Wheaton N. puts best foot
forward to stun Naperville C.
Pelafas free kick gives Falcons rare victory over Redhawks
By Matt Le Cren
NAPERVILLE – Lexi Pelafas believes this is the best team Wheaton North has fielded during her four-year career, and she knows why.
“I think because every single player on our team has the same goal,” Pelafas said. “We want to win the (DuPage Valley Conference) and go as far as we can to state. We put 100 percent into practice, and we come out wanting to win every game.
“That’s the difference. We know we can win, so coming out with a positive attitude is helping us extremely this year.”
The Falcons have done almost nothing but win this fall, even against teams they usually don’t beat.
The latest example came Monday night, when the Falcons went into Memorial Stadium and upset Naperville Central 1-0 to seize first place in the DVC.
It was the first time the Falcons (7-1-2, 2-0) have beaten the Redhawks since 2006, the year Wheaton North finished third in the state, and just the second time ever.
“It’s been a few years since we beat them, but we’ve got a really good team this year,” Wheaton North coach Tim McEvilly said. “We’ve been competitive with a lot of teams. We expected to have a chance to win tonight, and we’ve got a group of kids who think they can win any game, so that’s important.”
The presence of the athletic and prolific Pelafas up front has been one of the most important factors in the Falcons’ success. She has tallied 12 goals this season, scoring in all but one game, that being a 1-1 tie against Downers Grove North in which she assisted on her team’s only goal.
Pelafas’ latest strike, which came on a 25-yard free kick, was the difference against Naperville Central (7-3-1, 1-1). The Redhawks outshot the Falcons 15-7 yet lost at home for the second-straight match. Both losses were by 1-0 margins, with the only goal in each coming on a free kick from nearly the same spot on the field.
The free kick resulted from Pelafas being tripped as she ran up the right wing. She blasted her attempt off the underside of the crossbar and into the upper left corner of the net with 8:29 remaining in the first half.
“I made the run outside, and I got a good pass and I saw that if I just took a touch forward into open space (I could) take a shot, but (the defender) clipped my back foot,” Pelafas said. “On the shot I knew that it needed to go to the upper left corner if it was going to be the goal because the wall was blocking the front side. So I shot it right into the corner I looked at.”
Pelafas, Chicagoland Soccer’s MVP of the Match, uses her athleticism to beat defenses with her speed and strength, but she has become increasingly deadly on restarts. She has scored on several recently, including a game-winning penalty kick against Wheaton Warrenville South and a game-tying free kick against Plainfield North.
“She’s really kind of come into her own on those,” McEvilly said. “She used to try to make it professional grade every time, and now she’s under control. She’s finding spots, and she’s finished on two or three restarts recently that she wouldn’t have finished on last year or maybe even earlier in the year, so she’s finding her comfort zone.”
Naperville Central goalie Kinzly Dressler, who finished with three saves, made a valiant leaping effort to deny the kick but missed the ball by inches.
“The goal was unsaveable, very similar to the one on Saturday,” Naperville Central coach Ed Watson said. “They’re not a bad team, but they have one legitimate all-state player and you talk about not fouling her in a [dangerous] place.
“She scored a goal, but when you have a forward, they are supposed to score goals. We have girls playing forward positions, but we don’t have forwards. Not yet.”
And that’s a problem for the Redhawks, who have been shut out in all three of their losses, in which they have given up a combined four goals.
Naperville Central has outshot its last two opponents by a 2-to-1 margin while conceding two goals in the run of play. But it has nothing to show for it.
“There’s something called a quality shot, and in the second half we had one quality shot,” Watson said. “We had a bunch of hope-sos.
“When a kid at this level doesn’t understand that that ball has no chance of going in, we’re in a bad place. We’ve got girls who just don’t understand what they’re supposed to do in the final third.”
The Redhawks put a decent amount of shots on frame. But most were from long distance or didn’t have much pace on them to test Wheaton North freshman goalkeeper Zoe Welsh, who made eight saves to record her fourth shutout.
Welsh’s only scary moment came with 26:45 remaining in the second half when she had to jump to punch away a 20-yard drive from Meridith Hannan. Welsh knocked the ball toward the right side of the goalie box, where a collision resulted and the ball was deflected over the end line. But the Redhawks could do nothing with the resulting corner kick.
The Falcons were solid defensively again. The back line of Niahm Kane, Jaden Trometer, Morghin Klein and Lauren Haley held firm in the face of the Redhawks’ comeback attempts.
Pelafas also helped out defensively, winning a 50-50 ball in her own penalty area and dribbling out of a crowd before clearing the ball out of danger with 15 minutes remaining.
McEvilly was also pleased with the play of his midfield, which was without Becca Kouwe, who was attending a funeral.
“One of our best players wasn’t here tonight, but Gwyneth Phillips and Maggie Liechty and a few other kids stepped in and really helped control center mid,” McEvilly said. “And we had a few chances in that second half that we easily could have put a second goal in, and we just missed that last touch.
“But we’re getting behind people effectively, and part of that is because Lexi is so dangerous. Other people like Hannah Atkinson and Margaret Hupp are being dangerous up top themselves.”
Senior midfielder Meredith Tunney is Naperville Central’s most dangerous threat, but she was battling illness and could not play in the second half.
That didn’t take any of the luster off of Wheaton North’s momentous victory.
“We haven’t won at Naperville Central in a long time, and they are always a good team,” Pelafas said. “We came out knowing they were going to be really good, and we came out on our A game today.”
Starting lineups
Wheaton North
GK: Zoe Welsh
D: Niahm Kane
D: Jaden Trometer
D: Morghin Klein
D: Lauren Haley
M: Maggie Liechty
M: Gwyneth Phillips
F: Kailee Sowers
F: Margaret Hupp
F: Hannah Atkinson
F: Lexi Pelafas
Naperville Central
GK: Kinzly Dressler
D: Amanda Murphy
D: Kayla Rowan
D: Taylor Stenmark
D: Caitlin Reece
M: Alison Kincaide
M: Meredith Tunney
M: Isabel Reedy
F: Kathleen Conforti
F: Ryan Dudycha
F: Mackenzie Sisko
MVP of the Match: Lexi Pelafas, F, Wheaton North
forward to stun Naperville C.
Pelafas free kick gives Falcons rare victory over Redhawks
By Matt Le Cren
NAPERVILLE – Lexi Pelafas believes this is the best team Wheaton North has fielded during her four-year career, and she knows why.
“I think because every single player on our team has the same goal,” Pelafas said. “We want to win the (DuPage Valley Conference) and go as far as we can to state. We put 100 percent into practice, and we come out wanting to win every game.
“That’s the difference. We know we can win, so coming out with a positive attitude is helping us extremely this year.”
The Falcons have done almost nothing but win this fall, even against teams they usually don’t beat.
The latest example came Monday night, when the Falcons went into Memorial Stadium and upset Naperville Central 1-0 to seize first place in the DVC.
It was the first time the Falcons (7-1-2, 2-0) have beaten the Redhawks since 2006, the year Wheaton North finished third in the state, and just the second time ever.
“It’s been a few years since we beat them, but we’ve got a really good team this year,” Wheaton North coach Tim McEvilly said. “We’ve been competitive with a lot of teams. We expected to have a chance to win tonight, and we’ve got a group of kids who think they can win any game, so that’s important.”
The presence of the athletic and prolific Pelafas up front has been one of the most important factors in the Falcons’ success. She has tallied 12 goals this season, scoring in all but one game, that being a 1-1 tie against Downers Grove North in which she assisted on her team’s only goal.
Pelafas’ latest strike, which came on a 25-yard free kick, was the difference against Naperville Central (7-3-1, 1-1). The Redhawks outshot the Falcons 15-7 yet lost at home for the second-straight match. Both losses were by 1-0 margins, with the only goal in each coming on a free kick from nearly the same spot on the field.
The free kick resulted from Pelafas being tripped as she ran up the right wing. She blasted her attempt off the underside of the crossbar and into the upper left corner of the net with 8:29 remaining in the first half.
“I made the run outside, and I got a good pass and I saw that if I just took a touch forward into open space (I could) take a shot, but (the defender) clipped my back foot,” Pelafas said. “On the shot I knew that it needed to go to the upper left corner if it was going to be the goal because the wall was blocking the front side. So I shot it right into the corner I looked at.”
Pelafas, Chicagoland Soccer’s MVP of the Match, uses her athleticism to beat defenses with her speed and strength, but she has become increasingly deadly on restarts. She has scored on several recently, including a game-winning penalty kick against Wheaton Warrenville South and a game-tying free kick against Plainfield North.
“She’s really kind of come into her own on those,” McEvilly said. “She used to try to make it professional grade every time, and now she’s under control. She’s finding spots, and she’s finished on two or three restarts recently that she wouldn’t have finished on last year or maybe even earlier in the year, so she’s finding her comfort zone.”
Naperville Central goalie Kinzly Dressler, who finished with three saves, made a valiant leaping effort to deny the kick but missed the ball by inches.
“The goal was unsaveable, very similar to the one on Saturday,” Naperville Central coach Ed Watson said. “They’re not a bad team, but they have one legitimate all-state player and you talk about not fouling her in a [dangerous] place.
“She scored a goal, but when you have a forward, they are supposed to score goals. We have girls playing forward positions, but we don’t have forwards. Not yet.”
And that’s a problem for the Redhawks, who have been shut out in all three of their losses, in which they have given up a combined four goals.
Naperville Central has outshot its last two opponents by a 2-to-1 margin while conceding two goals in the run of play. But it has nothing to show for it.
“There’s something called a quality shot, and in the second half we had one quality shot,” Watson said. “We had a bunch of hope-sos.
“When a kid at this level doesn’t understand that that ball has no chance of going in, we’re in a bad place. We’ve got girls who just don’t understand what they’re supposed to do in the final third.”
The Redhawks put a decent amount of shots on frame. But most were from long distance or didn’t have much pace on them to test Wheaton North freshman goalkeeper Zoe Welsh, who made eight saves to record her fourth shutout.
Welsh’s only scary moment came with 26:45 remaining in the second half when she had to jump to punch away a 20-yard drive from Meridith Hannan. Welsh knocked the ball toward the right side of the goalie box, where a collision resulted and the ball was deflected over the end line. But the Redhawks could do nothing with the resulting corner kick.
The Falcons were solid defensively again. The back line of Niahm Kane, Jaden Trometer, Morghin Klein and Lauren Haley held firm in the face of the Redhawks’ comeback attempts.
Pelafas also helped out defensively, winning a 50-50 ball in her own penalty area and dribbling out of a crowd before clearing the ball out of danger with 15 minutes remaining.
McEvilly was also pleased with the play of his midfield, which was without Becca Kouwe, who was attending a funeral.
“One of our best players wasn’t here tonight, but Gwyneth Phillips and Maggie Liechty and a few other kids stepped in and really helped control center mid,” McEvilly said. “And we had a few chances in that second half that we easily could have put a second goal in, and we just missed that last touch.
“But we’re getting behind people effectively, and part of that is because Lexi is so dangerous. Other people like Hannah Atkinson and Margaret Hupp are being dangerous up top themselves.”
Senior midfielder Meredith Tunney is Naperville Central’s most dangerous threat, but she was battling illness and could not play in the second half.
That didn’t take any of the luster off of Wheaton North’s momentous victory.
“We haven’t won at Naperville Central in a long time, and they are always a good team,” Pelafas said. “We came out knowing they were going to be really good, and we came out on our A game today.”
Starting lineups
Wheaton North
GK: Zoe Welsh
D: Niahm Kane
D: Jaden Trometer
D: Morghin Klein
D: Lauren Haley
M: Maggie Liechty
M: Gwyneth Phillips
F: Kailee Sowers
F: Margaret Hupp
F: Hannah Atkinson
F: Lexi Pelafas
Naperville Central
GK: Kinzly Dressler
D: Amanda Murphy
D: Kayla Rowan
D: Taylor Stenmark
D: Caitlin Reece
M: Alison Kincaide
M: Meredith Tunney
M: Isabel Reedy
F: Kathleen Conforti
F: Ryan Dudycha
F: Mackenzie Sisko
MVP of the Match: Lexi Pelafas, F, Wheaton North