Metea V. fetes seniors in Lake Park win
Mustangs offense unloads in 2nd half, scores 7-1 DVC decision
By Matt Le Cren
AURORA – Charlotte Ives played only club soccer her first two years of high school.
The Metea Valley junior elected to try the high school game this year and is glad she did.
So are the Mustangs.
Ives scored a goal in her high school debut in a 3-1 win over Glenbard West on March 15 and has been an impact player throughout the season for the Mustangs.
That was never more evident than Tuesday night, when Ives recorded the first two-goal game of her prep career in leading host Metea to a 7-1 DuPage Valley Conference victory over Lake Park.
The win kept the Mustangs (10-4-0, 3-1-0) in the thick of the DuPage Valley Conference title hunt.
“(Playing high school soccer) is a really awesome opportunity,” Ives said. “I’m talking to people who have gone to the same school with me for three years, and this is the first time I’m actually getting to know them.
“And I get to play people that I know on different high school teams, so it’s an awesome experience.”
Ives helped the Mustangs recover from a slow start on Senior Night. Sydney Rohm scored in the eighth minute to give the heavily favored hosts the early lead, but the Lancers (3-11-0, 0-5-0) played extremely well in keeping the score 1-0 at halftime.
Metea Valley, ranked 12th in the Chicagoland Soccer Top 25, finally started to shine in the second half as Ives scored her brace seven minutes apart. The first came off a pass from Rohm with 26:01 remaining and the second finished a feed from Sophia Senese at the 19:51 mark.
“I asked her what she had for lunch today, because she looked really good,” Metea Valley coach Chris Whaley said. “She had a lot of energy about herself, and she was aggressive going to goal and looking to finish.”
In that, Ives was following the lead of the seniors, particularly Illinois recruit Maeve Riordan, who extended the lead to 4-0 with a 30-yard rocket into the upper 90 four minutes after Ives collected her goals.
“Honestly, I just kind of wait for my team to pass me the ball,” Ives said. “Everyone was so enthusiastic just because it was senior night and everybody was just so eager to do it for the team. It gave us that extra push to play our best.”
The play of Ives has given the Mustangs another scoring threat to back up the speedy Riordan and that makes them better. Ives now has five goals and three assists but said it’s a two-way street.
“My team makes me better so having the opportunity to play with such talented girls makes me play better,” Ives said. “It feels good to be effective. It feels good to be impactful.”
But it took awhile for the Mustangs to make an impact. They got only seven shots off against the Lancers in the first half.
“It was a really strong performance from us to start, just defensively strong,” said Lake Park coach Sean Crosby, whose team had won three of its past four matches after an 0-9-0 start in which the Lancers did not score a goal. “I think we had a belief that we’re coming off a little hot streak.
“We were feeling some fire early on today and had a little bit of belief that we can play well. We’ve got some strength on this team.
“It’s tougher to go up against some of the big dogs, but the girls have a lot of positive feel in them.”
That’s due in part to the leadership of senior midfielder Stephanie Zachemski, who as captain is charged with the difficult task of rallying the troops in the face of many difficult assignments, especially in thier conference.
“I play soccer for my teammates,” Zachemski said. “I do everything out here for them, so seeing them beat down really hurts me.
“After a goal you can see it in other players. You just have to keep reminding them.
“I was once told you have to yell positivity twice as loud as you yell helpful criticism. I play for the other people on the team. You represent a lot when you play for the school and the people that you’re out here with.”
Zachemski represented her team’s tenacity in the face of Metea’s superior depth and talent. She halted Metea’s momentum, if only momentarily, when she converted a penalty kick with 8:13 remaining. It was her second goal of the season, both of which have come from the spot.
“She’s tremendous for us as a holding midfielder,” Crosby said. “She’s really played well helping us maintain possession.
“She’s a tenacious defender. She’s the one that wants to step up every time we get a PK.”
Lake Park’s strong initial play impressed but didn’t surprise Whaley.
“(Crosby) has got them organized and working hard and playing good soccer at times,” Whaley said. “He’s done a great job with them, so I prepared our girls.
“I said, ‘Just so you know, you’re going to get a good game tonight. You have to bring you’re A game.’
“We didn’t get our normal warmup in with senior night festivities, and I was a little concerned with how they would come out after that. But (the Mustangs) did a pretty good job.”
The Mustangs finished the job in dominating fashion in the second half. They answered Zachemski’s strike with three of their own as Delaney Putnam, Alexa
Parham and Lydia LaBarbera all found the back of the net within a 3:19 span.
Metea outshot Lake Park 15-2 after intermission and not even the strong play of goalkeeper Sarah Yochem, who made six of her seven saves after the break, could stop the deluge.
“I think the speed of (Riordan) was breaking us down a lot,” Crosby said. “I mean, what a player.
“She’s got a ton of speed, she can hit the ball across the box on tough angles. If she gets any time or space she’s hitting it and putting it on frame, so she gave us a lot of trouble. That separated our positioning a little too much.
“They play well. They’re an very unselfish team. They play a lot of one-touch soccer, and they move off the ball tremendously well. They opened us up a lot more in the second half, and it was hard for us to keep up with them.”
Riordan’s goal, her sixth of the season, was an example of that teamwork.
“That was a really nice buildup,” she said. “It all started with Lauryn, and then I got it back and got it to Charlotte. I made the run behind Charlotte to take (the shot) from kind of far away.
“I think that something we’ve been struggling with is our mentality, and I think that we really upped our mentality and wanted it more in the second half as compared to the first half.
“We’re definitely working to try to not become a second half team, because that’s not a habit we want to build. We want to have that mentality the whole game, and it just took us until the second half to really bring it.”
The Lancers’ felt the change.
“I think (the Mustangs) got really hungry, especially since it is senior night,” Zachemski said. “They really wanted that win, and we were fighting really hard in the first half trying to get one back.
“We just came out a little bit slower in the second half. We still did get chances, but the second half was a complete switch. We were sticking with them a lot in the first half, and they had some really nice shots in the second half.”
Starting lineups
Lake Park
GK Sarah Yochem
D Cyndi Martinez
D Elizabeth Guenther
D Sarah Novak
D Emma Thorne
D Amber Sedwick
M Stephanie Zachemski
M Laruen Tarchala
M Ann Marie Ahrens
M Jaclyn Lamz
F Brianna McAloon
Metea Valley
GK Myah Schoolman
D Nicole Dawson
D Paige Buranosky
D Sarah Davies
D Katy Flanders
M Sydney Rohm
M Sophia Senese
M Lauryn Wesolowski
M Chesney Wargo
M Charlotte Ives
F Kayla Hurst
Chicagoland Soccer MVP of the Match – Charlotte Ives, jr., M, Metea Valley
Scoring summary
1st Half
Metea Valley – Sydney Rohm (Kayla Hurst) 32:00
2nd Half
Metea Valley – Charlotte Ives (Rohm) 26:01
Metea Valley – Ives (Sophia Senese) 19:51
Metea Valley – Maeve Riordan (Lauryn Wesolowski) 16:08
Lake Park – Stephanie Zachemski (PK) 8:13
Metea Valley – Delaney Putnam (Lydia LaBarbera) 6:20
Metea Valley – Alexa Parham (Hallie Lange) 4:49
Metea Valley - Lydia LaBarbera (Chesney Wargo) 3:01
Mustangs offense unloads in 2nd half, scores 7-1 DVC decision
By Matt Le Cren
AURORA – Charlotte Ives played only club soccer her first two years of high school.
The Metea Valley junior elected to try the high school game this year and is glad she did.
So are the Mustangs.
Ives scored a goal in her high school debut in a 3-1 win over Glenbard West on March 15 and has been an impact player throughout the season for the Mustangs.
That was never more evident than Tuesday night, when Ives recorded the first two-goal game of her prep career in leading host Metea to a 7-1 DuPage Valley Conference victory over Lake Park.
The win kept the Mustangs (10-4-0, 3-1-0) in the thick of the DuPage Valley Conference title hunt.
“(Playing high school soccer) is a really awesome opportunity,” Ives said. “I’m talking to people who have gone to the same school with me for three years, and this is the first time I’m actually getting to know them.
“And I get to play people that I know on different high school teams, so it’s an awesome experience.”
Ives helped the Mustangs recover from a slow start on Senior Night. Sydney Rohm scored in the eighth minute to give the heavily favored hosts the early lead, but the Lancers (3-11-0, 0-5-0) played extremely well in keeping the score 1-0 at halftime.
Metea Valley, ranked 12th in the Chicagoland Soccer Top 25, finally started to shine in the second half as Ives scored her brace seven minutes apart. The first came off a pass from Rohm with 26:01 remaining and the second finished a feed from Sophia Senese at the 19:51 mark.
“I asked her what she had for lunch today, because she looked really good,” Metea Valley coach Chris Whaley said. “She had a lot of energy about herself, and she was aggressive going to goal and looking to finish.”
In that, Ives was following the lead of the seniors, particularly Illinois recruit Maeve Riordan, who extended the lead to 4-0 with a 30-yard rocket into the upper 90 four minutes after Ives collected her goals.
“Honestly, I just kind of wait for my team to pass me the ball,” Ives said. “Everyone was so enthusiastic just because it was senior night and everybody was just so eager to do it for the team. It gave us that extra push to play our best.”
The play of Ives has given the Mustangs another scoring threat to back up the speedy Riordan and that makes them better. Ives now has five goals and three assists but said it’s a two-way street.
“My team makes me better so having the opportunity to play with such talented girls makes me play better,” Ives said. “It feels good to be effective. It feels good to be impactful.”
But it took awhile for the Mustangs to make an impact. They got only seven shots off against the Lancers in the first half.
“It was a really strong performance from us to start, just defensively strong,” said Lake Park coach Sean Crosby, whose team had won three of its past four matches after an 0-9-0 start in which the Lancers did not score a goal. “I think we had a belief that we’re coming off a little hot streak.
“We were feeling some fire early on today and had a little bit of belief that we can play well. We’ve got some strength on this team.
“It’s tougher to go up against some of the big dogs, but the girls have a lot of positive feel in them.”
That’s due in part to the leadership of senior midfielder Stephanie Zachemski, who as captain is charged with the difficult task of rallying the troops in the face of many difficult assignments, especially in thier conference.
“I play soccer for my teammates,” Zachemski said. “I do everything out here for them, so seeing them beat down really hurts me.
“After a goal you can see it in other players. You just have to keep reminding them.
“I was once told you have to yell positivity twice as loud as you yell helpful criticism. I play for the other people on the team. You represent a lot when you play for the school and the people that you’re out here with.”
Zachemski represented her team’s tenacity in the face of Metea’s superior depth and talent. She halted Metea’s momentum, if only momentarily, when she converted a penalty kick with 8:13 remaining. It was her second goal of the season, both of which have come from the spot.
“She’s tremendous for us as a holding midfielder,” Crosby said. “She’s really played well helping us maintain possession.
“She’s a tenacious defender. She’s the one that wants to step up every time we get a PK.”
Lake Park’s strong initial play impressed but didn’t surprise Whaley.
“(Crosby) has got them organized and working hard and playing good soccer at times,” Whaley said. “He’s done a great job with them, so I prepared our girls.
“I said, ‘Just so you know, you’re going to get a good game tonight. You have to bring you’re A game.’
“We didn’t get our normal warmup in with senior night festivities, and I was a little concerned with how they would come out after that. But (the Mustangs) did a pretty good job.”
The Mustangs finished the job in dominating fashion in the second half. They answered Zachemski’s strike with three of their own as Delaney Putnam, Alexa
Parham and Lydia LaBarbera all found the back of the net within a 3:19 span.
Metea outshot Lake Park 15-2 after intermission and not even the strong play of goalkeeper Sarah Yochem, who made six of her seven saves after the break, could stop the deluge.
“I think the speed of (Riordan) was breaking us down a lot,” Crosby said. “I mean, what a player.
“She’s got a ton of speed, she can hit the ball across the box on tough angles. If she gets any time or space she’s hitting it and putting it on frame, so she gave us a lot of trouble. That separated our positioning a little too much.
“They play well. They’re an very unselfish team. They play a lot of one-touch soccer, and they move off the ball tremendously well. They opened us up a lot more in the second half, and it was hard for us to keep up with them.”
Riordan’s goal, her sixth of the season, was an example of that teamwork.
“That was a really nice buildup,” she said. “It all started with Lauryn, and then I got it back and got it to Charlotte. I made the run behind Charlotte to take (the shot) from kind of far away.
“I think that something we’ve been struggling with is our mentality, and I think that we really upped our mentality and wanted it more in the second half as compared to the first half.
“We’re definitely working to try to not become a second half team, because that’s not a habit we want to build. We want to have that mentality the whole game, and it just took us until the second half to really bring it.”
The Lancers’ felt the change.
“I think (the Mustangs) got really hungry, especially since it is senior night,” Zachemski said. “They really wanted that win, and we were fighting really hard in the first half trying to get one back.
“We just came out a little bit slower in the second half. We still did get chances, but the second half was a complete switch. We were sticking with them a lot in the first half, and they had some really nice shots in the second half.”
Starting lineups
Lake Park
GK Sarah Yochem
D Cyndi Martinez
D Elizabeth Guenther
D Sarah Novak
D Emma Thorne
D Amber Sedwick
M Stephanie Zachemski
M Laruen Tarchala
M Ann Marie Ahrens
M Jaclyn Lamz
F Brianna McAloon
Metea Valley
GK Myah Schoolman
D Nicole Dawson
D Paige Buranosky
D Sarah Davies
D Katy Flanders
M Sydney Rohm
M Sophia Senese
M Lauryn Wesolowski
M Chesney Wargo
M Charlotte Ives
F Kayla Hurst
Chicagoland Soccer MVP of the Match – Charlotte Ives, jr., M, Metea Valley
Scoring summary
1st Half
Metea Valley – Sydney Rohm (Kayla Hurst) 32:00
2nd Half
Metea Valley – Charlotte Ives (Rohm) 26:01
Metea Valley – Ives (Sophia Senese) 19:51
Metea Valley – Maeve Riordan (Lauryn Wesolowski) 16:08
Lake Park – Stephanie Zachemski (PK) 8:13
Metea Valley – Delaney Putnam (Lydia LaBarbera) 6:20
Metea Valley – Alexa Parham (Hallie Lange) 4:49
Metea Valley - Lydia LaBarbera (Chesney Wargo) 3:01