Elk Grove ends roller coaster day
as MSL East champions
Grenadiers lose, but Prospect win gives them title
By Dave Owen
SCHAUMBURG -- Elk Grove was in the eye of the storm Monday with an opportunity to win the East Division on the final of Mid-Suburban League regular season competition. They held their own destiny at their feet -- a win delivered the prize.
But Schaumburg (7-8-1, 4-6-1) used a stellar defensive effort and an Emma Aguilar early second half goal to win 1-0, seemingly derailing Elk Grove’s run to its first MSL division title since a score in the now-defunct South Division in 2002.
Unless the Grenadiers got some help.
“Now Prospect has to win,” Elk Grove coach Dean Burrier Sanchis said after the game of his team’s MSL Bowl chances. “We have to catch a break there.”
It came less than an hour later. With a number of Grenadiers players making it over to Prospect to see the second half, the Knights delivered with a 1-0 win over Hersey.
Thus in a wild three-hour span, the two MSL East squads who led the division based on tiebreakers, each suffered road losses. But Elk Grove (9-5-2, 6-4-1) capped its once improbable title run with a final weird, yet eventually positive twist.
“This year we’re just like a family I guess,” Elk Grove senior defender Emma Slattery said. “It’s a very close team; we all support each other. And after years of not winning, we’re all stoked as we’re starting to win now. And that’s bringing us even closer together.”
Close but no cigar was the unfortunate theme for the Grenadiers in Monday’s match, which is a prelude to another Elk Grove-Schaumburg showdown in next week’s regional semifinals.
The host Saxons weren't expected to be a pushover.
“We’re going to see them in the first regional game,” Schaumburg assistant coach Tracy Serafini said. “So we talked before the game about it being that kind of (playoff) atmosphere. It was going to be a tense game.
“The (Saxons squad) has just really come together,” Serafini added about the Saxons. “They work hard and just battle and battle every game. We’ve had some really tight games -- we held Barrington to 2-0. So there’s a lot of heart on the field.”
Postgame emotions were different for the green and gold.
“Having it not happen (with a win) today is frustrating, because I felt like it was coming, and that we had everything right there,” Burrier Sanchis said. “But you feel the drive, commitment and spirit and desire to do everything it takes to win is here on this team.
“We’ll have that moving forward, and better things are ahead.”
It appeared a good day awaited the Grenadiers just 2:10 into the game, when Zoe Blomquist produced a quick scoring bid with a 15-yard liner over the net off an Alexia Joshi cross.
But that and many other Elk Grove chances met resistance from either insufficient gravity, or a strong Schaumburg defense.
“We had to stay organized (on defense),” Serafini said. “There’s good leadership back there – (center back) Savannah (Morini) keeps things tight and organized. Our communication was something we worked on for a long time at the beginning of the season, and we struggled with that.
“Especially with so many young girls (including three freshmen starters) who maybe don’t talk as much or communicate as well on the field. That’s something we were really stressing for the first month and a half of the season, and they’ve really found a place now where they communicate well, and they’re good at passing off marks if they have to.”
Schaumburg’s defense came up big on first half shots by Elk Grove’s Isabella Tierney (shot in the box blocked in the 13th minute), Aliah Mendez (nice run and 12-yard shot saved by Saxons goalkeeper Livvy Masi in the 20th minute) and Amanda Sitkowski (a Masi save on a 22-yard shot off a Slattery free kick from midfield).
Then 31 minutes in, Masi batted a Mendez corner kick out of traffic in front. Elk Grove's Leila Aguilar-Cervantes found the loose ball but launched an ensuing shot just over the net.
“Livvy in the back has been solid all season, making good saves and keeping it organized too,” Serafini said. “Unbelievable improvement from her this season from last season. She’s kept us in games where at times it looked like it might open up a little bit. She’s done a really nice job back there.”
Elk Grove’s defense also faced some fierce first half tests.
Schaumburg’s Katie Smith lined a 12-yard shot just wide of the open left post off a scramble in the 11th minute. Then two minutes later, Grenadiers goalkeeper Rachel Kandefer made a nice diving save to deny an Aguilar left side rush and 15-yard shot.
A Morini 15-yard free kick right of the box 24:15 before halftime resulted in a header on the run by Aguilar just wide of the left post.
After the halftime break, both sides came out with quick chances.
Schaumburg had two corner kicks in the first 2:05 of the half, while Elk Grove threatened four minutes in on a Slattery 49-yard free kick send to the crease that eventually resulted in a Blomquist 6-yard shot deflected just wide. With 32:30 left in regulation, a Sitkowski right side attack and tough angle 6-yarder just scurried wide of the back post.
Then with 31:26 to go, Aguilar’s strong defensive play at midfield turned into her deciding goal. Her nice high leg block of a would-be Elk Grove clear set up a Schaumburg rush.
Freshman Melissa Schneider’s eventual send towards the box on a 2-on-1 rush drew Kandefer out in a race to the ball, but Aguilar arrived first and dribbled in for an open-net putaway and a 1-0 Saxons lead.
“That’s a good finish, and I’ve been struggling to score,” said Aguilar, the Chicagoland Soccer MVP of the Match.
“Mel gave me a great ball, and I believe it was (Victoria) Treni who gave a great ball to her.
“They (Elk Grove) are a great team.,” Aguilar added. “They’re really a tough team. But we came out really strong.”
Even with standout senior forward Dana Koszkowski sidelined with a torn ACL, the Saxons retain plenty of offensive potential.
“Especially with Emma and Mel up-top, we have so much speed to just beat defenses in behind,” Serafini said. “Emma’s a workhorse. She’ll work hard for 80 minutes without stopping. And Mel’s a really skilled player, another freshman. She can come out of the midfield or play up-top.
“Once we got that one goal, it was just play-it-out time from there.”
In what became a physical battle to the finish, both teams traded chances over the next 20 minutes before a furious final push by the Grenadiers.
Elk Grove began to dial up the heat with 29:55 left. On a Slattery 25-yard free kick, Masi came up big with a high reaching catch.
Kandefer answered with her own nice low catch on a Smith 15-yard shot with 26:15 to go. A Molly Flondro try went just wide of the net after a battle in the box with 14:05 left.
Two other Schaumburg bids were denied by great efforts from Slattery. With 12:45 left, her clear upfield of a 50-yard free kick send to the box sprung Sitkowski for a shot wide right on the counterattack. Then with 8:30 to go, Morini sent a 20-yard free kick from right of the net headed towards the back post which Slattery again cleared from danger.
From then on, it was all Elk Grove chances, but Schaumburg’s defense refused to break.
“I think we talked really well in the midfield, and our defense communicated who their strong players were and limited them as much as possible.”
Grenadier threats came in waves late.
Off a Sitkowski cross with 7:10 left, Tierney sent an 18-yard shot wide. With 4:20 to go, a Joshi corner kick deflected to the back post, where Sitkowski’s shot attempt went just wide.
The push continued to the final tick. Blomquist drove in off an interception with 35 seconds left, but sent a 15-yarder just over the net. Then in a scramble off a Kate Talens throw-in with 10 seconds to play, a clear upfield by Schaumburg’s Bri Dietz sealed the 1-0 verdict.
“It was very physical and frustrating,” Slattery said. “We all got a little frustrated. I think that’s what really beat us today.”
Burrier Sanchis summed up the second half and outcome.
“I just think that’s soccer,” he said. “You have one clear break, and they took it (on Aguilar’s goal).
“But our girls played really hard and did everything we asked them to do, and deserved to have a better result today. Unfortunately we didn’t get it. But I think right up until the end, we had them where we wanted.
“We were doing what we wanted to do, and it just wasn’t enough today,” Burrier Sanchis added. “That’s the frustrating part about this game, that it is that simple sometimes. It just doesn’t go in your favor.”
But within an hour of Elk Grove’s painful bus ride home out of the Schaumburg city limits, the MSL East title race ended in the Grenadiers’ possession.
After Elk Grove’s MSL title match at 7 p.m. Wednesday at Barrington, another battle with Schaumburg awaits.
The Saxons will be ready.
“I think it’ll give us more confidence for regionals,” Schaumburg’s Aguilar said. “Knowing what they can do and what we can do I think proves what we can accomplish on the field, like this type of game.”
Elk Grove will try to avoid a repeat of Monday, and return to the level of play that turned an 0-3-0 early season start into a hard-earned MSL East title.
“We need to be strong mentally, and just come in with a lot of heat in the beginning,” Slattery said of the lesson from Monday’s loss. “We need to get that goal early, so we can have the mentality that we can beat them. It wasn’t that I think we didn’t have it today. I just think that we lost that mentality a lot as the game went on.”
Starting lineups
Elk Grove
GK Rachel Kandefer
D Emma Simmons
D Marisa Mauro
D Emma Slattery
D Alexia Joshi
M Aliah Mendez
M Zoe Blomquist
M Gabriella Mauro
M Leila Aguilar-Cervantes
F Kate Telens
F Amanda Sitkowski
Schaumburg
GK Livvy Masi
D Kaitlyn Uhlman
D Savannah Morini
D Victoria Treni
D Madison Schneider
M Bri Dietz
M Katie Smith
M Michelle Candotti
M Molly Flondro
F Emma Aguilar
F Melissa Schneider
Chicagoland Soccer MVP of the Match: Emma Aguilar, sr. F, Schaumburg
Scoring summary
Second half
Schaumburg – Emma Aguilar (Melissa Schneider assist), 68:34
as MSL East champions
Grenadiers lose, but Prospect win gives them title
By Dave Owen
SCHAUMBURG -- Elk Grove was in the eye of the storm Monday with an opportunity to win the East Division on the final of Mid-Suburban League regular season competition. They held their own destiny at their feet -- a win delivered the prize.
But Schaumburg (7-8-1, 4-6-1) used a stellar defensive effort and an Emma Aguilar early second half goal to win 1-0, seemingly derailing Elk Grove’s run to its first MSL division title since a score in the now-defunct South Division in 2002.
Unless the Grenadiers got some help.
“Now Prospect has to win,” Elk Grove coach Dean Burrier Sanchis said after the game of his team’s MSL Bowl chances. “We have to catch a break there.”
It came less than an hour later. With a number of Grenadiers players making it over to Prospect to see the second half, the Knights delivered with a 1-0 win over Hersey.
Thus in a wild three-hour span, the two MSL East squads who led the division based on tiebreakers, each suffered road losses. But Elk Grove (9-5-2, 6-4-1) capped its once improbable title run with a final weird, yet eventually positive twist.
“This year we’re just like a family I guess,” Elk Grove senior defender Emma Slattery said. “It’s a very close team; we all support each other. And after years of not winning, we’re all stoked as we’re starting to win now. And that’s bringing us even closer together.”
Close but no cigar was the unfortunate theme for the Grenadiers in Monday’s match, which is a prelude to another Elk Grove-Schaumburg showdown in next week’s regional semifinals.
The host Saxons weren't expected to be a pushover.
“We’re going to see them in the first regional game,” Schaumburg assistant coach Tracy Serafini said. “So we talked before the game about it being that kind of (playoff) atmosphere. It was going to be a tense game.
“The (Saxons squad) has just really come together,” Serafini added about the Saxons. “They work hard and just battle and battle every game. We’ve had some really tight games -- we held Barrington to 2-0. So there’s a lot of heart on the field.”
Postgame emotions were different for the green and gold.
“Having it not happen (with a win) today is frustrating, because I felt like it was coming, and that we had everything right there,” Burrier Sanchis said. “But you feel the drive, commitment and spirit and desire to do everything it takes to win is here on this team.
“We’ll have that moving forward, and better things are ahead.”
It appeared a good day awaited the Grenadiers just 2:10 into the game, when Zoe Blomquist produced a quick scoring bid with a 15-yard liner over the net off an Alexia Joshi cross.
But that and many other Elk Grove chances met resistance from either insufficient gravity, or a strong Schaumburg defense.
“We had to stay organized (on defense),” Serafini said. “There’s good leadership back there – (center back) Savannah (Morini) keeps things tight and organized. Our communication was something we worked on for a long time at the beginning of the season, and we struggled with that.
“Especially with so many young girls (including three freshmen starters) who maybe don’t talk as much or communicate as well on the field. That’s something we were really stressing for the first month and a half of the season, and they’ve really found a place now where they communicate well, and they’re good at passing off marks if they have to.”
Schaumburg’s defense came up big on first half shots by Elk Grove’s Isabella Tierney (shot in the box blocked in the 13th minute), Aliah Mendez (nice run and 12-yard shot saved by Saxons goalkeeper Livvy Masi in the 20th minute) and Amanda Sitkowski (a Masi save on a 22-yard shot off a Slattery free kick from midfield).
Then 31 minutes in, Masi batted a Mendez corner kick out of traffic in front. Elk Grove's Leila Aguilar-Cervantes found the loose ball but launched an ensuing shot just over the net.
“Livvy in the back has been solid all season, making good saves and keeping it organized too,” Serafini said. “Unbelievable improvement from her this season from last season. She’s kept us in games where at times it looked like it might open up a little bit. She’s done a really nice job back there.”
Elk Grove’s defense also faced some fierce first half tests.
Schaumburg’s Katie Smith lined a 12-yard shot just wide of the open left post off a scramble in the 11th minute. Then two minutes later, Grenadiers goalkeeper Rachel Kandefer made a nice diving save to deny an Aguilar left side rush and 15-yard shot.
A Morini 15-yard free kick right of the box 24:15 before halftime resulted in a header on the run by Aguilar just wide of the left post.
After the halftime break, both sides came out with quick chances.
Schaumburg had two corner kicks in the first 2:05 of the half, while Elk Grove threatened four minutes in on a Slattery 49-yard free kick send to the crease that eventually resulted in a Blomquist 6-yard shot deflected just wide. With 32:30 left in regulation, a Sitkowski right side attack and tough angle 6-yarder just scurried wide of the back post.
Then with 31:26 to go, Aguilar’s strong defensive play at midfield turned into her deciding goal. Her nice high leg block of a would-be Elk Grove clear set up a Schaumburg rush.
Freshman Melissa Schneider’s eventual send towards the box on a 2-on-1 rush drew Kandefer out in a race to the ball, but Aguilar arrived first and dribbled in for an open-net putaway and a 1-0 Saxons lead.
“That’s a good finish, and I’ve been struggling to score,” said Aguilar, the Chicagoland Soccer MVP of the Match.
“Mel gave me a great ball, and I believe it was (Victoria) Treni who gave a great ball to her.
“They (Elk Grove) are a great team.,” Aguilar added. “They’re really a tough team. But we came out really strong.”
Even with standout senior forward Dana Koszkowski sidelined with a torn ACL, the Saxons retain plenty of offensive potential.
“Especially with Emma and Mel up-top, we have so much speed to just beat defenses in behind,” Serafini said. “Emma’s a workhorse. She’ll work hard for 80 minutes without stopping. And Mel’s a really skilled player, another freshman. She can come out of the midfield or play up-top.
“Once we got that one goal, it was just play-it-out time from there.”
In what became a physical battle to the finish, both teams traded chances over the next 20 minutes before a furious final push by the Grenadiers.
Elk Grove began to dial up the heat with 29:55 left. On a Slattery 25-yard free kick, Masi came up big with a high reaching catch.
Kandefer answered with her own nice low catch on a Smith 15-yard shot with 26:15 to go. A Molly Flondro try went just wide of the net after a battle in the box with 14:05 left.
Two other Schaumburg bids were denied by great efforts from Slattery. With 12:45 left, her clear upfield of a 50-yard free kick send to the box sprung Sitkowski for a shot wide right on the counterattack. Then with 8:30 to go, Morini sent a 20-yard free kick from right of the net headed towards the back post which Slattery again cleared from danger.
From then on, it was all Elk Grove chances, but Schaumburg’s defense refused to break.
“I think we talked really well in the midfield, and our defense communicated who their strong players were and limited them as much as possible.”
Grenadier threats came in waves late.
Off a Sitkowski cross with 7:10 left, Tierney sent an 18-yard shot wide. With 4:20 to go, a Joshi corner kick deflected to the back post, where Sitkowski’s shot attempt went just wide.
The push continued to the final tick. Blomquist drove in off an interception with 35 seconds left, but sent a 15-yarder just over the net. Then in a scramble off a Kate Talens throw-in with 10 seconds to play, a clear upfield by Schaumburg’s Bri Dietz sealed the 1-0 verdict.
“It was very physical and frustrating,” Slattery said. “We all got a little frustrated. I think that’s what really beat us today.”
Burrier Sanchis summed up the second half and outcome.
“I just think that’s soccer,” he said. “You have one clear break, and they took it (on Aguilar’s goal).
“But our girls played really hard and did everything we asked them to do, and deserved to have a better result today. Unfortunately we didn’t get it. But I think right up until the end, we had them where we wanted.
“We were doing what we wanted to do, and it just wasn’t enough today,” Burrier Sanchis added. “That’s the frustrating part about this game, that it is that simple sometimes. It just doesn’t go in your favor.”
But within an hour of Elk Grove’s painful bus ride home out of the Schaumburg city limits, the MSL East title race ended in the Grenadiers’ possession.
After Elk Grove’s MSL title match at 7 p.m. Wednesday at Barrington, another battle with Schaumburg awaits.
The Saxons will be ready.
“I think it’ll give us more confidence for regionals,” Schaumburg’s Aguilar said. “Knowing what they can do and what we can do I think proves what we can accomplish on the field, like this type of game.”
Elk Grove will try to avoid a repeat of Monday, and return to the level of play that turned an 0-3-0 early season start into a hard-earned MSL East title.
“We need to be strong mentally, and just come in with a lot of heat in the beginning,” Slattery said of the lesson from Monday’s loss. “We need to get that goal early, so we can have the mentality that we can beat them. It wasn’t that I think we didn’t have it today. I just think that we lost that mentality a lot as the game went on.”
Starting lineups
Elk Grove
GK Rachel Kandefer
D Emma Simmons
D Marisa Mauro
D Emma Slattery
D Alexia Joshi
M Aliah Mendez
M Zoe Blomquist
M Gabriella Mauro
M Leila Aguilar-Cervantes
F Kate Telens
F Amanda Sitkowski
Schaumburg
GK Livvy Masi
D Kaitlyn Uhlman
D Savannah Morini
D Victoria Treni
D Madison Schneider
M Bri Dietz
M Katie Smith
M Michelle Candotti
M Molly Flondro
F Emma Aguilar
F Melissa Schneider
Chicagoland Soccer MVP of the Match: Emma Aguilar, sr. F, Schaumburg
Scoring summary
Second half
Schaumburg – Emma Aguilar (Melissa Schneider assist), 68:34