Batavia solves Lake Park,
stern wind to post 3-0 win
Gianfrancesco notches 2 goals, 1 assist in DuKane contest
By Bill McLean
ROSELLE — Early in Thursday afternoon’s Batavia-Lake Park game, a player’s throw-in from near the middle of a sideline landed … out of bounds.
The ball then proceeded to bounce rapidly toward a fence at Lake Park’s home stadium, threatening to hop the barrier and begin a journey destined for somewhere in Indiana.
The whipping, teardrop-inducing wind and cold temperatures throughout the DuKane Conference game was relentless.
“Brutal,” Batavia senior forward Ryan Gianfrancesco said of the Gale Force 1 day. “The wind today, honestly, was brutal. It made running 10 times harder.”
But it failed to enfeeble Gianfrancesco’s stellar skill set. The Bulldog scored two times and provided the assist on the first goal in a 3-0 defeat of Lake Park’s Lancers.
The daughter of Batavia coach Mark Gianfrancesco breezily won Chicagoland Soccer MVP of the Match honors.
“Ryan was physical and tough in the challenging weather conditions,” the coach/dad said. “She’s competitive, always has been. But what’s important to her is making sure she incorporates her teammates as much as possible in our games.
“We stuck with it today, hung in there. Those opportunities we had in the first half … we had so many of them. From where I was standing, I kept thinking, ‘When is the ball going to go in?’ ”
It first went it at the 26-minute mark, thanks to a resplendent corner from Gianfrancesco that found the center of sophomore midfielder Brooke Carlson’s forehead right in front of Lancers sophomore goalkeeper Vanessa Boafo (six saves).
Textbook set piece.
Times 10.
Too-many-to-count offside infractions — you could blame the dastardly wind for more than a few of those — snuffed out rosy chances for Batavia (6-1-2 overall, 2-0-0 in the DuKane).
Lake Park’s defenders, particularly freshman Brynn Ellenbecker and junior Peyton Sarubbi, performed admirably against the visitors’ gifted and speedy forwards and midfielders in the first half and for stretches in the second.
Batavia senior forward Johanna Shubert and junior midfielder Riley Dibiase displayed their impressive dribbling and passing skills on a number of occasions for the no. 24 team in the Chicagoland Soccer Top 25.
In the 35th minute, alert Lancer Ellenbecker made a non-goalie save while positioned inches in front of Boafo’s goal line. Boafo was out of the picture briefly, having ventured to defend a couple of other Batavia shots during a chaotic sequence in the box.
“Brynn,” Lancers coach Sean Crosby said, “had a stand-out game today. She took on some great players without backing down once. She’s not afraid of challenges, and she wants to learn — something all of her coaches truly appreciate.
“Peyton,” he added, “has quietly dominated for us this season. She’s now playing central ‘D’ instead of on the outside, and I like how well she’s adjusted to her new position.”
Neither team had to adapt to a different style of the play in the second half; the gusts, after all, were crosswinds.
Batavia sophomore reserve midfielder Sarah Koziol delivered the best pass of the second half, providing a cutting Gianfrancesco with a deft through-ball. Gianfrancesco gathered it in stride, dribbled for about 10 yards and brushed against a hustling Lancer before netting a left-footed shot from about eight yards.
The goal put Batavia up 2-0 in the 47th minute.
“Sarah Koziol played very well and connected often,” Mark Gianfrancesco said. “Her passing was outstanding. She gave us plenty of good minutes.”
His daughter struck again 15 minutes later, this time on a volley — from six yards — that jostled the side netting to keeper Boafo’s left.
Shubert got the assist.
“Composed,” Gianfrancesco, the daughter, said of the word she thinks best describes Batavia, which has outscored its opponents 15-2 this spring. Half of the goals against came in a 1-0 loss to current no. 2 Naperville North on March 24.
“We’re also highly competitive. But we keep it fun and stay positive at all times.”
Bulldogs senior keeper and Iowa-bound Aubrey Hahn finished with two saves for the shutout.
Her counterpart made several spectacular stops. Boafo, a first-year varsity keeper, skidded to her right to make a diving save with 2:45 left in the first half and came up clutch again two minutes later.
“We love Vanessa,” Ellenbecker said.
Vanessa’s older sister, Lauren Boafo, chose to play club soccer in her prep years before graduating from Lake Park in 2021. Born in Hoffman Estates and a resident of Hanover Park, she’s now a goalkeeper majoring in criminal justice at Western Michigan University in Kalamazoo.
“Good goalkeeping runs in her family,” Crosby said. “Vanessa has saved our tail with her fine play in a number of games this year. We would have been out of games, early, had it not been for her excellent saves.”
Batavia continues its campaign when it West Chicago for a nonconference match at 1 p.m. Saturday; Lake Park (1-6-1, 0-2-0) hosts Bartlett for a nonleague tilt at 2 p.m. Saturday.
Lake Park lost 2-1 to host Bartlett last spring. The Hawks emerged as the Upstate Eight Conference championship team and wound up with an 11-3-0 record.
Footnotes
Thursday’s weather forecast included 50-mph winds. “I don’t think it got that high, but it was up there,” a shivering Crosby said after his team’s loss. … Batavia’s team was a late arrival Thursday afternoon. “We had 10 minutes to warm up,” Ryan Gianfrancesco said after her two-goal, one-assist show. … Batavia lost three Bulldogs to graduation last spring after a 7-13-0 season, during which the squad upset Geneva 4-1 in a Class 3A playoff game on June 2. Batavia was one triumph away from matching its 2021 win total after its second DuKane win Thursday afternoon. “We returned a strong base,” Koziol said. … What makes Koziol such an effective distributor? Most of her passes stay low and resemble smooth golf putts.
Starting lineups
Batavia
GK Aubrey Hahn
D Addison Lowe
D Mia Anzalone
D Jaden Collins
D Carlin King
M Brooke Carlson
M Kailey Hansen
M Riley Dibiase
F Laila Figueras
F Ryan Gianfrancesco
F Johanna Shubert
Lake Park
GK Vanessa Boafo
D Brynn Ellenbecker
D Peyton Sarubbi
D Gianna Kubica
D Madie Mintrup
M Bella Witt
M Teagan Locus
M Kira Holiday
M Francesca Cali
F Erin Vachlin
F Peyton Olinski
Chicagoland Soccer MVP of the Match: Ryan Gianfrancesco, sr., F, Batavia
Scoring summary
First half
Batavia — Carlson (Gianfrancesco), 26’
Second half
Batavia — Gianfrancesco (Sarah Koziol), 47’
Batavia — Gianfrancesco (Shubert), 62’
stern wind to post 3-0 win
Gianfrancesco notches 2 goals, 1 assist in DuKane contest
By Bill McLean
ROSELLE — Early in Thursday afternoon’s Batavia-Lake Park game, a player’s throw-in from near the middle of a sideline landed … out of bounds.
The ball then proceeded to bounce rapidly toward a fence at Lake Park’s home stadium, threatening to hop the barrier and begin a journey destined for somewhere in Indiana.
The whipping, teardrop-inducing wind and cold temperatures throughout the DuKane Conference game was relentless.
“Brutal,” Batavia senior forward Ryan Gianfrancesco said of the Gale Force 1 day. “The wind today, honestly, was brutal. It made running 10 times harder.”
But it failed to enfeeble Gianfrancesco’s stellar skill set. The Bulldog scored two times and provided the assist on the first goal in a 3-0 defeat of Lake Park’s Lancers.
The daughter of Batavia coach Mark Gianfrancesco breezily won Chicagoland Soccer MVP of the Match honors.
“Ryan was physical and tough in the challenging weather conditions,” the coach/dad said. “She’s competitive, always has been. But what’s important to her is making sure she incorporates her teammates as much as possible in our games.
“We stuck with it today, hung in there. Those opportunities we had in the first half … we had so many of them. From where I was standing, I kept thinking, ‘When is the ball going to go in?’ ”
It first went it at the 26-minute mark, thanks to a resplendent corner from Gianfrancesco that found the center of sophomore midfielder Brooke Carlson’s forehead right in front of Lancers sophomore goalkeeper Vanessa Boafo (six saves).
Textbook set piece.
Times 10.
Too-many-to-count offside infractions — you could blame the dastardly wind for more than a few of those — snuffed out rosy chances for Batavia (6-1-2 overall, 2-0-0 in the DuKane).
Lake Park’s defenders, particularly freshman Brynn Ellenbecker and junior Peyton Sarubbi, performed admirably against the visitors’ gifted and speedy forwards and midfielders in the first half and for stretches in the second.
Batavia senior forward Johanna Shubert and junior midfielder Riley Dibiase displayed their impressive dribbling and passing skills on a number of occasions for the no. 24 team in the Chicagoland Soccer Top 25.
In the 35th minute, alert Lancer Ellenbecker made a non-goalie save while positioned inches in front of Boafo’s goal line. Boafo was out of the picture briefly, having ventured to defend a couple of other Batavia shots during a chaotic sequence in the box.
“Brynn,” Lancers coach Sean Crosby said, “had a stand-out game today. She took on some great players without backing down once. She’s not afraid of challenges, and she wants to learn — something all of her coaches truly appreciate.
“Peyton,” he added, “has quietly dominated for us this season. She’s now playing central ‘D’ instead of on the outside, and I like how well she’s adjusted to her new position.”
Neither team had to adapt to a different style of the play in the second half; the gusts, after all, were crosswinds.
Batavia sophomore reserve midfielder Sarah Koziol delivered the best pass of the second half, providing a cutting Gianfrancesco with a deft through-ball. Gianfrancesco gathered it in stride, dribbled for about 10 yards and brushed against a hustling Lancer before netting a left-footed shot from about eight yards.
The goal put Batavia up 2-0 in the 47th minute.
“Sarah Koziol played very well and connected often,” Mark Gianfrancesco said. “Her passing was outstanding. She gave us plenty of good minutes.”
His daughter struck again 15 minutes later, this time on a volley — from six yards — that jostled the side netting to keeper Boafo’s left.
Shubert got the assist.
“Composed,” Gianfrancesco, the daughter, said of the word she thinks best describes Batavia, which has outscored its opponents 15-2 this spring. Half of the goals against came in a 1-0 loss to current no. 2 Naperville North on March 24.
“We’re also highly competitive. But we keep it fun and stay positive at all times.”
Bulldogs senior keeper and Iowa-bound Aubrey Hahn finished with two saves for the shutout.
Her counterpart made several spectacular stops. Boafo, a first-year varsity keeper, skidded to her right to make a diving save with 2:45 left in the first half and came up clutch again two minutes later.
“We love Vanessa,” Ellenbecker said.
Vanessa’s older sister, Lauren Boafo, chose to play club soccer in her prep years before graduating from Lake Park in 2021. Born in Hoffman Estates and a resident of Hanover Park, she’s now a goalkeeper majoring in criminal justice at Western Michigan University in Kalamazoo.
“Good goalkeeping runs in her family,” Crosby said. “Vanessa has saved our tail with her fine play in a number of games this year. We would have been out of games, early, had it not been for her excellent saves.”
Batavia continues its campaign when it West Chicago for a nonconference match at 1 p.m. Saturday; Lake Park (1-6-1, 0-2-0) hosts Bartlett for a nonleague tilt at 2 p.m. Saturday.
Lake Park lost 2-1 to host Bartlett last spring. The Hawks emerged as the Upstate Eight Conference championship team and wound up with an 11-3-0 record.
Footnotes
Thursday’s weather forecast included 50-mph winds. “I don’t think it got that high, but it was up there,” a shivering Crosby said after his team’s loss. … Batavia’s team was a late arrival Thursday afternoon. “We had 10 minutes to warm up,” Ryan Gianfrancesco said after her two-goal, one-assist show. … Batavia lost three Bulldogs to graduation last spring after a 7-13-0 season, during which the squad upset Geneva 4-1 in a Class 3A playoff game on June 2. Batavia was one triumph away from matching its 2021 win total after its second DuKane win Thursday afternoon. “We returned a strong base,” Koziol said. … What makes Koziol such an effective distributor? Most of her passes stay low and resemble smooth golf putts.
Starting lineups
Batavia
GK Aubrey Hahn
D Addison Lowe
D Mia Anzalone
D Jaden Collins
D Carlin King
M Brooke Carlson
M Kailey Hansen
M Riley Dibiase
F Laila Figueras
F Ryan Gianfrancesco
F Johanna Shubert
Lake Park
GK Vanessa Boafo
D Brynn Ellenbecker
D Peyton Sarubbi
D Gianna Kubica
D Madie Mintrup
M Bella Witt
M Teagan Locus
M Kira Holiday
M Francesca Cali
F Erin Vachlin
F Peyton Olinski
Chicagoland Soccer MVP of the Match: Ryan Gianfrancesco, sr., F, Batavia
Scoring summary
First half
Batavia — Carlson (Gianfrancesco), 26’
Second half
Batavia — Gianfrancesco (Sarah Koziol), 47’
Batavia — Gianfrancesco (Shubert), 62’