Glenbard East late rally
nullifies fast start from Bartlett
Borcean goal with 46 seconds left leaves teams locked up
By Patrick Z. McGavin
BARTLETT — Protesting a possession call in the first half, Bartlett coach Vince Revak asked how the ball could have moved in the direction it had without deflecting off a Glenbard East defender.
“Physics,” said the center official.
The comment, lighthearted and breaking a tense and competitive mood, turned out to be the most prescient of the day.
The Upstate Eight Conference showdown between Barlett, ranked 23rd in the Chicagoland Soccer Top 25, and Glenbard East had a clear and unmistakable connection of Newton’s Third Law that every positive action is governed by an equally positive reaction.
Bartlett had an electric start with two goals in the first four minutes.
“It was two different sides of the spectrum in terms of our play,” Revak said. “We’re up 2-0 after five minutes, and you can’t dream up a better start against one of the best teams in our conference.”
Glenbard East never panicked.
“We did a great job of not giving up,” Rams’ midfielder Maia Zatarski said. “Very easily that game could have gone a completely different way.”
The Hawks’ fast start was matched by the Rams’ cool and furious closing rally as Glenbard East scored twice in the final five minutes to earn the stunning and hard-fought 3-3 tie Monday afternoon.
Junior midfielder Natalie Borcean smashed home a volley off a corner from Sarah Conroy in the 80th minute to complete the stunning comeback.
“At the end they brought it right back to us,” Revak said.
“Credit to them. It was good to see our girls push through to the end, but we were just missing that little effort, a little extra energy to get us over the top.”
The game was played in smoldering, near 90-degree temperatures with light winds.
The Hawks (9-2-1, 7-0-1) came into the game riding a five-game win streak. The two offensive cornerstones, junior midfielder Tessa Evans and senior forward Serena Salvato, make the attack sing.
“We are a really good team for coming out strong and building momentum,” Evans said. “Against Geneva, we scored a goal in the first 20 seconds. So, we are really good with that.
“We wanted to come with that intensity.”
In the second minute, Evans controlled a ball in the middle and punched it toward the streaking Salvato.
She got the touch to put the ball past Rams’ keeper Zoe Romano for the early advantage.
“We work really well together, and we’re very good at finding those through-balls,” Salvato said. “That is a part of our game that has really developed throughout the season, and we know to look for those with our speed up-top.”
Serano’s speed opens up space in the middle for Evans to operate and maneuver. Their games mesh beautifully.
“We also play club together, and I know that she is super fast and will get to any through-ball,” Evans said. “It’s easy for me to know where to play the ball to Serena, because we have that chemistry.”
Bartlett rode that early enthusiasm to create another goal moments later. Working off the left edge of the field, defender Madison Neer hit Evans in perfect stride with the throw in.
Evans cut back against the grain and nailed a ball from about 19 yards inside the near post for the 2-0 lead.
Glenbard East coach Kent Overbey tried to keep a positive front.
“It’s always hard to go on the road,” he said. “We’ve been out of school since Friday, so our routine’s off. I think we looked lethargic. That’s a very good team with an excellent attacking style, and they put in two really quickly, before we even realized the game had started.”
Overbey ran in players in waves to offset the heat and show Bartlett different looks. Zatarski entered moments after the second goal and made an instant impression.
“All the starters today, I feel like they did a great job of reacting at the start,” she said. “Even though things didn’t go our way at the start, we did a great job of not getting down, especially Zoe (Romano), who didn’t give up.”
In the eighth minute, Glenbard East (6-3-2, 5-1-2) struck back.
A great hustle play on the right sideline kept the ball in play. With the ball suddenly switched to the left side, sophomore forward Jasmine Dhamers blasted a ball that Hawks’ keeper Caitlin Yurkovich deflected off the post.
The ricochet played out to Zatarski and drilled home the rebound that cut the Hawks’ advantage in half.
“I think all of our forwards did a great job of getting up-top, and I got lucky and was in the perfect spot,” Zatarski said.
“After Jasmine’s ball hit the post, luckily it came right to me.”
That score held up until early in the second half. Neer, a rangy and dynamic defender, gives the Hawks a great tactical advantage with the distance she is able to create on her throw-ins.
In the 47th minute, she generated a penalty kick opportunity by causing an illegal touch inside the box.
Sophomore Brooke Baumann converted the penalty kick for the 3-1 lead.
Led by Zatarski, Glenbard East refused to yield. With time running out, the Rams made their move.
In the 75th minute, Zatarski made a quick redirect off a through-ball that midfielder Sophia Heatley finished with her left foot for the Rams’ second goal.
Time and math still favored the Hawks. A suddenly rejuvenated Glenbard East time imagined a different outcome.
“Even from a coaching standpoint, working everybody in and having our best 11 in the whole time, with the heat, was very hard today,” Overbey said.
“You saw us go up and down. I thought in the middle of the field we did a great job of contesting it. Haley Tu is somebody who typically comes off the bench, and I thought she just stepped up and really did a great job today in the middle. Up-top we just kept plugging, and we finally got on the end of one.”
Glenbard East created a counter that produced a corner with just over a minute to play. Yurkovich came off her line and deflected the first corner kick by Conroy.
On the second attempt, Conroy found an opening that Borcean finished with 46 seconds remaining.
Maia Zatorski and Tessa Evans shared the Chicagoland Soccer MVP of the Match distinction for their outstanding play.
“We have to finish the last five,” Evans said.
“A lot of times we come out really strong in the first half and then we break down a little bit in the second half. We have to be able to finish games and make sure that we play two solid, 40-minute halves in order to put away.”
Glenbard East also learned some very valuable lessons.
“I don’t know how other schools have been doing it, but we have been decimated with close contact and safety protocols,” Overbey said. “Today was the first game, the second-to-last game of the season, when we had a full roster.
“That was not the start we wanted, but I thought the team played hard and fought and never gave up.”
Starting lineups
Glenbard East
GK: Zoe Romano
D: Hope McKenna
D: Maddie Kiefer
D: Brielle DeForest
D: Kendall Crackel
MF: Natalie Borcean
MF: Sophia Heatley
MF: Sophia Sommesi
MF: Sarah Liljestrand
F: Jasmine Dahmers
F: Sarah Conroy
Bartlett
GK: Caitlin Yurkovich
D: Madison Balgeman
D: Sabrina Fowler
D: Gracie Cwik
D: Madison Neer
MF: Laney Stark
MF: Tessa Evans
MF: Brooke Baumann
MF: Alexis DeRango
F: Lauren Kowalski
F: Serena Salvato
Chicagoland Soccer MVPs of the Match Maia Zatarski, jr., MF, Glenbard East;
Tessa Evans, jr., MF, Bartlett
Scoring summary
First half
Bartlett—Serena Salvato (Tessa Evans), second minute
Bartlett—Evans (Madison Neer), fourth minute
Glenbard East—Maia Zatarski (Jasmine Dhamers), eighth minute
Second half
Bartlett—Brooke Baumann (penalty kick), 47th minute
Glenbard East—Sophia Heatley (Zatarski), 75th minute
Glenbard East—Natalie Borcean (Sarah Conroy), 80th minute
nullifies fast start from Bartlett
Borcean goal with 46 seconds left leaves teams locked up
By Patrick Z. McGavin
BARTLETT — Protesting a possession call in the first half, Bartlett coach Vince Revak asked how the ball could have moved in the direction it had without deflecting off a Glenbard East defender.
“Physics,” said the center official.
The comment, lighthearted and breaking a tense and competitive mood, turned out to be the most prescient of the day.
The Upstate Eight Conference showdown between Barlett, ranked 23rd in the Chicagoland Soccer Top 25, and Glenbard East had a clear and unmistakable connection of Newton’s Third Law that every positive action is governed by an equally positive reaction.
Bartlett had an electric start with two goals in the first four minutes.
“It was two different sides of the spectrum in terms of our play,” Revak said. “We’re up 2-0 after five minutes, and you can’t dream up a better start against one of the best teams in our conference.”
Glenbard East never panicked.
“We did a great job of not giving up,” Rams’ midfielder Maia Zatarski said. “Very easily that game could have gone a completely different way.”
The Hawks’ fast start was matched by the Rams’ cool and furious closing rally as Glenbard East scored twice in the final five minutes to earn the stunning and hard-fought 3-3 tie Monday afternoon.
Junior midfielder Natalie Borcean smashed home a volley off a corner from Sarah Conroy in the 80th minute to complete the stunning comeback.
“At the end they brought it right back to us,” Revak said.
“Credit to them. It was good to see our girls push through to the end, but we were just missing that little effort, a little extra energy to get us over the top.”
The game was played in smoldering, near 90-degree temperatures with light winds.
The Hawks (9-2-1, 7-0-1) came into the game riding a five-game win streak. The two offensive cornerstones, junior midfielder Tessa Evans and senior forward Serena Salvato, make the attack sing.
“We are a really good team for coming out strong and building momentum,” Evans said. “Against Geneva, we scored a goal in the first 20 seconds. So, we are really good with that.
“We wanted to come with that intensity.”
In the second minute, Evans controlled a ball in the middle and punched it toward the streaking Salvato.
She got the touch to put the ball past Rams’ keeper Zoe Romano for the early advantage.
“We work really well together, and we’re very good at finding those through-balls,” Salvato said. “That is a part of our game that has really developed throughout the season, and we know to look for those with our speed up-top.”
Serano’s speed opens up space in the middle for Evans to operate and maneuver. Their games mesh beautifully.
“We also play club together, and I know that she is super fast and will get to any through-ball,” Evans said. “It’s easy for me to know where to play the ball to Serena, because we have that chemistry.”
Bartlett rode that early enthusiasm to create another goal moments later. Working off the left edge of the field, defender Madison Neer hit Evans in perfect stride with the throw in.
Evans cut back against the grain and nailed a ball from about 19 yards inside the near post for the 2-0 lead.
Glenbard East coach Kent Overbey tried to keep a positive front.
“It’s always hard to go on the road,” he said. “We’ve been out of school since Friday, so our routine’s off. I think we looked lethargic. That’s a very good team with an excellent attacking style, and they put in two really quickly, before we even realized the game had started.”
Overbey ran in players in waves to offset the heat and show Bartlett different looks. Zatarski entered moments after the second goal and made an instant impression.
“All the starters today, I feel like they did a great job of reacting at the start,” she said. “Even though things didn’t go our way at the start, we did a great job of not getting down, especially Zoe (Romano), who didn’t give up.”
In the eighth minute, Glenbard East (6-3-2, 5-1-2) struck back.
A great hustle play on the right sideline kept the ball in play. With the ball suddenly switched to the left side, sophomore forward Jasmine Dhamers blasted a ball that Hawks’ keeper Caitlin Yurkovich deflected off the post.
The ricochet played out to Zatarski and drilled home the rebound that cut the Hawks’ advantage in half.
“I think all of our forwards did a great job of getting up-top, and I got lucky and was in the perfect spot,” Zatarski said.
“After Jasmine’s ball hit the post, luckily it came right to me.”
That score held up until early in the second half. Neer, a rangy and dynamic defender, gives the Hawks a great tactical advantage with the distance she is able to create on her throw-ins.
In the 47th minute, she generated a penalty kick opportunity by causing an illegal touch inside the box.
Sophomore Brooke Baumann converted the penalty kick for the 3-1 lead.
Led by Zatarski, Glenbard East refused to yield. With time running out, the Rams made their move.
In the 75th minute, Zatarski made a quick redirect off a through-ball that midfielder Sophia Heatley finished with her left foot for the Rams’ second goal.
Time and math still favored the Hawks. A suddenly rejuvenated Glenbard East time imagined a different outcome.
“Even from a coaching standpoint, working everybody in and having our best 11 in the whole time, with the heat, was very hard today,” Overbey said.
“You saw us go up and down. I thought in the middle of the field we did a great job of contesting it. Haley Tu is somebody who typically comes off the bench, and I thought she just stepped up and really did a great job today in the middle. Up-top we just kept plugging, and we finally got on the end of one.”
Glenbard East created a counter that produced a corner with just over a minute to play. Yurkovich came off her line and deflected the first corner kick by Conroy.
On the second attempt, Conroy found an opening that Borcean finished with 46 seconds remaining.
Maia Zatorski and Tessa Evans shared the Chicagoland Soccer MVP of the Match distinction for their outstanding play.
“We have to finish the last five,” Evans said.
“A lot of times we come out really strong in the first half and then we break down a little bit in the second half. We have to be able to finish games and make sure that we play two solid, 40-minute halves in order to put away.”
Glenbard East also learned some very valuable lessons.
“I don’t know how other schools have been doing it, but we have been decimated with close contact and safety protocols,” Overbey said. “Today was the first game, the second-to-last game of the season, when we had a full roster.
“That was not the start we wanted, but I thought the team played hard and fought and never gave up.”
Starting lineups
Glenbard East
GK: Zoe Romano
D: Hope McKenna
D: Maddie Kiefer
D: Brielle DeForest
D: Kendall Crackel
MF: Natalie Borcean
MF: Sophia Heatley
MF: Sophia Sommesi
MF: Sarah Liljestrand
F: Jasmine Dahmers
F: Sarah Conroy
Bartlett
GK: Caitlin Yurkovich
D: Madison Balgeman
D: Sabrina Fowler
D: Gracie Cwik
D: Madison Neer
MF: Laney Stark
MF: Tessa Evans
MF: Brooke Baumann
MF: Alexis DeRango
F: Lauren Kowalski
F: Serena Salvato
Chicagoland Soccer MVPs of the Match Maia Zatarski, jr., MF, Glenbard East;
Tessa Evans, jr., MF, Bartlett
Scoring summary
First half
Bartlett—Serena Salvato (Tessa Evans), second minute
Bartlett—Evans (Madison Neer), fourth minute
Glenbard East—Maia Zatarski (Jasmine Dhamers), eighth minute
Second half
Bartlett—Brooke Baumann (penalty kick), 47th minute
Glenbard East—Sophia Heatley (Zatarski), 75th minute
Glenbard East—Natalie Borcean (Sarah Conroy), 80th minute