Wheaton Warrenville South
peppers Glenbard North net
Goals come fast and furious for Tigers in 6-0 victory
By Matt Le Cren
WHEATON -- Erin Madigan is back. That’s not good news for Wheaton Warrenville South's opponents.
The athletic junior midfielder had missed a week of games because of pulled quadriceps, but she returned from the injury Wednesday night against Glenbard North, checking into the game with 19 minutes left in the first half.
Fifteen seconds later, Madigan won a ball and immediately sprung Anna Fank with a pass up the middle. Fank rumbled into the penalty area and fired a shot over the crossbar.
While that opportunity went for naught, it was just the first of many chances that Madigan had a hand in creating. Eight minutes later she assisted on Sarah Burns’ goal that gave the host Tigers a two-goal lead, and they never looked back in roaring to a 6-0 DuPage Valley Conference win at Red Grange Field.
“I was scared to make moves or take shots because last week when I took a shot it completely pulled,” Madigan said. “So it was really scary to come back in a game. Obviously I’m not fully in shape yet, but it was nice to get some minutes in before we go to Springfield this weekend.”
Madigan’s return means the Tigers (7-3, 2-1) have four legitimate offensive weapons. When the combo that includes forwards Fank and Alexis Jakuszewski and midfielder Tori Adomshick are playing well, the Tigers will be hard to stop and that proved to be the case Wednesday.
Jakuszewski, the Chicagoland Soccer MVP of the Match, had two goals and an assist and had a hand in setting up two other scores, while Fank had a goal and an assist, and Adomshick one goal.
Wheaton Warrenville South, which has won three straight, was already ahead 1-0 when Jakuszewski sent a lead pass ahead to Madigan, who made a cutback move to her right and fired a hard, low liner from 20 yards out. Glenbard North goalie Ariana DePinto sprawled to her right to knock the ball around the left post, but Madigan’s ensuing corner kick was headed home by Burns with 10:47 remaining in the first half.
“She’s a spark,” Wheaton Warrenville South coach Guy Callipari said of Madigan. “She’ll get onto the ball, and she’ll do a lot of things.
“She’ll grab a lot of attention, which then takes some of the attention away from some of the other girls. They can find time and space off of her and maybe have some opportunities. That’s what Erin can do.
“She can draw attention to herself very easily, and that helps us. Now if she can get her head up a little sooner, she’ll help herself as well and go forward, as opposed to east-west.”
Madigan may still be a little rusty, but her teammates were anything but, especially in a dominant second half that saw them pump in four more goals.
The onslaught began with 34:20 remaining when yet another lead pass from Jakuszewski found the foot of Fank, who caught DePinto off her line with an 18-yard shot that made it 3-0.
With the Tigers’ defense led by Allison Harvey, Kelly Kern and Shannon Erhardt playing well in front of keeper Nell Rosenthal, the offensively challenged Panthers (4-5-1, 1-2) had little hope of winning at that point. But the Tigers kept the pressure on.
“It was great that we didn’t let off the pedal,” the Illinois-Chicago-bound Jakuszewski said. “We kept working on the things that we really need to fine tune, so we were able to keep working on the basics. That’s what is going to help us later in the season.
“Passing and obviously finishing is a really big part of the game. We’re really fine tuning that, so it’s a good place to be at.”
Jakuszewski played a big role in that fine tuning. She had a role in all three of the Tigers’ goals in the final 15 minutes.
First, her cross from the right wing was deflected by a Glenbard North defender right to Delaney Hansen, who pounced for a quick finish and a 4-0 lead with 14:30 remaining.
Then when Fank was felled in the penalty area, Jakuszewski blasted the penalty kick into the upper left corner with 3:44 to go. She then finished the scoring with a beautiful goal at the 1:28 mark, taking a pass from Fank deep into the right side of the box before slicing a shot from a severe angle off the inside of the upper part of the left post.
“I felt like it was coming,” Jakuszewski said of the final goal, her seventh of the season. “I was getting a little closer each time, and then Anna kept laying off great balls to me. (There was) one (breakaway) I can’t believe I missed. On that (last) one I was just like, I got it this time, so I took my touch and made it.”
Callipari was pleased with the Tigers' effort, especially in the second half when they demonstrated their recent improvement.
“We certainly thought that (we needed) a little bit more composure, a little bit more awareness,” Callipari said. “These are behavioral things, not technical issues, that need to be developed. That’s just going to come from experience.
“With the time and space they had, we just felt that you had a little bit more time to be a little bit more composed, make the connective pass. We give the ball away way too much (in the first half) and really not under pressure, and all their opportunities came from transitional pieces of us giving the ball away. So we thought we could clean up that piece of our game. Obviously we’d have the ball a lot more, we’d get numbers forward and a lot more scoring opportunities, which transpired in the second half.”
For all of the second half fireworks, it was Adomshick who scored the game-winning goal on Wheaton Warrenville South’s first shot of the match.
The senior intercepted DePinto’s goal kick and, seeing DePinto's jog back to her line, immediately ripped a 27-yard shot over her head for a 1-0 lead at the 31:52 mark of the opening period.
“The goalie was unfortunate because she had played an extremely clean game up to that point," Callipari said. "But when you give the ball away and toward a senior [like that], Tori has a great soccer mind and she’s having a lot of success this year with six goals."
“So she’s feeling very comfortable on the ball, and she’s willing to take those opportunities, where in the past you probably would have seen her be a little bit more conservative. But she’s being very aggressive.”
The Tigers know they needed to be aggressive in order to stay in the race for the DVC title. With only five league games this spring, the loser of this match would have no chance of winning.
As it is, the Tigers are a game behind Naperville North and Wheaton North in the loss column, but they still have hope.
“Of course I think we’re definitely still going to go hard,” Jakuszewski said. “It was an unfortunate loss to Wheaton North, but anything can happen. We just need to keep winning. That’s all we can do at this point.”
The Tigers travel to Springfield this weekend to play three games at the Sacred Heart-Griffin Tournament. It's the start of a five-game road trip, before returning home May 2 to take on Glenbard South. Their next DVC game is May 5 at Naperville North.
Starting lineups
Glenbard North
GK: Ariana DePinto
D: Sarah Peters
D: Kaite Rissman
M: Arianna Callard
M: Emily Dybowski
M: Jamie Scott
M: Sammy Aron
M: Amanda Biondo
M: Katie Frye
F: Anna Matthews
F: Emma Martinez
Wheaton Warrenville South
GK: Nell Rosenthal
D: Allison Harvey
D: Shannon Erhardt
D: Kelly Kern
M: Rachel Conrady
M: Julia Martz
M: Tori Adomshick
M: Sarah Burns
M: Nicole Molino
F: Alexis Jakuszewski
F: Anna Fank
MVP of the Match: Alexis Jakuszewski, F, Wheaton Warrenville South.
peppers Glenbard North net
Goals come fast and furious for Tigers in 6-0 victory
By Matt Le Cren
WHEATON -- Erin Madigan is back. That’s not good news for Wheaton Warrenville South's opponents.
The athletic junior midfielder had missed a week of games because of pulled quadriceps, but she returned from the injury Wednesday night against Glenbard North, checking into the game with 19 minutes left in the first half.
Fifteen seconds later, Madigan won a ball and immediately sprung Anna Fank with a pass up the middle. Fank rumbled into the penalty area and fired a shot over the crossbar.
While that opportunity went for naught, it was just the first of many chances that Madigan had a hand in creating. Eight minutes later she assisted on Sarah Burns’ goal that gave the host Tigers a two-goal lead, and they never looked back in roaring to a 6-0 DuPage Valley Conference win at Red Grange Field.
“I was scared to make moves or take shots because last week when I took a shot it completely pulled,” Madigan said. “So it was really scary to come back in a game. Obviously I’m not fully in shape yet, but it was nice to get some minutes in before we go to Springfield this weekend.”
Madigan’s return means the Tigers (7-3, 2-1) have four legitimate offensive weapons. When the combo that includes forwards Fank and Alexis Jakuszewski and midfielder Tori Adomshick are playing well, the Tigers will be hard to stop and that proved to be the case Wednesday.
Jakuszewski, the Chicagoland Soccer MVP of the Match, had two goals and an assist and had a hand in setting up two other scores, while Fank had a goal and an assist, and Adomshick one goal.
Wheaton Warrenville South, which has won three straight, was already ahead 1-0 when Jakuszewski sent a lead pass ahead to Madigan, who made a cutback move to her right and fired a hard, low liner from 20 yards out. Glenbard North goalie Ariana DePinto sprawled to her right to knock the ball around the left post, but Madigan’s ensuing corner kick was headed home by Burns with 10:47 remaining in the first half.
“She’s a spark,” Wheaton Warrenville South coach Guy Callipari said of Madigan. “She’ll get onto the ball, and she’ll do a lot of things.
“She’ll grab a lot of attention, which then takes some of the attention away from some of the other girls. They can find time and space off of her and maybe have some opportunities. That’s what Erin can do.
“She can draw attention to herself very easily, and that helps us. Now if she can get her head up a little sooner, she’ll help herself as well and go forward, as opposed to east-west.”
Madigan may still be a little rusty, but her teammates were anything but, especially in a dominant second half that saw them pump in four more goals.
The onslaught began with 34:20 remaining when yet another lead pass from Jakuszewski found the foot of Fank, who caught DePinto off her line with an 18-yard shot that made it 3-0.
With the Tigers’ defense led by Allison Harvey, Kelly Kern and Shannon Erhardt playing well in front of keeper Nell Rosenthal, the offensively challenged Panthers (4-5-1, 1-2) had little hope of winning at that point. But the Tigers kept the pressure on.
“It was great that we didn’t let off the pedal,” the Illinois-Chicago-bound Jakuszewski said. “We kept working on the things that we really need to fine tune, so we were able to keep working on the basics. That’s what is going to help us later in the season.
“Passing and obviously finishing is a really big part of the game. We’re really fine tuning that, so it’s a good place to be at.”
Jakuszewski played a big role in that fine tuning. She had a role in all three of the Tigers’ goals in the final 15 minutes.
First, her cross from the right wing was deflected by a Glenbard North defender right to Delaney Hansen, who pounced for a quick finish and a 4-0 lead with 14:30 remaining.
Then when Fank was felled in the penalty area, Jakuszewski blasted the penalty kick into the upper left corner with 3:44 to go. She then finished the scoring with a beautiful goal at the 1:28 mark, taking a pass from Fank deep into the right side of the box before slicing a shot from a severe angle off the inside of the upper part of the left post.
“I felt like it was coming,” Jakuszewski said of the final goal, her seventh of the season. “I was getting a little closer each time, and then Anna kept laying off great balls to me. (There was) one (breakaway) I can’t believe I missed. On that (last) one I was just like, I got it this time, so I took my touch and made it.”
Callipari was pleased with the Tigers' effort, especially in the second half when they demonstrated their recent improvement.
“We certainly thought that (we needed) a little bit more composure, a little bit more awareness,” Callipari said. “These are behavioral things, not technical issues, that need to be developed. That’s just going to come from experience.
“With the time and space they had, we just felt that you had a little bit more time to be a little bit more composed, make the connective pass. We give the ball away way too much (in the first half) and really not under pressure, and all their opportunities came from transitional pieces of us giving the ball away. So we thought we could clean up that piece of our game. Obviously we’d have the ball a lot more, we’d get numbers forward and a lot more scoring opportunities, which transpired in the second half.”
For all of the second half fireworks, it was Adomshick who scored the game-winning goal on Wheaton Warrenville South’s first shot of the match.
The senior intercepted DePinto’s goal kick and, seeing DePinto's jog back to her line, immediately ripped a 27-yard shot over her head for a 1-0 lead at the 31:52 mark of the opening period.
“The goalie was unfortunate because she had played an extremely clean game up to that point," Callipari said. "But when you give the ball away and toward a senior [like that], Tori has a great soccer mind and she’s having a lot of success this year with six goals."
“So she’s feeling very comfortable on the ball, and she’s willing to take those opportunities, where in the past you probably would have seen her be a little bit more conservative. But she’s being very aggressive.”
The Tigers know they needed to be aggressive in order to stay in the race for the DVC title. With only five league games this spring, the loser of this match would have no chance of winning.
As it is, the Tigers are a game behind Naperville North and Wheaton North in the loss column, but they still have hope.
“Of course I think we’re definitely still going to go hard,” Jakuszewski said. “It was an unfortunate loss to Wheaton North, but anything can happen. We just need to keep winning. That’s all we can do at this point.”
The Tigers travel to Springfield this weekend to play three games at the Sacred Heart-Griffin Tournament. It's the start of a five-game road trip, before returning home May 2 to take on Glenbard South. Their next DVC game is May 5 at Naperville North.
Starting lineups
Glenbard North
GK: Ariana DePinto
D: Sarah Peters
D: Kaite Rissman
M: Arianna Callard
M: Emily Dybowski
M: Jamie Scott
M: Sammy Aron
M: Amanda Biondo
M: Katie Frye
F: Anna Matthews
F: Emma Martinez
Wheaton Warrenville South
GK: Nell Rosenthal
D: Allison Harvey
D: Shannon Erhardt
D: Kelly Kern
M: Rachel Conrady
M: Julia Martz
M: Tori Adomshick
M: Sarah Burns
M: Nicole Molino
F: Alexis Jakuszewski
F: Anna Fank
MVP of the Match: Alexis Jakuszewski, F, Wheaton Warrenville South.