Early goals leave
Loyola, New Trier fit to be tied
Ramblers 1st team to score on New Trier in 1-1 draw
By Michael Wojtychiw
NORTHFIELD - What do you get when you match up two teams with campuses located a mere 0.7 miles away from each other and feature multiple players who have played on the same club teams for years?
You get a tough, physical matchup that had double-digit fouls en route to a hard-earned 1-1 result between New Trier and Loyola, that's what.
The Ramblers (2-1-1) did something that no other team had done in 2021 to the Trevians, who are the top-ranked team in the Chicagoland Soccer Top 25. They put a ball into the back of the New Trier net. And they did so quickly.
In the game's second minute, Maya Basan lined up for a free kick from just across midfield. She lofted a ball far enough for junior forward Kendall Beil to chase down and put past Trevian keeper Wynne Hague, just one minute, 36 seconds into the match.
"In our huddle before the game, we knew we wanted to come out quick and that's been a theme of the season," Beil said. "We're trying to get some sort of momentum in the first 5-10 minutes.
"We were lucky where we could put a ball in, and I was able to stick it in the corner. That was a huge confidence booster."
After not giving up a goal through its first four games, it would have been simple for the top-ranked Trevians to get down and hang their heads.
"It really shows what this team has in terms of heart," New Trier manager Jim Burnside said. "We roared back, but if you put yourself in a hole like that, you have to be able to climb out of it.
"I was proud of our response and think we're in a good spot. We just need to find our goal-scoring legs."
But Burnside's squad didn’t get mad. It got even, quickly.
Two minutes and fifty seconds after Loyola's goal, senior defender/midfielder Caroline Finnigan found the back of the net off on a header, equalizing the score at 1.
"Naya (Rhee) originally tried to serve it into the box, but it hit one of their defenders," Finnigan said of her first goal of the year. "She was able to get it back and put it perfectly in the air for me to just head it into the goal.
"That goal changed the whole game. We needed that goal to get our spirits up and be like 'Let's go, we're in this, we can win this.'"
After the Loyola opener, the Trevians (3-0-2) dominated play for about 20 minutes, not allowing the 13th-ranked Ramblers to establish much of an attack and continually had the ball in their offensive zone.
That time frame saw the Trevians earn four corner kicks, as well as a pair of free kicks. The hosts weren't able to convert on those chances as the Loyola defense stood tall.
"Letting a goal in, especially that early, definitely lit a fire for us," New Trier defender Jenna Birdsell said. "We started to stick them closer and make sure they couldn't get any momentum going in offensively."
The Trevians neutralized a key cog in the Loyola offense.
"I feel like they took one of our playmakers, Grace Ehlert, out of the game a little bit and were sticking really tight to her," Loyola manager Shannon Hartinger said. "It was hard for us to find her so she could do what she does best, which is play-make.
“I also think we didn't take care of the ball in transition. We worked so hard defensively, but then gave the ball right back to them with a bad pass or mishit a ball out of bounds.
"A lot of it was also on us. We just didn't handle their pressure well at times."
New Trier got the game's next best chance with 29 minutes remaining when Rhee lofted a shot from the left of the goal that hit the crossbar, bounced five yards out into the box and was cleared by the Loyola defense.
New Trier is known for is its set pieces and usually the success off of said set pieces. While the Trevians didn't have any luck converting any against a stifling Loyola defense, it's not something that discouraged the Trevians or any of their players in any way.
"The corners are a big part of our play, because it's so dangerous, especially since it's a set piece," Birdsell said. "Getting it into the box is really important, but we have to work on settling it in the box and getting it into the back of the net, which is something we'll work on in the upcoming weeks."
Burnside, like his players, knows that the timing will come.
"The girls realize now that you cherish every opportunity and you have to make it count," he said. "You have to make them stop you.
"The timing isn't there yet, but we're young. We're still trying to work together and play for each other, but once we get there, we'll be in good shape."
The Ramblers concluded a solid week with Saturday's result. After dropping a 3-2 heartbreaker to now 12th-ranked Evanston on April 17, Loyola shut out no. 22 Lane 3-0 before tying the area's top team.
"We've had to battle back mentally from a lot," Beil said. "Going forward, having that setback, it'll make us more mentally strong and more driven going forward into conference play and other nonconference games."
"The most important thing for us was to stay strong defensively," Hartinger said. "We knew coming in New Trier was really good on set pieces, so we worked a lot on defending set pieces.
“I'm proud of the intensity we defended against those today. I think just overall, the intensity we played for all 80 minutes was really high and really great to see from our girls."
There's no rest for either team. New Trier has four games next week, starting conference play by traveling to Maine South on Tuesday before hosting no. 16 Glenbrook North, Lane and no. 4 Libertyville in consecutive days, starting Thursday.
The Ramblers get a tough start to conference play with a home game against St. Ignatius on Tuesday, before participating in the Glenbrook South Quad this weekend. Loyola opens against no. 3 Warren on Friday, before facing the host squad and no. 6 Buffalo Grove on Saturday.
Starting lineups
Loyola
GK: Ellie Bradley
D: Molly Sipe
D: Emily Pitkowski
D: Maya Basan
MF: Grace Ehlert
MF: Isabella Guzman
MF: Eva Pattison
F: Evey Mendoza
F: Kathryn Dibnik
F: Kaitlyn Kurtz
F: Kendall Beil
New Trier
GK: Wynne Hague
D: Jenna Birdsell
D: Anna Marshall
D: Naya Rhee
D: Kate Dobsch
MF: Caroline Finnigan
MF: Ava Shah
MF: Mia Sedgwick
MF: Morgan Fagan
F: Alex Wirth
F: Kendall Sierens
Chicagoland Soccer MVP of the Match: Caroline Finnigan, sr. D/MF, New Trier
Scoring summary
First half
Loyola - Kendall Beil (Maya Basan), second minute
New Trier - Caroline Finnigan (Naya Rhee), fifth minute
Second half
No scoring
Loyola, New Trier fit to be tied
Ramblers 1st team to score on New Trier in 1-1 draw
By Michael Wojtychiw
NORTHFIELD - What do you get when you match up two teams with campuses located a mere 0.7 miles away from each other and feature multiple players who have played on the same club teams for years?
You get a tough, physical matchup that had double-digit fouls en route to a hard-earned 1-1 result between New Trier and Loyola, that's what.
The Ramblers (2-1-1) did something that no other team had done in 2021 to the Trevians, who are the top-ranked team in the Chicagoland Soccer Top 25. They put a ball into the back of the New Trier net. And they did so quickly.
In the game's second minute, Maya Basan lined up for a free kick from just across midfield. She lofted a ball far enough for junior forward Kendall Beil to chase down and put past Trevian keeper Wynne Hague, just one minute, 36 seconds into the match.
"In our huddle before the game, we knew we wanted to come out quick and that's been a theme of the season," Beil said. "We're trying to get some sort of momentum in the first 5-10 minutes.
"We were lucky where we could put a ball in, and I was able to stick it in the corner. That was a huge confidence booster."
After not giving up a goal through its first four games, it would have been simple for the top-ranked Trevians to get down and hang their heads.
"It really shows what this team has in terms of heart," New Trier manager Jim Burnside said. "We roared back, but if you put yourself in a hole like that, you have to be able to climb out of it.
"I was proud of our response and think we're in a good spot. We just need to find our goal-scoring legs."
But Burnside's squad didn’t get mad. It got even, quickly.
Two minutes and fifty seconds after Loyola's goal, senior defender/midfielder Caroline Finnigan found the back of the net off on a header, equalizing the score at 1.
"Naya (Rhee) originally tried to serve it into the box, but it hit one of their defenders," Finnigan said of her first goal of the year. "She was able to get it back and put it perfectly in the air for me to just head it into the goal.
"That goal changed the whole game. We needed that goal to get our spirits up and be like 'Let's go, we're in this, we can win this.'"
After the Loyola opener, the Trevians (3-0-2) dominated play for about 20 minutes, not allowing the 13th-ranked Ramblers to establish much of an attack and continually had the ball in their offensive zone.
That time frame saw the Trevians earn four corner kicks, as well as a pair of free kicks. The hosts weren't able to convert on those chances as the Loyola defense stood tall.
"Letting a goal in, especially that early, definitely lit a fire for us," New Trier defender Jenna Birdsell said. "We started to stick them closer and make sure they couldn't get any momentum going in offensively."
The Trevians neutralized a key cog in the Loyola offense.
"I feel like they took one of our playmakers, Grace Ehlert, out of the game a little bit and were sticking really tight to her," Loyola manager Shannon Hartinger said. "It was hard for us to find her so she could do what she does best, which is play-make.
“I also think we didn't take care of the ball in transition. We worked so hard defensively, but then gave the ball right back to them with a bad pass or mishit a ball out of bounds.
"A lot of it was also on us. We just didn't handle their pressure well at times."
New Trier got the game's next best chance with 29 minutes remaining when Rhee lofted a shot from the left of the goal that hit the crossbar, bounced five yards out into the box and was cleared by the Loyola defense.
New Trier is known for is its set pieces and usually the success off of said set pieces. While the Trevians didn't have any luck converting any against a stifling Loyola defense, it's not something that discouraged the Trevians or any of their players in any way.
"The corners are a big part of our play, because it's so dangerous, especially since it's a set piece," Birdsell said. "Getting it into the box is really important, but we have to work on settling it in the box and getting it into the back of the net, which is something we'll work on in the upcoming weeks."
Burnside, like his players, knows that the timing will come.
"The girls realize now that you cherish every opportunity and you have to make it count," he said. "You have to make them stop you.
"The timing isn't there yet, but we're young. We're still trying to work together and play for each other, but once we get there, we'll be in good shape."
The Ramblers concluded a solid week with Saturday's result. After dropping a 3-2 heartbreaker to now 12th-ranked Evanston on April 17, Loyola shut out no. 22 Lane 3-0 before tying the area's top team.
"We've had to battle back mentally from a lot," Beil said. "Going forward, having that setback, it'll make us more mentally strong and more driven going forward into conference play and other nonconference games."
"The most important thing for us was to stay strong defensively," Hartinger said. "We knew coming in New Trier was really good on set pieces, so we worked a lot on defending set pieces.
“I'm proud of the intensity we defended against those today. I think just overall, the intensity we played for all 80 minutes was really high and really great to see from our girls."
There's no rest for either team. New Trier has four games next week, starting conference play by traveling to Maine South on Tuesday before hosting no. 16 Glenbrook North, Lane and no. 4 Libertyville in consecutive days, starting Thursday.
The Ramblers get a tough start to conference play with a home game against St. Ignatius on Tuesday, before participating in the Glenbrook South Quad this weekend. Loyola opens against no. 3 Warren on Friday, before facing the host squad and no. 6 Buffalo Grove on Saturday.
Starting lineups
Loyola
GK: Ellie Bradley
D: Molly Sipe
D: Emily Pitkowski
D: Maya Basan
MF: Grace Ehlert
MF: Isabella Guzman
MF: Eva Pattison
F: Evey Mendoza
F: Kathryn Dibnik
F: Kaitlyn Kurtz
F: Kendall Beil
New Trier
GK: Wynne Hague
D: Jenna Birdsell
D: Anna Marshall
D: Naya Rhee
D: Kate Dobsch
MF: Caroline Finnigan
MF: Ava Shah
MF: Mia Sedgwick
MF: Morgan Fagan
F: Alex Wirth
F: Kendall Sierens
Chicagoland Soccer MVP of the Match: Caroline Finnigan, sr. D/MF, New Trier
Scoring summary
First half
Loyola - Kendall Beil (Maya Basan), second minute
New Trier - Caroline Finnigan (Naya Rhee), fifth minute
Second half
No scoring