Batavia earns huge victory over Boylan
Bulldogs snap nine-game winless streak with 1-0 shutout
By Chris Walker
It was just a couple weeks short of a year ago that Ryan Kahley helped Batavia stun Oswego East in a regional semifinal by scoring his first goal.
While the loser of Wednesday’s WarStang Invitational match between Batavia and Boylan didn’t face the same fate that a postseason game loser would, both wanted to head home for the night a winner.
Thanks to Kahley, it was the Bulldogs.
The sophomore scored near the mid-point of the second half and the Batavia defense made it hold in a 1-0 victory.
It allowed the Bulldogs to snap a nine-game winless streak and to earn their first victory since their 2-1 win over Taft on Sept. 7.
And they were able to do it without junior forward Mark Lillig who scored twice in Monday’s 2-2 tie against Waubonsie Valley. Lillig was serving a suspension.
“Mark Lillig had the two goals on Monday, and he was our guy with the red card,” Bulldogs coach Mark Gianfrancesco said. “So the guy who scored two goals is unavailable and has to sit. We only had three subs today, so it was a total team effort.
“We showed a lot of heart today and were a little lucky and snuck one in. We kind of hung on. It was a good effort, obviously, and we’re moving in the right direction.”
Boylan (9-5-3) wasn’t a familiar foe for the Bulldogs or for the tournament itself for that matter, so the Titans offered an added challenge.
“Rockford has a pretty good team and players, so we kind of were able to bring it together,” Gianfrancesco said. “With our shortness of the bench we kind of pushed the envelope with them. We got a hold one of one and made it stand.”
Kahley has seemingly borrowed Reggie Jackson’s nickname of “Mr. October.”
“I would rather have him for August, September and October,” Gianfrancesco said. “He’s better now, but he has an injured calf, which was just bad luck where he was jumping on and off a float and fell and a trailer ran over his feet. So it’s been three and a half weeks, and we’ve just started working him back 10 minutes here and there.”
It was Kahley’s third goal of the season.
“I think we had a foul inside our defensive half. Austin (Saenz) took the free kick and sent it into the box, and there were headers all over the place,” Kahley said. “With the scramble in the box the keeper came out towards me, and I hit a volley into the bottom right corner.”
Saenz saw his kick carom off the keeper to Kahley, who finished with poise.
“When the ball was crossed it ricocheted off the keeper, and Ryan put it in the back of the net,” Saenz said. “He just got back from an injury so getting a goal had to feel nice for him. He comes back and gets a goal and we win. For me, that’s something I would enjoy. And we’re usually the team that’s behind, so it was nice to be ahead.”
The Bulldogs at least got somewhat of a winning feeling during Monday’s game against Waubonsie Valley, tying the much higher-seeded Warriors. The buzz from that game seemed to carry over just 48 hours later into this one.
“I think even tying on Monday really boosted our confidence, because they’re the five seed in our sectional and were the eighteenth seed,” senior defender Hector Rosales said. “And on Saturday I thought we played well (2-1 loss to Plainfield Central). I think that we’re playing better, and we were definitely hungry after tying on Monday.”
Rosales wasn’t sure what the difference was in the victory compared to similar games that ended in losses, but he praised the overall team effort.
“I just feel that everybody brought it today,” he said. “We were prepared. I feel like we had the better of the play in bringing it to them and just had to lock down on defense. The first half was better for us, but in the second half we made some plays and didn’t give up anything too critical.”
Saenz added: “It was pretty nice, because we finally got to talking a lot more in the back and were able to make up on our marks on long throw-ins and free kicks and corner kicks.
“We really made sure we were sticking to our marks and communicating where the open man was and doubling up on people making sure we were marking our marks. At the beginning of the season this was one of our bigger struggles.”
For the first time on the field this season, Batavia has put results back-to-back.
“Today was definitely a big boost, because of what this team had gone through mentally,” Kahley said. “We’ve been needing some form of encouragement. We got a little on Monday and then it just finally came through today. We’ve had a lot of injuries too, and we just needed a little boost and now we have momentum.”
Chicagoland Soccer Man of the Match: Ryan Kahley, so., MF, Batavia
Bulldogs snap nine-game winless streak with 1-0 shutout
By Chris Walker
It was just a couple weeks short of a year ago that Ryan Kahley helped Batavia stun Oswego East in a regional semifinal by scoring his first goal.
While the loser of Wednesday’s WarStang Invitational match between Batavia and Boylan didn’t face the same fate that a postseason game loser would, both wanted to head home for the night a winner.
Thanks to Kahley, it was the Bulldogs.
The sophomore scored near the mid-point of the second half and the Batavia defense made it hold in a 1-0 victory.
It allowed the Bulldogs to snap a nine-game winless streak and to earn their first victory since their 2-1 win over Taft on Sept. 7.
And they were able to do it without junior forward Mark Lillig who scored twice in Monday’s 2-2 tie against Waubonsie Valley. Lillig was serving a suspension.
“Mark Lillig had the two goals on Monday, and he was our guy with the red card,” Bulldogs coach Mark Gianfrancesco said. “So the guy who scored two goals is unavailable and has to sit. We only had three subs today, so it was a total team effort.
“We showed a lot of heart today and were a little lucky and snuck one in. We kind of hung on. It was a good effort, obviously, and we’re moving in the right direction.”
Boylan (9-5-3) wasn’t a familiar foe for the Bulldogs or for the tournament itself for that matter, so the Titans offered an added challenge.
“Rockford has a pretty good team and players, so we kind of were able to bring it together,” Gianfrancesco said. “With our shortness of the bench we kind of pushed the envelope with them. We got a hold one of one and made it stand.”
Kahley has seemingly borrowed Reggie Jackson’s nickname of “Mr. October.”
“I would rather have him for August, September and October,” Gianfrancesco said. “He’s better now, but he has an injured calf, which was just bad luck where he was jumping on and off a float and fell and a trailer ran over his feet. So it’s been three and a half weeks, and we’ve just started working him back 10 minutes here and there.”
It was Kahley’s third goal of the season.
“I think we had a foul inside our defensive half. Austin (Saenz) took the free kick and sent it into the box, and there were headers all over the place,” Kahley said. “With the scramble in the box the keeper came out towards me, and I hit a volley into the bottom right corner.”
Saenz saw his kick carom off the keeper to Kahley, who finished with poise.
“When the ball was crossed it ricocheted off the keeper, and Ryan put it in the back of the net,” Saenz said. “He just got back from an injury so getting a goal had to feel nice for him. He comes back and gets a goal and we win. For me, that’s something I would enjoy. And we’re usually the team that’s behind, so it was nice to be ahead.”
The Bulldogs at least got somewhat of a winning feeling during Monday’s game against Waubonsie Valley, tying the much higher-seeded Warriors. The buzz from that game seemed to carry over just 48 hours later into this one.
“I think even tying on Monday really boosted our confidence, because they’re the five seed in our sectional and were the eighteenth seed,” senior defender Hector Rosales said. “And on Saturday I thought we played well (2-1 loss to Plainfield Central). I think that we’re playing better, and we were definitely hungry after tying on Monday.”
Rosales wasn’t sure what the difference was in the victory compared to similar games that ended in losses, but he praised the overall team effort.
“I just feel that everybody brought it today,” he said. “We were prepared. I feel like we had the better of the play in bringing it to them and just had to lock down on defense. The first half was better for us, but in the second half we made some plays and didn’t give up anything too critical.”
Saenz added: “It was pretty nice, because we finally got to talking a lot more in the back and were able to make up on our marks on long throw-ins and free kicks and corner kicks.
“We really made sure we were sticking to our marks and communicating where the open man was and doubling up on people making sure we were marking our marks. At the beginning of the season this was one of our bigger struggles.”
For the first time on the field this season, Batavia has put results back-to-back.
“Today was definitely a big boost, because of what this team had gone through mentally,” Kahley said. “We’ve been needing some form of encouragement. We got a little on Monday and then it just finally came through today. We’ve had a lot of injuries too, and we just needed a little boost and now we have momentum.”
Chicagoland Soccer Man of the Match: Ryan Kahley, so., MF, Batavia