New setup sparks Carmel over Marist
Altered design delivers in Corsairs' 5-0 ESCC win over RedHawks
By Gary Larsen
MUNDELEIN -- A nine-day layoff and a formation change may have been just the antidote for what was ailing Carmel.
After scoring one goal in a three-loss span at the recent Lou Malnati's Deep Dish Classic, the Corsairs spent nine days healing various injuries and revamping their offense towards adding scoring punch.
The results? A healthy Carmel topped visiting Marist 5-0 in an East Suburban Catholic Conference tilt Saturday and won 5-1 over Warren on Friday
“We created chances in the flow of play, and I really liked how our outside backs were getting aggressive in the attack,” Carmel coach Ray Krawzak said. “I liked how our midfield controlled the play, and we found a lot of ways to score.”
Carmel (5-3-0, 1-0-0) got two goals each from Zenaya Barnes and Riley Harmon (along with an assist) as the Corsairs put the game out of reach. Lucy Tarcha added a fifth goal set up by a Ciara Thomas corner kick that hit the turf on the left side, where Tarcha buried it from 12 yards.
The setup for Barnes’ second goal began with a set piece kick taken by Lily Sykes, one of the outside defenders being asked to get more aggressively involved in the attack.
Starting outside backs Sykes and Liz Galla, along with Molly Machala, are acclimating nicely to their new attacking responsibilities.
“I’ve always played an attacking style of play,” Sykes said. “We had some trouble in the attack and (the new formation) is more work for the outside backs, but we can handle it.
“The more games we play, the more used to it everyone will be. Hopefully we’ll find ourselves in different situations and keep learning, but it’s coming along. It’s a process.”
A key component in that process is midfield stopper Emma Heinrich, who has to stay home defensively to a greater degree.
“I’m not really getting involved in the attack a lot because the defensive mid really has to play right in front of the backline with our outside backs getting up so much, but I think it’s a good strategy for us,” Heinrich said. “It’s been my position this season. I’ve been more of an attacking player in past years for Carmel, but I think it’s a good spot for me.
“I thought we were able to connect it more in the middle than we usually do, and we scored five goals, which is nice. Our mentality was good throughout, and we had no slip-ups.”
Marist (6-7-2, 1-2-0) went into Saturday’s game on a four-game win streak and on the heels of a 2-1 win over Nazareth, a fellow Class AA program that annually loads it regular season schedule with 3A teams.
Against the Roadrunners the RedHawks got goals from Cecelia Light and Ally Corcoran in the win.
“(Corcoran) played excellent that game. Her high pressure and runs off the ball were on point.” Marist coach Chris Roe said. “Michelle Lenz, our senior center back, has been excellent all year, and (Light) has been playing well.
“We played really well in that game. We were giving (Nazareth) a lot of respect coming in and, actually I think we outplayed them for about two-thirds of the game. That was nice to see. We were very happy. We deserved to win.”
Marist has also posted wins over Lincoln-Way Central and T.F. United and the RedHawks have ties against Hinsdale South and Sandburg.
Saturday’s loss, however, showed Roe that dealing with growing pains is an ongoing process of starts and stops.
“Today, (Carmel) was stronger than us, and (Barnes) is a real nice player. She gave us a lot of fits,” Roe said. “But our communication was awful today. We have a lot of freshmen so it’s a lot of growing pains this year. We graduated 12 two years ago and 10 last year so it’s all pretty new to a lot of them.”
The RedHawks weren’t about to dwell on Saturday’s loss, however. Sunday they met Latin in the title game of the Air Force bracket of the PepsiCo Showdown.
Fourth-seeded Marist won 5-1 over Farragut, 3-1 over Northside, and 2-0 over Mother McAuley to reach the big game against seventh-seeded Latin.
“If we can win that game it will be the most wins we’ve ever had in that tournament,” Roe said.
“Maybe today they were distracted, because they’ve got junior prom tonight, and we’ve got the Pepsi Championship tomorrow. Or maybe I’m just giving them excuses.”
The RedHawks were chasing two goals before a third Carmel goal arrived mid-way through the second half. It came on a Harmon penalty kick after Sykes was tripped inside the Marist penalty area.
The lead swelled to 4-0 a few minutes later when Barnes beat a defender on the left side and centered a pass inside the box to Harmon, who scored from 14 yards. Tarcha’s goal came in the game’s waning minutes.
Carmel opened the season with wins over Hersey, Lake Forest, and Palatine before losing to Hinsdale Central, Naperville North, and Evanston. That run marked five Class 3A opponents in six games for the Class AA Corsairs.
“That was challenging but when you’re thrown into the fire like that, you toughen up a little bit,” Krawzak said. “We’re stronger now than we would have been had we not played the good teams that we’ve already played.”
The return to good health that Carmel recently enjoyed was also unfortunately tempered on Saturday.
Chicagoland Soccer’s MVP of the Match was senior mid Harmon, who had two goals and two assists in the win. With less than 10 minutes left to play, Harmon collided with Marist keeper Lauren Stapleton and had to be helped off the field with a leg injury.
The Corsairs, however, have become all too familiar with lineup changes in 2018.
“That kind of thing is expected. It’s a physical game, and we’ve had a lot of injuries,” Heinrich said. “So we’ve gotten used to adapting to injuries and a lot of the girls who weren’t expecting to play as much have stepped up and come to play.”
Starting lineups
Marist
GK Lauren Stapleton
D Katherine Pappas
D Michelle Lenz
D Sofia Perez
D Alexis O’Brien
M Lindsey Richter
M Cecelia Light
M Ciara Bridges
F Anyssa Pazmino
F Ally Corcoran
Carmel
GK Kylee Smith
D Liz Galla
D Lily Sykes
D Ciara Thomas
D Maddy Splitt
M Emma Heinrich
M Riley Harmon
M Olivia Salvi
F Zenaya Barnes
F Morgan Smola
F Mia Salvi
Chicagoland Soccer MVP of the Match: Riley Harmon, sr. M, Carmel
Scoring summary
First half
Carmel — Barnes (Harmon)
Carmel — Barnes (Harmon)
Second half
Carmel — Harmon (PK)
Carmel — Harmon (Barnes)
Carmel — Tarcha (Thomas)
Altered design delivers in Corsairs' 5-0 ESCC win over RedHawks
By Gary Larsen
MUNDELEIN -- A nine-day layoff and a formation change may have been just the antidote for what was ailing Carmel.
After scoring one goal in a three-loss span at the recent Lou Malnati's Deep Dish Classic, the Corsairs spent nine days healing various injuries and revamping their offense towards adding scoring punch.
The results? A healthy Carmel topped visiting Marist 5-0 in an East Suburban Catholic Conference tilt Saturday and won 5-1 over Warren on Friday
“We created chances in the flow of play, and I really liked how our outside backs were getting aggressive in the attack,” Carmel coach Ray Krawzak said. “I liked how our midfield controlled the play, and we found a lot of ways to score.”
Carmel (5-3-0, 1-0-0) got two goals each from Zenaya Barnes and Riley Harmon (along with an assist) as the Corsairs put the game out of reach. Lucy Tarcha added a fifth goal set up by a Ciara Thomas corner kick that hit the turf on the left side, where Tarcha buried it from 12 yards.
The setup for Barnes’ second goal began with a set piece kick taken by Lily Sykes, one of the outside defenders being asked to get more aggressively involved in the attack.
Starting outside backs Sykes and Liz Galla, along with Molly Machala, are acclimating nicely to their new attacking responsibilities.
“I’ve always played an attacking style of play,” Sykes said. “We had some trouble in the attack and (the new formation) is more work for the outside backs, but we can handle it.
“The more games we play, the more used to it everyone will be. Hopefully we’ll find ourselves in different situations and keep learning, but it’s coming along. It’s a process.”
A key component in that process is midfield stopper Emma Heinrich, who has to stay home defensively to a greater degree.
“I’m not really getting involved in the attack a lot because the defensive mid really has to play right in front of the backline with our outside backs getting up so much, but I think it’s a good strategy for us,” Heinrich said. “It’s been my position this season. I’ve been more of an attacking player in past years for Carmel, but I think it’s a good spot for me.
“I thought we were able to connect it more in the middle than we usually do, and we scored five goals, which is nice. Our mentality was good throughout, and we had no slip-ups.”
Marist (6-7-2, 1-2-0) went into Saturday’s game on a four-game win streak and on the heels of a 2-1 win over Nazareth, a fellow Class AA program that annually loads it regular season schedule with 3A teams.
Against the Roadrunners the RedHawks got goals from Cecelia Light and Ally Corcoran in the win.
“(Corcoran) played excellent that game. Her high pressure and runs off the ball were on point.” Marist coach Chris Roe said. “Michelle Lenz, our senior center back, has been excellent all year, and (Light) has been playing well.
“We played really well in that game. We were giving (Nazareth) a lot of respect coming in and, actually I think we outplayed them for about two-thirds of the game. That was nice to see. We were very happy. We deserved to win.”
Marist has also posted wins over Lincoln-Way Central and T.F. United and the RedHawks have ties against Hinsdale South and Sandburg.
Saturday’s loss, however, showed Roe that dealing with growing pains is an ongoing process of starts and stops.
“Today, (Carmel) was stronger than us, and (Barnes) is a real nice player. She gave us a lot of fits,” Roe said. “But our communication was awful today. We have a lot of freshmen so it’s a lot of growing pains this year. We graduated 12 two years ago and 10 last year so it’s all pretty new to a lot of them.”
The RedHawks weren’t about to dwell on Saturday’s loss, however. Sunday they met Latin in the title game of the Air Force bracket of the PepsiCo Showdown.
Fourth-seeded Marist won 5-1 over Farragut, 3-1 over Northside, and 2-0 over Mother McAuley to reach the big game against seventh-seeded Latin.
“If we can win that game it will be the most wins we’ve ever had in that tournament,” Roe said.
“Maybe today they were distracted, because they’ve got junior prom tonight, and we’ve got the Pepsi Championship tomorrow. Or maybe I’m just giving them excuses.”
The RedHawks were chasing two goals before a third Carmel goal arrived mid-way through the second half. It came on a Harmon penalty kick after Sykes was tripped inside the Marist penalty area.
The lead swelled to 4-0 a few minutes later when Barnes beat a defender on the left side and centered a pass inside the box to Harmon, who scored from 14 yards. Tarcha’s goal came in the game’s waning minutes.
Carmel opened the season with wins over Hersey, Lake Forest, and Palatine before losing to Hinsdale Central, Naperville North, and Evanston. That run marked five Class 3A opponents in six games for the Class AA Corsairs.
“That was challenging but when you’re thrown into the fire like that, you toughen up a little bit,” Krawzak said. “We’re stronger now than we would have been had we not played the good teams that we’ve already played.”
The return to good health that Carmel recently enjoyed was also unfortunately tempered on Saturday.
Chicagoland Soccer’s MVP of the Match was senior mid Harmon, who had two goals and two assists in the win. With less than 10 minutes left to play, Harmon collided with Marist keeper Lauren Stapleton and had to be helped off the field with a leg injury.
The Corsairs, however, have become all too familiar with lineup changes in 2018.
“That kind of thing is expected. It’s a physical game, and we’ve had a lot of injuries,” Heinrich said. “So we’ve gotten used to adapting to injuries and a lot of the girls who weren’t expecting to play as much have stepped up and come to play.”
Starting lineups
Marist
GK Lauren Stapleton
D Katherine Pappas
D Michelle Lenz
D Sofia Perez
D Alexis O’Brien
M Lindsey Richter
M Cecelia Light
M Ciara Bridges
F Anyssa Pazmino
F Ally Corcoran
Carmel
GK Kylee Smith
D Liz Galla
D Lily Sykes
D Ciara Thomas
D Maddy Splitt
M Emma Heinrich
M Riley Harmon
M Olivia Salvi
F Zenaya Barnes
F Morgan Smola
F Mia Salvi
Chicagoland Soccer MVP of the Match: Riley Harmon, sr. M, Carmel
Scoring summary
First half
Carmel — Barnes (Harmon)
Carmel — Barnes (Harmon)
Second half
Carmel — Harmon (PK)
Carmel — Harmon (Barnes)
Carmel — Tarcha (Thomas)