cate Shellenback
MF: Vanessa Murray
F: Stephanie Ramsay
F: Maggie Brett
F: Anna Perona
New Trier
GK: Katy Symantiez
D: Megan Murdoch
D: Caroline Iserloth
D: Sam Urban
D: Sydney Parker
MF: Lily Conley
MF: Hope Baisley
MF: Emma Weaver
MF: Hannah Arment
MF: Avery Schuldt
F: Whitney Hoban
Chicagoland Soccer MVP of the Match: Emma Weaver, fr., MF, New Trier