St. Francis strikes early and often
Spartans win 10-1 in Iowa trip tune-up
By Dave Owen
LOMBARD – Preparing to head to Burlington, Ia., for the Tournament of Champions, St. Francis’ next Field of Dreams after that may be the Class 2A state tournament.
The Spartans (7-2-2) geared up for their weekend trip with a 10-1 nonconference win Wednesday at Montini. And their impressive 2017 resume against elite bigger schools like Naperville North (a 0-0 tie) bodes well for a big postseason.
“Our competition this year has been a lot harder, and I think that’s really challenging our abilities as a team,” said Kendra Pasquale, the leading scorer on the Spartans’ fourth place Class 2A state finisher last year. “But it’s going pretty well. I think also with the new additions, we’re really working on our communication and coming together as a team.
“As the season’s going on, we’re really growing closer. And those games (with Class 3A Naperville North, New Trier and Stevenson) kind of test us and help us get connected.”
A wave of ill-timed injuries has been about the only force to slow down the Spartans.
“The issue was when we played that one tournament on the North Shore, and we lost our starting back four,” St. Francis coach Jim Winslow said. “So just at the point we had started to gel, we lost those four.”
Defenders Alex Pruesser, Lauren Douglass, Sarah Maller and McKenzie Douglass were all sidelined during the Spartans’ 3-0 loss to New Trier. Pruesser and Maller remain out, and Lauren Douglass’ return came against Montini.
The injury wave followed the impressive draw with Naperville North.
“Against Naperville North it was up and down the field.” Winslow said. “We had four or five good opportunities, they had six or seven, and two were top quality each way. Their keeper made a couple nice saves, Erin Peck got in and just missed the far post, and their keeper made a save on Kendra.
“It was a really good game. We walked away knowing we can play with these guys, and dish it out as well as get it.
“At New Trier we started to have attrition where Sarah got hurt, and Lauren Douglass’ shins were killing her so we got her off. This was Lauren’s first action coming back in about two weeks. Lauren’s sister (McKenzie) is back from knee surgery, and we’ll get Alex back this weekend, so that last piece is getting Sarah back. And then getting everybody back on the same page.”
The Spartans produced a book’s worth of offensive threats at Montini. Scoring three times in the first 13 minutes, the Spartans had contributions from throughout their roster against the Broncos (6-7-2).
“We want to go into every game with the same mindset,” said Pasquale, “but today we kind of wanted to capitalize on our opportunities quickly, a get the job done early kind of thing.”
Mission accomplished. Pasquale was on the field for barely 20 minutes Wednesday, but netted a hat trick and an assist to earn Chicagoland Soccer MVP of the Match honors.
The first half offense was all Pasquale and fellow star forward Hannah Rittenhouse, with an impressive late response after Montini added a surprise twist.
Pasquale’s first salvo came in the fourth minute, when she won a 50-50 ball near midfield, burst in on goal and touched a shot past charging Montini goalkeeper Emily Crotty for a 1-0 lead.
Then 31:39 before halftime, Rittenhouse raced up the middle and passed to Pasquale at the right side of the box. Showing the dexterity of a powerful scorer, Pasquale left-footed a low 8-yarder into the far corner to make it 2-0.
The lead grew to 3-0 with another nice combination 27:01 before the half. Pasquale flicked a header to Rittenhouse in right, who lined a low laser off the inside of the right post and in.
Pasquale, Rittenhouse and Erin Peck have all scored between 12 and 16 goals this season, and have a combined eight years of varsity experience.
“That (experience) helps so much,” Pasquale said. “We lost some great seniors last year, but we’ve picked up some great players this year. The more you play together the more connected you are. The more you know the person, you think alike.”
Pasquale and Peck have been varsity teammates since freshman year.
“So far a lot of our strengths are based on our team chemistry,” Peck said. “We all work as a family, which really helps us. And because we played together last year too, we have good chemistry on and off the field. We’re able to utilize our strengths, like our speed.”
St. Francis reserves kept up the high-speed attack the rest of the half. Among the close calls were: Isabella DeFeo's steal in the box and shot sent inches wide in the 28th minute; and quality shots from Christine Fassana (7:35 before halftime) and DeFeo (a high 28-yarder 6:05 before the break) that were stopped by the Montini keeper.
Just when it seemed the half would end quietly for St. Francis, Montini threw in an unexpected wrinkle.
After a 27-yard free kick by the Broncos' Alondra Holler was deflected wide by Spartans goalkeeper Courtney Kozak, Montini perfectly executed the ensuing corner kick.
Kate Crotty nicely ran on to Neena Franklin’s perfect send from the corner, heading a 6-yarder into the net to suddenly make it a 3-1 game with just 2:57 left in the half.
“It was a great goal,” Montini coach Sue Brown said. “They (St. Francis) are a very nice team and program, but we played well with them. We worked hard, and I think we did OK.
“Neena played well, and Kate Crotty – they’re the two who assisted and scored the goal. They’ve played really well for us all year long. And our keeper (Emily Crotty) played well and had some nice saves. They really peppered her. And Andi (Dunning) at outside ‘D’ does a nice job for us too (including a nice clear of a Kaitlyn Joniak free kick 18:40 before halftime).”
The nice goal by the Class A club was only the second score allowed by St. Francis in the last four games. And it appeared to do more than light a fire under the Spartans – it unleashed a raging blaze.
One minute and two seconds later, Katherine McKee fielded a Fasana throw-in and raced in on left wing and angled a 15-yard laser. Emily Crotty’s dive deflected the try to the far post where Adeline Shaw put it away to return St. Francis to a three-goal edge at the break.
Early second half goals by Pasquale (off a DeFeo cross with 37:23 left), DeFeo (20-yarder off a Lauren Douglass assist at 31:04) and McKee (15-yarder inside the left post via a Michaela Corrigan assist at 24:54) put the game away at 7-1.
A great effort by Montini goalkeeper Emily Crotty denied another finish. With 25:40 left, Ava Hensley’s pass sprung McKenzie Douglass on a left side breakaway.
But Crotty made a great sliding kick save on Douglass’ 15-yard drive, then recovered to win the race to the rebound and cover up.
St. Francis freshman DeFeo added to her strong second half (goal, three assists) with 17:32 to go. Blocking a Montini clearing attempt, she set up Peck for a 20-yard low drive inside the right post to up the lead to 8-1.
With half the remaining time chopped off the clock due to the seven-goal margin, the Spartans continued to roll. With 7:58 left, McKee’s drive off the right post was rebounded home by Peck for her second goal of the game.
Then just over a minute later, Corrigan powered home an 8-yard header off a DeFeo corner kick to close the scoring and put the Spartans up 10-1 with 6:50 to go.
“We definitely wanted to play simple,” Peck said, “really work on our corners and aspects of our game that we maybe can’t work on against other teams. I thought we were able to really control the ball. Our possession was really good.”
Other near-misses on great second half chances were provided by Anna Valaik (25-yard shot over the net) and Fasana (8-yard shot deflected just wide by goalkeeper Crotty).
The list of standout individual performances by the Spartans of late fittingly begins with their quick-strike offense.
“This has been a season where the three kids up top (Pasquale, Peck and Rittenhouse) have played pretty well all season,” Winslow said.
“And the kid who’s really done yeoman’s work is (defender) Maggie O’Reilly. We’ve asked her to play outside, play in the middle, and she’s been great with both. She stepped in for a couple of games and had to play full games, because we suddenly went from having depth to where we had four (healthy defenders).
“She’s played really well,” Winslow added, “and Mary Brady one of our seniors has stepped in as a center back and done a nice job for us. Mary just does simple things well. And (goalkeeper) Tammy (Syron) has played really well. We gave her the day off today.”
Kozak is also expected to start in place of Syron this weekend, as the Spartans eye the bigger picture.
“Courtney’s going to get the majority of the minutes in Iowa this weekend,” Winslow said, “because Tammy’s making a college visit.”
Getting healthy and fine-tuning for the postseason will be the Spartans’ big goal for Iowa and the rest of the regular season.
“The seeding stuff is turned in tonight,” Winslow said, “so for all intents and purposes, anything we do now is just gravy.”
But getting even healthier will add spice to that gravy.
“Alex comes back this weekend (from a concussion),” Winslow said, “so we’ll get her back. And she can play any spot in back. We’re getting that depth back finally, which is good.”
The next test is to continue to get maximum benefits from a talented roster.
“Our biggest thing is, I’m very fortunate that we have a lot of kids who are good with ball to feet and are fun to watch” Winslow said. “But we have to make sure to keep it simple – there’s 11 people on the field and just one ball, so you have to do a lot of work without the ball and you have to share it.
“If we can do that, we’ll be a tough out (in the postseason),” Winslow added. “But our sectional is brutal – Benet and Nazareth are in there, and a couple of others. It’s not a gimme by any means.”
Starting lineups
St. Francis
GK- Courtney Kozak
D- Mary Brady
D- Kaitlyn Joniak
D- Lauren Douglass
D- McKenzie Douglass
M- Isabella DeFeo
M- Anna Valaik
M- Jillian DiTusa
F- Hannah Rittenhouse
F- Kendra Pasquale
F- Erin Peck
Montini
GK- Emily Crotty
D- Kasey Ohm
D- Sonia Finch
D- Andi Dunning
D- Kate Crotty
M- Neena Franklin
M- Anna Martinello
M- Peyton Schaefer
M- Ellie Krick
F- Alondra Holler
F- Abby Wolf
Chicagoland Soccer MVP of the Match: Kendra Pasquale, jr. F, St. Francis
Spartans win 10-1 in Iowa trip tune-up
By Dave Owen
LOMBARD – Preparing to head to Burlington, Ia., for the Tournament of Champions, St. Francis’ next Field of Dreams after that may be the Class 2A state tournament.
The Spartans (7-2-2) geared up for their weekend trip with a 10-1 nonconference win Wednesday at Montini. And their impressive 2017 resume against elite bigger schools like Naperville North (a 0-0 tie) bodes well for a big postseason.
“Our competition this year has been a lot harder, and I think that’s really challenging our abilities as a team,” said Kendra Pasquale, the leading scorer on the Spartans’ fourth place Class 2A state finisher last year. “But it’s going pretty well. I think also with the new additions, we’re really working on our communication and coming together as a team.
“As the season’s going on, we’re really growing closer. And those games (with Class 3A Naperville North, New Trier and Stevenson) kind of test us and help us get connected.”
A wave of ill-timed injuries has been about the only force to slow down the Spartans.
“The issue was when we played that one tournament on the North Shore, and we lost our starting back four,” St. Francis coach Jim Winslow said. “So just at the point we had started to gel, we lost those four.”
Defenders Alex Pruesser, Lauren Douglass, Sarah Maller and McKenzie Douglass were all sidelined during the Spartans’ 3-0 loss to New Trier. Pruesser and Maller remain out, and Lauren Douglass’ return came against Montini.
The injury wave followed the impressive draw with Naperville North.
“Against Naperville North it was up and down the field.” Winslow said. “We had four or five good opportunities, they had six or seven, and two were top quality each way. Their keeper made a couple nice saves, Erin Peck got in and just missed the far post, and their keeper made a save on Kendra.
“It was a really good game. We walked away knowing we can play with these guys, and dish it out as well as get it.
“At New Trier we started to have attrition where Sarah got hurt, and Lauren Douglass’ shins were killing her so we got her off. This was Lauren’s first action coming back in about two weeks. Lauren’s sister (McKenzie) is back from knee surgery, and we’ll get Alex back this weekend, so that last piece is getting Sarah back. And then getting everybody back on the same page.”
The Spartans produced a book’s worth of offensive threats at Montini. Scoring three times in the first 13 minutes, the Spartans had contributions from throughout their roster against the Broncos (6-7-2).
“We want to go into every game with the same mindset,” said Pasquale, “but today we kind of wanted to capitalize on our opportunities quickly, a get the job done early kind of thing.”
Mission accomplished. Pasquale was on the field for barely 20 minutes Wednesday, but netted a hat trick and an assist to earn Chicagoland Soccer MVP of the Match honors.
The first half offense was all Pasquale and fellow star forward Hannah Rittenhouse, with an impressive late response after Montini added a surprise twist.
Pasquale’s first salvo came in the fourth minute, when she won a 50-50 ball near midfield, burst in on goal and touched a shot past charging Montini goalkeeper Emily Crotty for a 1-0 lead.
Then 31:39 before halftime, Rittenhouse raced up the middle and passed to Pasquale at the right side of the box. Showing the dexterity of a powerful scorer, Pasquale left-footed a low 8-yarder into the far corner to make it 2-0.
The lead grew to 3-0 with another nice combination 27:01 before the half. Pasquale flicked a header to Rittenhouse in right, who lined a low laser off the inside of the right post and in.
Pasquale, Rittenhouse and Erin Peck have all scored between 12 and 16 goals this season, and have a combined eight years of varsity experience.
“That (experience) helps so much,” Pasquale said. “We lost some great seniors last year, but we’ve picked up some great players this year. The more you play together the more connected you are. The more you know the person, you think alike.”
Pasquale and Peck have been varsity teammates since freshman year.
“So far a lot of our strengths are based on our team chemistry,” Peck said. “We all work as a family, which really helps us. And because we played together last year too, we have good chemistry on and off the field. We’re able to utilize our strengths, like our speed.”
St. Francis reserves kept up the high-speed attack the rest of the half. Among the close calls were: Isabella DeFeo's steal in the box and shot sent inches wide in the 28th minute; and quality shots from Christine Fassana (7:35 before halftime) and DeFeo (a high 28-yarder 6:05 before the break) that were stopped by the Montini keeper.
Just when it seemed the half would end quietly for St. Francis, Montini threw in an unexpected wrinkle.
After a 27-yard free kick by the Broncos' Alondra Holler was deflected wide by Spartans goalkeeper Courtney Kozak, Montini perfectly executed the ensuing corner kick.
Kate Crotty nicely ran on to Neena Franklin’s perfect send from the corner, heading a 6-yarder into the net to suddenly make it a 3-1 game with just 2:57 left in the half.
“It was a great goal,” Montini coach Sue Brown said. “They (St. Francis) are a very nice team and program, but we played well with them. We worked hard, and I think we did OK.
“Neena played well, and Kate Crotty – they’re the two who assisted and scored the goal. They’ve played really well for us all year long. And our keeper (Emily Crotty) played well and had some nice saves. They really peppered her. And Andi (Dunning) at outside ‘D’ does a nice job for us too (including a nice clear of a Kaitlyn Joniak free kick 18:40 before halftime).”
The nice goal by the Class A club was only the second score allowed by St. Francis in the last four games. And it appeared to do more than light a fire under the Spartans – it unleashed a raging blaze.
One minute and two seconds later, Katherine McKee fielded a Fasana throw-in and raced in on left wing and angled a 15-yard laser. Emily Crotty’s dive deflected the try to the far post where Adeline Shaw put it away to return St. Francis to a three-goal edge at the break.
Early second half goals by Pasquale (off a DeFeo cross with 37:23 left), DeFeo (20-yarder off a Lauren Douglass assist at 31:04) and McKee (15-yarder inside the left post via a Michaela Corrigan assist at 24:54) put the game away at 7-1.
A great effort by Montini goalkeeper Emily Crotty denied another finish. With 25:40 left, Ava Hensley’s pass sprung McKenzie Douglass on a left side breakaway.
But Crotty made a great sliding kick save on Douglass’ 15-yard drive, then recovered to win the race to the rebound and cover up.
St. Francis freshman DeFeo added to her strong second half (goal, three assists) with 17:32 to go. Blocking a Montini clearing attempt, she set up Peck for a 20-yard low drive inside the right post to up the lead to 8-1.
With half the remaining time chopped off the clock due to the seven-goal margin, the Spartans continued to roll. With 7:58 left, McKee’s drive off the right post was rebounded home by Peck for her second goal of the game.
Then just over a minute later, Corrigan powered home an 8-yard header off a DeFeo corner kick to close the scoring and put the Spartans up 10-1 with 6:50 to go.
“We definitely wanted to play simple,” Peck said, “really work on our corners and aspects of our game that we maybe can’t work on against other teams. I thought we were able to really control the ball. Our possession was really good.”
Other near-misses on great second half chances were provided by Anna Valaik (25-yard shot over the net) and Fasana (8-yard shot deflected just wide by goalkeeper Crotty).
The list of standout individual performances by the Spartans of late fittingly begins with their quick-strike offense.
“This has been a season where the three kids up top (Pasquale, Peck and Rittenhouse) have played pretty well all season,” Winslow said.
“And the kid who’s really done yeoman’s work is (defender) Maggie O’Reilly. We’ve asked her to play outside, play in the middle, and she’s been great with both. She stepped in for a couple of games and had to play full games, because we suddenly went from having depth to where we had four (healthy defenders).
“She’s played really well,” Winslow added, “and Mary Brady one of our seniors has stepped in as a center back and done a nice job for us. Mary just does simple things well. And (goalkeeper) Tammy (Syron) has played really well. We gave her the day off today.”
Kozak is also expected to start in place of Syron this weekend, as the Spartans eye the bigger picture.
“Courtney’s going to get the majority of the minutes in Iowa this weekend,” Winslow said, “because Tammy’s making a college visit.”
Getting healthy and fine-tuning for the postseason will be the Spartans’ big goal for Iowa and the rest of the regular season.
“The seeding stuff is turned in tonight,” Winslow said, “so for all intents and purposes, anything we do now is just gravy.”
But getting even healthier will add spice to that gravy.
“Alex comes back this weekend (from a concussion),” Winslow said, “so we’ll get her back. And she can play any spot in back. We’re getting that depth back finally, which is good.”
The next test is to continue to get maximum benefits from a talented roster.
“Our biggest thing is, I’m very fortunate that we have a lot of kids who are good with ball to feet and are fun to watch” Winslow said. “But we have to make sure to keep it simple – there’s 11 people on the field and just one ball, so you have to do a lot of work without the ball and you have to share it.
“If we can do that, we’ll be a tough out (in the postseason),” Winslow added. “But our sectional is brutal – Benet and Nazareth are in there, and a couple of others. It’s not a gimme by any means.”
Starting lineups
St. Francis
GK- Courtney Kozak
D- Mary Brady
D- Kaitlyn Joniak
D- Lauren Douglass
D- McKenzie Douglass
M- Isabella DeFeo
M- Anna Valaik
M- Jillian DiTusa
F- Hannah Rittenhouse
F- Kendra Pasquale
F- Erin Peck
Montini
GK- Emily Crotty
D- Kasey Ohm
D- Sonia Finch
D- Andi Dunning
D- Kate Crotty
M- Neena Franklin
M- Anna Martinello
M- Peyton Schaefer
M- Ellie Krick
F- Alondra Holler
F- Abby Wolf
Chicagoland Soccer MVP of the Match: Kendra Pasquale, jr. F, St. Francis