Wheaton Warrenville South
is cornered by South Elgin
Three kicks all result in goals in 3-2 upset
By Matt Le Cren
SCHAUMBURG – South Elgin had only three corner kicks in Saturday’s opening round game of the Pepsi Showdown against Wheaton Warrenville South.
That might not seem like much, except for the fact that the Storm scored on all of them.
It proved to be just what South Elgin needed in its 3-2 upset over the eighth-seeded Tigers at Olympic Park.
“It’s tough if you feel like you should have earned more, but in this case I don’t think that we did,” Wheaton Warrenville South coach Guy Callipari said. “I thought we were outplayed.
"I thought they outhustled us and had a better sense of continuity in what they wanted to do. They were deserving of the corner kicks and then they made the best of those opportunities.”
South Elgin senior Alyssa Shipon took all three corner kicks. The 5-foot-4 midfielder specializes in trying to bend those offerings into the net, which she did in scoring the game-winning goal in the 79th minute.
Shipon’s serve from the left corner appeared to curve over the end line but got a little help from the wind and flew over the head of Tigers goalie Nell Rosenthal and into the net.
“I trust the wind, and I just went with it, and it went in,” said Shipon, Chicagoland Soccer's MVP of the Match.
Shipon had been pointless on the season until Saturday but came away with three against the Tigers. She assisted on the first two, each of which tied the game, but saved her best effort for last.
“Alyssa did a nice job with those,” South Elgin coach Tiffany Disher said. “I was happy she was finally able to put one of those in. She does it all the time in practice, so it was good to see that her practices paid off.”
Shipon had scored on corner kicks before but never on such a big stage.
“Last year I had a couple that curved in like that on our home field,” Shipon said. “But other than that I haven’t scored this year, so it was a pretty big thing.”
The timing was devastating for the Tigers (3-2). Wheaton Warrenville South fought back with back-to-back corner kicks in the final minute, but the last of the pair was punched out of danger by Jourdan Valkner for the Storm (8-1-1) who emerged victorious in their Pepsi debut.
“This was a nice, quality win for us,” Disher said. “I’m just really happy that they were able to take out a big opponent because we knew that Wheaton (Warrenville) South was ranked high.
“The girls knew nothing about them, and we tend to play better when we know nothing about a team and there aren’t those emotions behind it.”
South Elgin earned a second-round date with No. 9 seed Hersey, which topped York on penalty kicks. The Storm will travel to Arlington Heights on Tuesday.
“I’d say [the win] was pretty important,” Shipon said. “We were kind of ranked low for the tournament this year, and to come out on top of a team like Wheaton South is pretty big.”
Wheaton Warrenville South played without five injured players, but ultimately it was a failure to clear their zone and defense the corner kicks properly that did them in.
“That was part of our pre-game meeting: not to give unnecessary corner kicks up and then to solve the problem of tracking and being a little bit more aggressive,” Callipari said. “But we were outhustled throughout the course of the game, and we just didn’t have the athletes on the field to stay up with theirs. They were a little bit more aggressive in the final third.”
The Tigers twice had the lead, only to see Shipon cause havoc with her corners.
Senior Tori Adomshick put Wheaton Warrenville South ahead with a goal in the 14th minute when she tapped in a rebound after Anna Fank’s shot off an Alexis Jakuszewski corner kick.
But Shipon’s first corner, from the right side, came 24 minutes later and was held up in the wind. Rosenthal attempted to punch it out but didn’t get much on it, and Melissa Greco knocked it in for the Storm.
Wheaton Warrenville South regained the lead in the 60th minute when Adomshick sprung Fank on a breakaway, but the Storm answered five minutes after that. This time Rosenthal missed the ball, and Weronika Noyszewski buried it.
But that wasn’t as galling as what happened on Shipon’s game winner.
“They were all difficult because of the way it was swung in,” Callipari said. “We got ourselves in a poor position of coverage, but the last one, the official said she hit it with her right foot.
“Our players said it was swung in where it went over the line and came back. So that’s one thing, but you still play it like it’s live until the whistle and it is called out. You can’t rest on your laurels in regard to what you think. You’ve got to keep on playing until you hear the whistle.
“So [we] left the post open, which is really uncanny, and it is what it is. It’s unfortunate it came late in the game, and we didn’t have time to recover.”
Adomshick said it came down to miscommunication.
“I think our defense was kind of confused as to what was going on because I know one of the girls saw it go out, so she thought that we were going to have a goal kick,” Adomshick said. “But it went back in, so I think they were just not expecting it to go back in so they weren’t really prepared.”
Adomshick and Fank were dangerous at times for the Tigers, but their forays came mostly on counterattacks. Aside from the two goals and a poke from Sarah Burns that eluded Valkner but was cleared off the line by defender Alyssa Kalke, Wheaton Warrenville South had trouble sustaining an attack.
“It wasn’t enough,” Adomshick said. “Before the game we were talking about how we needed to focus on our passing, and I thought that we didn’t string as many passes together as we needed to.
“We were making some good runs, and I was trying to hit [Anna Fank] on those. We just needed to convert a couple more goals, especially early on so we could have a [good] lead, so they weren't constantly in the game.
“We have to give them a lot of credit. They were working very hard out there, and having a lot of girls out also made it a hard day for us.”
Starting lineups
Wheaton Warrenville South
GK: Nell Rosenthal
D: Julia Hildebrand
D: Shannon Erhardt
D: Rachel Conrady
D: Kelly Kern
M: Tori Adomshick
M: Nikki Molino
M: Sarah Burns
M: Emily Calloway
F: Alexis Jakuszewski
F: Anna Fank
South Elgin
GK: Jourdan Valkner
D: Weronikia Noyszewski
D: Alyssa Kalke
D: Arielle Walters
D: Elly Rivera
M: Alyssa Shipon
M: Melissa Greco
M: Alena Ignatev
M: Ella Struwing
M: Grace Francks
F: Delaney Kelleher
MVP of the Match: Alyssa Shipon, MF, South Elgin
is cornered by South Elgin
Three kicks all result in goals in 3-2 upset
By Matt Le Cren
SCHAUMBURG – South Elgin had only three corner kicks in Saturday’s opening round game of the Pepsi Showdown against Wheaton Warrenville South.
That might not seem like much, except for the fact that the Storm scored on all of them.
It proved to be just what South Elgin needed in its 3-2 upset over the eighth-seeded Tigers at Olympic Park.
“It’s tough if you feel like you should have earned more, but in this case I don’t think that we did,” Wheaton Warrenville South coach Guy Callipari said. “I thought we were outplayed.
"I thought they outhustled us and had a better sense of continuity in what they wanted to do. They were deserving of the corner kicks and then they made the best of those opportunities.”
South Elgin senior Alyssa Shipon took all three corner kicks. The 5-foot-4 midfielder specializes in trying to bend those offerings into the net, which she did in scoring the game-winning goal in the 79th minute.
Shipon’s serve from the left corner appeared to curve over the end line but got a little help from the wind and flew over the head of Tigers goalie Nell Rosenthal and into the net.
“I trust the wind, and I just went with it, and it went in,” said Shipon, Chicagoland Soccer's MVP of the Match.
Shipon had been pointless on the season until Saturday but came away with three against the Tigers. She assisted on the first two, each of which tied the game, but saved her best effort for last.
“Alyssa did a nice job with those,” South Elgin coach Tiffany Disher said. “I was happy she was finally able to put one of those in. She does it all the time in practice, so it was good to see that her practices paid off.”
Shipon had scored on corner kicks before but never on such a big stage.
“Last year I had a couple that curved in like that on our home field,” Shipon said. “But other than that I haven’t scored this year, so it was a pretty big thing.”
The timing was devastating for the Tigers (3-2). Wheaton Warrenville South fought back with back-to-back corner kicks in the final minute, but the last of the pair was punched out of danger by Jourdan Valkner for the Storm (8-1-1) who emerged victorious in their Pepsi debut.
“This was a nice, quality win for us,” Disher said. “I’m just really happy that they were able to take out a big opponent because we knew that Wheaton (Warrenville) South was ranked high.
“The girls knew nothing about them, and we tend to play better when we know nothing about a team and there aren’t those emotions behind it.”
South Elgin earned a second-round date with No. 9 seed Hersey, which topped York on penalty kicks. The Storm will travel to Arlington Heights on Tuesday.
“I’d say [the win] was pretty important,” Shipon said. “We were kind of ranked low for the tournament this year, and to come out on top of a team like Wheaton South is pretty big.”
Wheaton Warrenville South played without five injured players, but ultimately it was a failure to clear their zone and defense the corner kicks properly that did them in.
“That was part of our pre-game meeting: not to give unnecessary corner kicks up and then to solve the problem of tracking and being a little bit more aggressive,” Callipari said. “But we were outhustled throughout the course of the game, and we just didn’t have the athletes on the field to stay up with theirs. They were a little bit more aggressive in the final third.”
The Tigers twice had the lead, only to see Shipon cause havoc with her corners.
Senior Tori Adomshick put Wheaton Warrenville South ahead with a goal in the 14th minute when she tapped in a rebound after Anna Fank’s shot off an Alexis Jakuszewski corner kick.
But Shipon’s first corner, from the right side, came 24 minutes later and was held up in the wind. Rosenthal attempted to punch it out but didn’t get much on it, and Melissa Greco knocked it in for the Storm.
Wheaton Warrenville South regained the lead in the 60th minute when Adomshick sprung Fank on a breakaway, but the Storm answered five minutes after that. This time Rosenthal missed the ball, and Weronika Noyszewski buried it.
But that wasn’t as galling as what happened on Shipon’s game winner.
“They were all difficult because of the way it was swung in,” Callipari said. “We got ourselves in a poor position of coverage, but the last one, the official said she hit it with her right foot.
“Our players said it was swung in where it went over the line and came back. So that’s one thing, but you still play it like it’s live until the whistle and it is called out. You can’t rest on your laurels in regard to what you think. You’ve got to keep on playing until you hear the whistle.
“So [we] left the post open, which is really uncanny, and it is what it is. It’s unfortunate it came late in the game, and we didn’t have time to recover.”
Adomshick said it came down to miscommunication.
“I think our defense was kind of confused as to what was going on because I know one of the girls saw it go out, so she thought that we were going to have a goal kick,” Adomshick said. “But it went back in, so I think they were just not expecting it to go back in so they weren’t really prepared.”
Adomshick and Fank were dangerous at times for the Tigers, but their forays came mostly on counterattacks. Aside from the two goals and a poke from Sarah Burns that eluded Valkner but was cleared off the line by defender Alyssa Kalke, Wheaton Warrenville South had trouble sustaining an attack.
“It wasn’t enough,” Adomshick said. “Before the game we were talking about how we needed to focus on our passing, and I thought that we didn’t string as many passes together as we needed to.
“We were making some good runs, and I was trying to hit [Anna Fank] on those. We just needed to convert a couple more goals, especially early on so we could have a [good] lead, so they weren't constantly in the game.
“We have to give them a lot of credit. They were working very hard out there, and having a lot of girls out also made it a hard day for us.”
Starting lineups
Wheaton Warrenville South
GK: Nell Rosenthal
D: Julia Hildebrand
D: Shannon Erhardt
D: Rachel Conrady
D: Kelly Kern
M: Tori Adomshick
M: Nikki Molino
M: Sarah Burns
M: Emily Calloway
F: Alexis Jakuszewski
F: Anna Fank
South Elgin
GK: Jourdan Valkner
D: Weronikia Noyszewski
D: Alyssa Kalke
D: Arielle Walters
D: Elly Rivera
M: Alyssa Shipon
M: Melissa Greco
M: Alena Ignatev
M: Ella Struwing
M: Grace Francks
F: Delaney Kelleher
MVP of the Match: Alyssa Shipon, MF, South Elgin