St. Charles East overcomes
Batavia in battle of unbeatens
Saints have all the answers in shutout victory
By Derek Wolff
ST. CHARLES -- A season after finishing as the runners-up in the state championship, St. Charles East continues to clear every hurdle in its path.
The Saints (10-0-0, 3-0-0) continued to operate at a higher level on Tuesday afternoon, dismantling a vaunted Batavia defense that had only yielded three goals coming into play with a 3-0 win.
It was St. Charles East’s sixth game in seven days, in a stretch that has seen the Saints earn the program’s 600th win and take down two previously undefeated sides in Naperville Central and now Batavia.
“If we continue to do the right things, I think we can have a very successful season. But we want to get better and maximize every day,” Saints coach Paul Jennison said. “I think today they had to answer some questions about whether our schedule has answered those challenges and I think they did a good job of showing that they really are out there for the long haul. Hopefully they can continue to improve, but it's definitely a lot of fun for them to put that result together.”
The Bulldogs (6-1-3, 2-1-0) were successful in preventing Chicagoland Soccer MVP of the Match Darcy Cunningham from scoring on chances in the fifth and ninth minutes, but the senior forward helped open the scoring in the 27th.
Cunningham dribbled around a defender after entering the 18, sending a perfect through pass onto the foot of sophomore midfielder Hannah Kolb, who bested Batavia goalkeeper Jenny Scara to put the Saints up 1-0.
It was Kolb’s fourth goal in the past 24 hours after recording a hat trick Monday in the Saints' 7-0 win over Glenbard North.
“Today I think I was just in the right place at the right time, and Darcy just played a perfect ball,” Kolb said. “We made eye contact, she passed it to me and I put it in the back of the net.”
East forward Claire Rasmussen nearly had a second in the 35th minute, but her searching ball looking for the far post couldn’t connect and went harmlessly wide.
St. Charles East went on the offensive immediately in the second half, with Sophie Jendrzejcyk nearly scoring in the 44th minute.
The forward knocked a right-footed shot off the crossbar, then was bested by the woodwork again on the rebound, sending a blast off the near post and out of danger.
Freshman Chantel Carranza had a searching ball miss everyone through the goal mouth a minute later, and Cunningham’s shot toward the far post in the 46th was deflected away by Batavia defender Alison Grimm. But the pair would hook up in the 50th minute to double the lead.
Carranza made an attacking run toward the flag on the right side, then spun a beautiful sinking cross back inside the 18, connecting with an open Cunningham right in front of the net for the tap-in.
“Chantel's amazing; she's able to get past any player and it's great as a freshman that she has so much confidence going into the big games like this,” Cunningham said. “One thing that's great is that all of the girls on the field, I can trust them to get the ball to me. So I was just making a normal run, and she just put it right on a plate for me. I just had to get a tap-in.”
Batavia had its best chance on the afternoon immediately following the goal, with junior forward Megan McEachern drilling a ball just over the crossbar.
St. Charles East got its third goal three minutes later. This time Cunningham dribbled toward the left flag, sending a cross from the edge of the box back through the center and connecting with Jendrzejcyk for the score.
Batavia coach Mark Gianfrancesco thought his side blew chances on its limited opportunities and lacked the confidence that St. Charles East exuded throughout the match.
“I think we had a couple of in behind them that we could have taken better opportunities on that we didn't. We didn't do it and kind of choked,” Gianfrancesco said. “Whether we didn't shoot it, whether we didn't prepare the ball well enough to get an opportunity in front of goal ... against good teams, you've got to be able to take advantage of those opportunities.
“I thought we were in a good spot, but in the team's mind I think the confidence wasn't there to come out and play. We weren't winning the 50-50 balls, we weren't matching their physical play and that allowed them to just dominate a lot of the play.”
Batavia was able to string things together toward the end, making the Saints earn the shutout with a bevy of shots in the last 15 minutes.
But nothing was overly dangerous, as the Saints earned their eighth shutout of the season.
Jennison spread the praise around but was particularly pleased with his back line after controlling the pace and stopping Batavia’s assaults into the defensive third for most of the game.
“I've got to give a special shoutout to our back four today, who were absolutely massive,” Jennison said. “Kelli (Santo Paulo) and Shannon (Gatehouse) in defensive mid too, the best game that we've seen them play. They played under extreme pressure and were just fantastic. And then the girls up top, you can't argue when you're putting away chances like that. They did a great job.”
Batavia will use the defeat as motivation for the rest of the season, senior defender Alison Grimm said.
“Definitely it is a measuring stick,” Grimm said. “We were looking forward to this game. We've wanted to beat East all along this season. That was one of our goals. We knew coming forward that this was going to be a challenge; they're a very talanted team, lots of talented players. I did think we can do it and I still think we could do it. I'm hoping we see them later on.”
St. Charles East improved to 3-0-0 in UEC-River conference play, posting a perfect 9-0 goal differential in its first three games. The Saints will finally be able to get some rest because they’ll have a week off before taking on Elgin next Tuesday.
Batavia will look to return to the win column Thursday when it hosts Downers Grove South.
Starting lineups
Batavia
GK Jenny Scara
D Alison Grimm
D Kayla Stolfa
D Rachel Reinecke
D Abby Wood
M Karina Rosales
M Alexis Bryl
M Olivia Callipari
F Lexi Slome
F Megan McEachern
F Keegan Maris
St. Charles East
GK Alison Chesterfield
D Julia Peterson
D Sara Buetow
D Shannon Gatehouse
D Sonia Ost
D Mallory Mollenhauer
M Kelli Santo Paulo
F Darcy Cunningham
F Claire Rasmussen
F Sophie Jendrzejcyk
F Chantel Carranza
MVP of the Match: Darcy Cunningham, St. Charles East
Officials: Patrick Legge, Jennifer Wegner, Kevin Callaghan
Batavia in battle of unbeatens
Saints have all the answers in shutout victory
By Derek Wolff
ST. CHARLES -- A season after finishing as the runners-up in the state championship, St. Charles East continues to clear every hurdle in its path.
The Saints (10-0-0, 3-0-0) continued to operate at a higher level on Tuesday afternoon, dismantling a vaunted Batavia defense that had only yielded three goals coming into play with a 3-0 win.
It was St. Charles East’s sixth game in seven days, in a stretch that has seen the Saints earn the program’s 600th win and take down two previously undefeated sides in Naperville Central and now Batavia.
“If we continue to do the right things, I think we can have a very successful season. But we want to get better and maximize every day,” Saints coach Paul Jennison said. “I think today they had to answer some questions about whether our schedule has answered those challenges and I think they did a good job of showing that they really are out there for the long haul. Hopefully they can continue to improve, but it's definitely a lot of fun for them to put that result together.”
The Bulldogs (6-1-3, 2-1-0) were successful in preventing Chicagoland Soccer MVP of the Match Darcy Cunningham from scoring on chances in the fifth and ninth minutes, but the senior forward helped open the scoring in the 27th.
Cunningham dribbled around a defender after entering the 18, sending a perfect through pass onto the foot of sophomore midfielder Hannah Kolb, who bested Batavia goalkeeper Jenny Scara to put the Saints up 1-0.
It was Kolb’s fourth goal in the past 24 hours after recording a hat trick Monday in the Saints' 7-0 win over Glenbard North.
“Today I think I was just in the right place at the right time, and Darcy just played a perfect ball,” Kolb said. “We made eye contact, she passed it to me and I put it in the back of the net.”
East forward Claire Rasmussen nearly had a second in the 35th minute, but her searching ball looking for the far post couldn’t connect and went harmlessly wide.
St. Charles East went on the offensive immediately in the second half, with Sophie Jendrzejcyk nearly scoring in the 44th minute.
The forward knocked a right-footed shot off the crossbar, then was bested by the woodwork again on the rebound, sending a blast off the near post and out of danger.
Freshman Chantel Carranza had a searching ball miss everyone through the goal mouth a minute later, and Cunningham’s shot toward the far post in the 46th was deflected away by Batavia defender Alison Grimm. But the pair would hook up in the 50th minute to double the lead.
Carranza made an attacking run toward the flag on the right side, then spun a beautiful sinking cross back inside the 18, connecting with an open Cunningham right in front of the net for the tap-in.
“Chantel's amazing; she's able to get past any player and it's great as a freshman that she has so much confidence going into the big games like this,” Cunningham said. “One thing that's great is that all of the girls on the field, I can trust them to get the ball to me. So I was just making a normal run, and she just put it right on a plate for me. I just had to get a tap-in.”
Batavia had its best chance on the afternoon immediately following the goal, with junior forward Megan McEachern drilling a ball just over the crossbar.
St. Charles East got its third goal three minutes later. This time Cunningham dribbled toward the left flag, sending a cross from the edge of the box back through the center and connecting with Jendrzejcyk for the score.
Batavia coach Mark Gianfrancesco thought his side blew chances on its limited opportunities and lacked the confidence that St. Charles East exuded throughout the match.
“I think we had a couple of in behind them that we could have taken better opportunities on that we didn't. We didn't do it and kind of choked,” Gianfrancesco said. “Whether we didn't shoot it, whether we didn't prepare the ball well enough to get an opportunity in front of goal ... against good teams, you've got to be able to take advantage of those opportunities.
“I thought we were in a good spot, but in the team's mind I think the confidence wasn't there to come out and play. We weren't winning the 50-50 balls, we weren't matching their physical play and that allowed them to just dominate a lot of the play.”
Batavia was able to string things together toward the end, making the Saints earn the shutout with a bevy of shots in the last 15 minutes.
But nothing was overly dangerous, as the Saints earned their eighth shutout of the season.
Jennison spread the praise around but was particularly pleased with his back line after controlling the pace and stopping Batavia’s assaults into the defensive third for most of the game.
“I've got to give a special shoutout to our back four today, who were absolutely massive,” Jennison said. “Kelli (Santo Paulo) and Shannon (Gatehouse) in defensive mid too, the best game that we've seen them play. They played under extreme pressure and were just fantastic. And then the girls up top, you can't argue when you're putting away chances like that. They did a great job.”
Batavia will use the defeat as motivation for the rest of the season, senior defender Alison Grimm said.
“Definitely it is a measuring stick,” Grimm said. “We were looking forward to this game. We've wanted to beat East all along this season. That was one of our goals. We knew coming forward that this was going to be a challenge; they're a very talanted team, lots of talented players. I did think we can do it and I still think we could do it. I'm hoping we see them later on.”
St. Charles East improved to 3-0-0 in UEC-River conference play, posting a perfect 9-0 goal differential in its first three games. The Saints will finally be able to get some rest because they’ll have a week off before taking on Elgin next Tuesday.
Batavia will look to return to the win column Thursday when it hosts Downers Grove South.
Starting lineups
Batavia
GK Jenny Scara
D Alison Grimm
D Kayla Stolfa
D Rachel Reinecke
D Abby Wood
M Karina Rosales
M Alexis Bryl
M Olivia Callipari
F Lexi Slome
F Megan McEachern
F Keegan Maris
St. Charles East
GK Alison Chesterfield
D Julia Peterson
D Sara Buetow
D Shannon Gatehouse
D Sonia Ost
D Mallory Mollenhauer
M Kelli Santo Paulo
F Darcy Cunningham
F Claire Rasmussen
F Sophie Jendrzejcyk
F Chantel Carranza
MVP of the Match: Darcy Cunningham, St. Charles East
Officials: Patrick Legge, Jennifer Wegner, Kevin Callaghan