Unreserved Rochelle Zell
roars past Josephinum
Tigers produce goal-bonanza in 7-0 victory without key seniors
By A.J. Schmitz
Rochelle Zell could have fooled almost anyone into believing their Thursday night lineup consisted of a complete roster. After a resounding 7-0 Chicago Prep Conference victory over Josephinum (0-4-0, 0-2-0), it should have come as a shock to learn that none of the Tigers’ seniors were present on the field.
With one senior injured and four in Israel, the Zell (3-1-0, 1-1-0) was forced to make changes to its game-plan.
“It’s been a huge adjustment,” said junior midfielder Janie Levitan. “At first our team lost our mindset, the positive mindset we usually have, and a lot of our confidence. But we really put an effort into making a change and regaining that confidence back for this game.”
Freshman forward Becca Berkeley agreed.
“We had a lot of players that we really relied on earlier in the year. I think with a lot of them leaving, people have just stepped up and taken spots as leaders on the team.”
Berkeley and Levitan seem to be two of those players. The pair combined for all of Zell’s goals and sometimes even assisted one another. The duo struck early and often.
In only the fifth minute, Levitan won a 50/50 ball in the air and dished it to Berkeley, who beat two defenders before knocking a clean shot into the upper 90. The pair almost combined again in the seventh minute when Berkeley sent a dangerous cross to Levitan, but Josephinum goalkeeper An Nguyen was able to snuff it out.
The ninth minute saw Zell receive a free kick deep near the corner flag on Jospehinum’s end. At such an awkward angle, Berkeley stepped up to take it with her weak foot. With both teams expecting the set piece to be played as if it were a corner kick, Berkeley lined up for a shot and slotted it just under the crossbar to tally the second goal for her and her team.
“I was not thinking it was going to go in, but I thought it would be close,” she said. “I was pretty surprised with how that turned out, but I was pretty happy with it obviously.”
Josephinum looked like it would begin to answer a couple times. Their first chance came in the 11th minute when midfielder Dulse Tovar Mendez broke free off a through-ball and went in on net. However her freedom was swiftly dealt with by Zell’s junior midfielder Meira Lieberman, who recovered and cleared the ball away.
The Cougars second opportunity came in the 23rd minute when midfielder Marilyn Hernandez received the ball behind Zell’s back four. As she went toward goal, the whistle blew -offside.
Lieberman and her teammates in back, Naomi Sendlin, Haley Rudnick, and Aya Moller, constantly frustrated Josephinum’s offense and kept it without a shot on goal until the 50th minute. Just as the Cougars began to build momentum and string together passes that moved the ball upfield, Zell’s back four cleared the ball out of their third and open up the opportunity for a counter attack.
This is exactly what happened in the 15th minute when freshman midfielder Ahava Cohen found herself on the run down the sideline after a solid offensive build up from the backfield. Cohen crossed the ball into the box, finding Levitan who was able to locate inside the near post to give the Tigers their third goal.
Shortly after, Berkeley earned her hat-trick. In the 19th minute, she read the path of a low goal kick and snatched the ball before it could reach any Cougars. Unmarked in front of the net, she finished it inside the far post to conclude the scoring in the first half.
It’s easy for a team to become complacent with a large lead, but Zell’s head coach David Martinez said he had no worries his players would maintain their level of play in the second half.
“Every game no matter who we are playing, we want to play 80 minutes no matter who is in,” he said. “That’s what they’re trained to do, and that’s what they’re going to do.”
The Tigers affirm their coach’s words by scoring three goals in the first four minutes of the second half.
Early in the 41st minute Berkeley tested Nguyen who made a point-blank save, deflecting the ball out of bounds. On the resulting corner kick, Berkeley played the ball into a crowded box with neither team able to gain possession. As the loose ball made its way out of the crowd and rolled toward the top of the box, Levitan got to it and knocked it squarely into the back of the net.
Berkeley set up Levitan to score once again only one minute later for Levitan’s hat-trick. After working her way through Josephinum’s backline, Berkeley made a textbook cross into the box to find Levitan who took a touch and finished the job.
“This is not something we normally do,” Levitan said of Zell’s two hat-tricks. “But we are going to try and make it more normal.”
It looked like Levitan would score once again in the 44th minute, but her shot was denied by Nguyen. It was Berkeley this time on the rebound, putting the ball behind the keeper before she could recover from the initial save.
With a 7-0 margin early in the second half, the officials implemented the mercy rule and halved the remaining 36 minutes of the game. The final whistle blew at 62 minutes and cleared the field just in time for coaches, players, and fans to avoid the rain.
The conference win was warmly embraced as a morale booster by Martinez.
“We needed a win, and now we’re 1-1-0 in conference. We played a tough game against [league opponent] Cristo Rey this past week, so this was definitely a good game for us.”
Cristo Rey Jesuit (1-0-0, 1-0-0) defeated Rochelle Zell 5-1 on Tuesday and currently leads the Chicago Prep Conference. This early in the season, Rey’s top spot is still vulnerable to usurpation.
Zell looks ahead to May 3 when they take on Cristo Rey St. Martin (0-3-0, 0-1-0), a team they previously defeated 5-2 victory in the first game of the season.
Josephinum heads to Burbank April 30th to take on St. Laurence (5-2-0, 2-0-0) as they look to break into the win column.
Starting lineups
Josephinum
GK: An Nguyen
D: Samantha Zavaleta
D: Daniela Loyola
D: Milly Freire
D: Emily Gallardo
M: Sandra Zavaleta
M: Dulse Tovar Mendez
M: Michelle Segovia-Delgado
M: Belen Amaro
F: Lidia Tesfayohannes
F: Ciara Martinez
Rochelle Zell
GK: Talia Scholder
D: Naomi Sendlin
D: Aya Moller
D: Haley Rudnick
D: Meira Lieberman
M: Ahava Cohen
M: Abigail Singer
M: Annie Levitas
M: Janie Levitan
F: Zoey Weiss
F: Becca Berkeley
Chicagoland Soccer MVP of the Match: Becca Berkeley, fr., F, Rochelle Zell
Scoring Summary
First half
RZ: Berkeley (Levitan) 5th minute
RZ: Berkeley (UA) 9th minute
RZ: Levitan (Cohen) 15th minute
RZ: Berkeley (UA) 19th minute
Second half
RZ: Levitan (Berkeley) 41st minute
RZ: Levitan (Berkeley) 42nd minute
RZ: Berkeley (UA) 44th minute
roars past Josephinum
Tigers produce goal-bonanza in 7-0 victory without key seniors
By A.J. Schmitz
Rochelle Zell could have fooled almost anyone into believing their Thursday night lineup consisted of a complete roster. After a resounding 7-0 Chicago Prep Conference victory over Josephinum (0-4-0, 0-2-0), it should have come as a shock to learn that none of the Tigers’ seniors were present on the field.
With one senior injured and four in Israel, the Zell (3-1-0, 1-1-0) was forced to make changes to its game-plan.
“It’s been a huge adjustment,” said junior midfielder Janie Levitan. “At first our team lost our mindset, the positive mindset we usually have, and a lot of our confidence. But we really put an effort into making a change and regaining that confidence back for this game.”
Freshman forward Becca Berkeley agreed.
“We had a lot of players that we really relied on earlier in the year. I think with a lot of them leaving, people have just stepped up and taken spots as leaders on the team.”
Berkeley and Levitan seem to be two of those players. The pair combined for all of Zell’s goals and sometimes even assisted one another. The duo struck early and often.
In only the fifth minute, Levitan won a 50/50 ball in the air and dished it to Berkeley, who beat two defenders before knocking a clean shot into the upper 90. The pair almost combined again in the seventh minute when Berkeley sent a dangerous cross to Levitan, but Josephinum goalkeeper An Nguyen was able to snuff it out.
The ninth minute saw Zell receive a free kick deep near the corner flag on Jospehinum’s end. At such an awkward angle, Berkeley stepped up to take it with her weak foot. With both teams expecting the set piece to be played as if it were a corner kick, Berkeley lined up for a shot and slotted it just under the crossbar to tally the second goal for her and her team.
“I was not thinking it was going to go in, but I thought it would be close,” she said. “I was pretty surprised with how that turned out, but I was pretty happy with it obviously.”
Josephinum looked like it would begin to answer a couple times. Their first chance came in the 11th minute when midfielder Dulse Tovar Mendez broke free off a through-ball and went in on net. However her freedom was swiftly dealt with by Zell’s junior midfielder Meira Lieberman, who recovered and cleared the ball away.
The Cougars second opportunity came in the 23rd minute when midfielder Marilyn Hernandez received the ball behind Zell’s back four. As she went toward goal, the whistle blew -offside.
Lieberman and her teammates in back, Naomi Sendlin, Haley Rudnick, and Aya Moller, constantly frustrated Josephinum’s offense and kept it without a shot on goal until the 50th minute. Just as the Cougars began to build momentum and string together passes that moved the ball upfield, Zell’s back four cleared the ball out of their third and open up the opportunity for a counter attack.
This is exactly what happened in the 15th minute when freshman midfielder Ahava Cohen found herself on the run down the sideline after a solid offensive build up from the backfield. Cohen crossed the ball into the box, finding Levitan who was able to locate inside the near post to give the Tigers their third goal.
Shortly after, Berkeley earned her hat-trick. In the 19th minute, she read the path of a low goal kick and snatched the ball before it could reach any Cougars. Unmarked in front of the net, she finished it inside the far post to conclude the scoring in the first half.
It’s easy for a team to become complacent with a large lead, but Zell’s head coach David Martinez said he had no worries his players would maintain their level of play in the second half.
“Every game no matter who we are playing, we want to play 80 minutes no matter who is in,” he said. “That’s what they’re trained to do, and that’s what they’re going to do.”
The Tigers affirm their coach’s words by scoring three goals in the first four minutes of the second half.
Early in the 41st minute Berkeley tested Nguyen who made a point-blank save, deflecting the ball out of bounds. On the resulting corner kick, Berkeley played the ball into a crowded box with neither team able to gain possession. As the loose ball made its way out of the crowd and rolled toward the top of the box, Levitan got to it and knocked it squarely into the back of the net.
Berkeley set up Levitan to score once again only one minute later for Levitan’s hat-trick. After working her way through Josephinum’s backline, Berkeley made a textbook cross into the box to find Levitan who took a touch and finished the job.
“This is not something we normally do,” Levitan said of Zell’s two hat-tricks. “But we are going to try and make it more normal.”
It looked like Levitan would score once again in the 44th minute, but her shot was denied by Nguyen. It was Berkeley this time on the rebound, putting the ball behind the keeper before she could recover from the initial save.
With a 7-0 margin early in the second half, the officials implemented the mercy rule and halved the remaining 36 minutes of the game. The final whistle blew at 62 minutes and cleared the field just in time for coaches, players, and fans to avoid the rain.
The conference win was warmly embraced as a morale booster by Martinez.
“We needed a win, and now we’re 1-1-0 in conference. We played a tough game against [league opponent] Cristo Rey this past week, so this was definitely a good game for us.”
Cristo Rey Jesuit (1-0-0, 1-0-0) defeated Rochelle Zell 5-1 on Tuesday and currently leads the Chicago Prep Conference. This early in the season, Rey’s top spot is still vulnerable to usurpation.
Zell looks ahead to May 3 when they take on Cristo Rey St. Martin (0-3-0, 0-1-0), a team they previously defeated 5-2 victory in the first game of the season.
Josephinum heads to Burbank April 30th to take on St. Laurence (5-2-0, 2-0-0) as they look to break into the win column.
Starting lineups
Josephinum
GK: An Nguyen
D: Samantha Zavaleta
D: Daniela Loyola
D: Milly Freire
D: Emily Gallardo
M: Sandra Zavaleta
M: Dulse Tovar Mendez
M: Michelle Segovia-Delgado
M: Belen Amaro
F: Lidia Tesfayohannes
F: Ciara Martinez
Rochelle Zell
GK: Talia Scholder
D: Naomi Sendlin
D: Aya Moller
D: Haley Rudnick
D: Meira Lieberman
M: Ahava Cohen
M: Abigail Singer
M: Annie Levitas
M: Janie Levitan
F: Zoey Weiss
F: Becca Berkeley
Chicagoland Soccer MVP of the Match: Becca Berkeley, fr., F, Rochelle Zell
Scoring Summary
First half
RZ: Berkeley (Levitan) 5th minute
RZ: Berkeley (UA) 9th minute
RZ: Levitan (Cohen) 15th minute
RZ: Berkeley (UA) 19th minute
Second half
RZ: Levitan (Berkeley) 41st minute
RZ: Levitan (Berkeley) 42nd minute
RZ: Berkeley (UA) 44th minute