Waubonsie Valley seniors go
out in style against Streamwood
Carroll scores 30th goal for visiting Sabres
By Matt Le Cren
AURORA – Waubonsie Valley was pretty happy following its 5-1 Senior Night victory over Streamwood on Friday.
Ironically, the visiting Sabres were feeling even better.
That’s because the game was surprisingly in doubt until midway through the second half. Tawny Carroll scored her 30th goal of the season in the first half and visiting Streamwood was only down 2-1 at the half before the Warriors finally pulled away with a dominant effort in the second half.
“We made Waubonsie work for every goal they scored today,” Streamwood coach Matt Polovin said. “Being down 2-1 at half [was great], especially with Tawny scoring the goal that she scored against them.
“She again just showed that she’s one of the top players in the state and Waubonsie definitely saw that, and they finally had to change to No. 11 [Cici Gazder] to man-mark her with a little more speed.
“But we threw everything we could at them. Obviously Waubonsie is a good team, and I’m sure they’ll go far in the playoffs. But for us to leave here with a 5-1 loss, I can’t be angry at all. The girls did everything they could.”
That’s not to say the Warriors (13-3-3) did not dominate. They outshot the Sabres 33-9 and kept Streamwood’s valiant defense under near-constant pressure, especially in the second half.
From early on it appeared Waubonsie Valley was headed toward another mercy-rule shortened victory over the Sabres.
Sophomore Sarah Griffith scored on the first shot of the game when her powerful header off a Morgan Kemerling cross found the back of the net just 1:50 after the start.
Kemerling made it 2-0 with 33:32 to play in the first half when her 12-yard shot went through the hands of Streamwood goalie Yasmine Resendiz.
Resendiz had two goals go through her hands but she otherwise was outstanding, coming up with 12 saves, most of which were anything but routine, and generally frustrated the high-powered Waubonsie Valley attack.
“We just couldn’t finish as well first half, obviously,” Waubonsie Valley defender Tori Christiansen said. “[After the fast start] the rest of the half was a little slow for us scoring-wise, but we picked up the momentum the second half.”
“Their goalie was really good at picking off our through balls, which is one of our strengths,” Kemerling noted. “So that made it difficult.”
Carroll, who had four early shots stopped by Waubonsie Valley goalie Emma Rigby, made it interesting with 2:29 left in the half when she got the ball at the top of the box, beat two defenders and slipped a left-footed shot from 10 yards out inside the right post to make it 2-1.
The goal was just the second Streamwood (11-11) has scored in Waubonsie Valley coach Julie Bergstrom’s 15-year tenure [the Warriors have scored 86 on the Sabres in that stretch]. Carroll, who recently surpassed her own single-season school record of 28 goals set last year, has tallied half of her team’s 60 goals this season. She also has 19 assists.
“Of course it’s my senior year so I knew that I had to beat the record that I made last year,” the Drake-bound Carroll said. “That was the boys and girls single-season record. I knew I had to beat it, and I couldn’t have done it without my team. We tried hard every single game.”
Resendiz epitomized that effort in this one with some amazing plays. She made a great diving save on another Griffith header midway through the first half, nearly hitting her head on the post as she landed, then made back-to-back stops on Paige Filipek from point-blank range 10 minutes later.
“She made quite a few unbelievable saves,” Polovin said. “She kept us in it and for a young goalie like that, we need as much confidence as we can get going into [the playoffs].”
Resendiz did get help from some of her defenders, who were kept on their toes by Waubonsie’s precision passing game. Esmeralda Navarro was especially active. The freshman showed her toughness when she returned to the game after blocking a shot with her face.
“That’s what I love about [the Sabres],” said Carroll, who is one of just three seniors on the roster. “We’re so young. They just push so hard and try to do the best for us.
“We definitely came out really hard, which is why I think it stayed 2-1 for a while. Playing such a great team, we got a little exhausted toward the end, but I think we can keep growing and playing these types of teams and do even better."
The Warriors eventually took control, with Kemerling knocking in an emphatic volley off a beautiful corner kick from Christiansen with 31:13 to go in the second half.
Christiansen’s serve from the left corner just eluded Resendiz’s attempt to punch it out and Kemerling hammered it home from three yards out on the back post.
“I actually looked at her and said, ‘Hey, Morg, this one is for you,’ and it worked out,” Christiansen noted.
Kemerling, who finished with two goals and two assists to earn Chicagoland Soccer MVP of the Match honors, then set up Filipek for the fourth goal with a nice lead pass into the box in the 58th minute.
It was the 28th goal of the season for Filipek, who has tallied 19 times in the past 10 games and has scored in all but four matches this season.
For Kemerling, it was a breakout offensive performance. The Iowa recruit has played primarily as a holding midfielder this spring and had only three goals and three assists before Friday, but now she is becoming more offensive-minded as the playoffs loom.
“It definitely felt good especially because it was our Senior Night, and we like to get everyone involved,” said Kemerling, who just missed a hat trick when her shot hit the left post with 14:12 remaining. “The first half of the season I was playing more defensive mid, and I’m slowly getting into the attack now. Hopefully it is paying off.”
Kemerling now has five goals this season, as does sophomore Sam Maul, who bagged her fifth when she knocked in a cross from senior Emily Dickens to complete the scoring with 6:11 remaining.
Now it is on to the playoffs -- both teams will play on their home fields for the regionals.
Waubonsie Valley, the No. 3 seed at the Class 3A Metea Valley Sectional, will host Oswego East on Tuesday, while Streamwood takes on Elgin on Wednesday in the South Elgin Regional, which will be played at Millennium Field.
“We’re excited because we host the regionals,” Christiansen said. “So that’s always fun, playing on our home field.”
While winning regional titles is routine for Waubonsie Valley, which has done it 17 times, Streamwood has never won a regional.
That could change next week, however, as the Sabres have a draw that looks more favorable now than it did a month ago. They lost 3-1 to Elgin and 4-1 to South Elgin earlier in the season, but are seeded higher than Elgin, while South Elgin has fallen into a massive slump, having gone 0-11-1 after starting 8-1-1.
“[Winning regionals] is the goal,” Carroll said. “This year is the first time we’ve scored against South Elgin since I’ve been here. Hopefully we [win] the first [game] against Elgin and then hopefully advance.”
Polovin hopes the Sabres can advance to sectionals so Carroll can extend her illustrious prep career.
“It does look good for us,” Polovin said. “This could be a perfect swan song for her if we could at least do that.”
Starting lineups
Streamwood
GK: Yasmine Resendiz
D: Alexis Wilson
D: Stephanie Corona
D: Esmeralda Navarro
M: Vanessa Campos
M: Rosar Miranda
F: Shonali Pierce-Vazquez
F: Karina Nevarez
F: Kaila Ford
F: Tawny Carroll
F: Alondra Blanco
Waubonsie Valley
GK: Emma Rigby
D: Tori Christiansen
D: Kennedy Metzger
D: Maddie Pokora
D: Emily Dickens
M: Morgan Kemerling
M: Cica Gazder
M: Sam Stricker
M: Sarah Griffith
F: Sarah Laws
F: Paige Filipek
Chicagoland Soccer MVP of the Match – Morgan Kemerling, M, Waubonsie Valley.
out in style against Streamwood
Carroll scores 30th goal for visiting Sabres
By Matt Le Cren
AURORA – Waubonsie Valley was pretty happy following its 5-1 Senior Night victory over Streamwood on Friday.
Ironically, the visiting Sabres were feeling even better.
That’s because the game was surprisingly in doubt until midway through the second half. Tawny Carroll scored her 30th goal of the season in the first half and visiting Streamwood was only down 2-1 at the half before the Warriors finally pulled away with a dominant effort in the second half.
“We made Waubonsie work for every goal they scored today,” Streamwood coach Matt Polovin said. “Being down 2-1 at half [was great], especially with Tawny scoring the goal that she scored against them.
“She again just showed that she’s one of the top players in the state and Waubonsie definitely saw that, and they finally had to change to No. 11 [Cici Gazder] to man-mark her with a little more speed.
“But we threw everything we could at them. Obviously Waubonsie is a good team, and I’m sure they’ll go far in the playoffs. But for us to leave here with a 5-1 loss, I can’t be angry at all. The girls did everything they could.”
That’s not to say the Warriors (13-3-3) did not dominate. They outshot the Sabres 33-9 and kept Streamwood’s valiant defense under near-constant pressure, especially in the second half.
From early on it appeared Waubonsie Valley was headed toward another mercy-rule shortened victory over the Sabres.
Sophomore Sarah Griffith scored on the first shot of the game when her powerful header off a Morgan Kemerling cross found the back of the net just 1:50 after the start.
Kemerling made it 2-0 with 33:32 to play in the first half when her 12-yard shot went through the hands of Streamwood goalie Yasmine Resendiz.
Resendiz had two goals go through her hands but she otherwise was outstanding, coming up with 12 saves, most of which were anything but routine, and generally frustrated the high-powered Waubonsie Valley attack.
“We just couldn’t finish as well first half, obviously,” Waubonsie Valley defender Tori Christiansen said. “[After the fast start] the rest of the half was a little slow for us scoring-wise, but we picked up the momentum the second half.”
“Their goalie was really good at picking off our through balls, which is one of our strengths,” Kemerling noted. “So that made it difficult.”
Carroll, who had four early shots stopped by Waubonsie Valley goalie Emma Rigby, made it interesting with 2:29 left in the half when she got the ball at the top of the box, beat two defenders and slipped a left-footed shot from 10 yards out inside the right post to make it 2-1.
The goal was just the second Streamwood (11-11) has scored in Waubonsie Valley coach Julie Bergstrom’s 15-year tenure [the Warriors have scored 86 on the Sabres in that stretch]. Carroll, who recently surpassed her own single-season school record of 28 goals set last year, has tallied half of her team’s 60 goals this season. She also has 19 assists.
“Of course it’s my senior year so I knew that I had to beat the record that I made last year,” the Drake-bound Carroll said. “That was the boys and girls single-season record. I knew I had to beat it, and I couldn’t have done it without my team. We tried hard every single game.”
Resendiz epitomized that effort in this one with some amazing plays. She made a great diving save on another Griffith header midway through the first half, nearly hitting her head on the post as she landed, then made back-to-back stops on Paige Filipek from point-blank range 10 minutes later.
“She made quite a few unbelievable saves,” Polovin said. “She kept us in it and for a young goalie like that, we need as much confidence as we can get going into [the playoffs].”
Resendiz did get help from some of her defenders, who were kept on their toes by Waubonsie’s precision passing game. Esmeralda Navarro was especially active. The freshman showed her toughness when she returned to the game after blocking a shot with her face.
“That’s what I love about [the Sabres],” said Carroll, who is one of just three seniors on the roster. “We’re so young. They just push so hard and try to do the best for us.
“We definitely came out really hard, which is why I think it stayed 2-1 for a while. Playing such a great team, we got a little exhausted toward the end, but I think we can keep growing and playing these types of teams and do even better."
The Warriors eventually took control, with Kemerling knocking in an emphatic volley off a beautiful corner kick from Christiansen with 31:13 to go in the second half.
Christiansen’s serve from the left corner just eluded Resendiz’s attempt to punch it out and Kemerling hammered it home from three yards out on the back post.
“I actually looked at her and said, ‘Hey, Morg, this one is for you,’ and it worked out,” Christiansen noted.
Kemerling, who finished with two goals and two assists to earn Chicagoland Soccer MVP of the Match honors, then set up Filipek for the fourth goal with a nice lead pass into the box in the 58th minute.
It was the 28th goal of the season for Filipek, who has tallied 19 times in the past 10 games and has scored in all but four matches this season.
For Kemerling, it was a breakout offensive performance. The Iowa recruit has played primarily as a holding midfielder this spring and had only three goals and three assists before Friday, but now she is becoming more offensive-minded as the playoffs loom.
“It definitely felt good especially because it was our Senior Night, and we like to get everyone involved,” said Kemerling, who just missed a hat trick when her shot hit the left post with 14:12 remaining. “The first half of the season I was playing more defensive mid, and I’m slowly getting into the attack now. Hopefully it is paying off.”
Kemerling now has five goals this season, as does sophomore Sam Maul, who bagged her fifth when she knocked in a cross from senior Emily Dickens to complete the scoring with 6:11 remaining.
Now it is on to the playoffs -- both teams will play on their home fields for the regionals.
Waubonsie Valley, the No. 3 seed at the Class 3A Metea Valley Sectional, will host Oswego East on Tuesday, while Streamwood takes on Elgin on Wednesday in the South Elgin Regional, which will be played at Millennium Field.
“We’re excited because we host the regionals,” Christiansen said. “So that’s always fun, playing on our home field.”
While winning regional titles is routine for Waubonsie Valley, which has done it 17 times, Streamwood has never won a regional.
That could change next week, however, as the Sabres have a draw that looks more favorable now than it did a month ago. They lost 3-1 to Elgin and 4-1 to South Elgin earlier in the season, but are seeded higher than Elgin, while South Elgin has fallen into a massive slump, having gone 0-11-1 after starting 8-1-1.
“[Winning regionals] is the goal,” Carroll said. “This year is the first time we’ve scored against South Elgin since I’ve been here. Hopefully we [win] the first [game] against Elgin and then hopefully advance.”
Polovin hopes the Sabres can advance to sectionals so Carroll can extend her illustrious prep career.
“It does look good for us,” Polovin said. “This could be a perfect swan song for her if we could at least do that.”
Starting lineups
Streamwood
GK: Yasmine Resendiz
D: Alexis Wilson
D: Stephanie Corona
D: Esmeralda Navarro
M: Vanessa Campos
M: Rosar Miranda
F: Shonali Pierce-Vazquez
F: Karina Nevarez
F: Kaila Ford
F: Tawny Carroll
F: Alondra Blanco
Waubonsie Valley
GK: Emma Rigby
D: Tori Christiansen
D: Kennedy Metzger
D: Maddie Pokora
D: Emily Dickens
M: Morgan Kemerling
M: Cica Gazder
M: Sam Stricker
M: Sarah Griffith
F: Sarah Laws
F: Paige Filipek
Chicagoland Soccer MVP of the Match – Morgan Kemerling, M, Waubonsie Valley.