Morton gets the message,
takes down Willowbrook
Rosales, Bautista combine for 4 goals, 3 assists in 5-0 victory
By Matt Le Cren
VILLA PARK – Morton coach Jim Bageanis had one message for his team going into Thursday night’s game with host Willowbrook.
The Mustangs heard it loud and clear.
“With it being the first conference game of the year, we wanted to come out and make a statement and just set the tone for the rest of the season in conference,” Bageanis said. “We came out more aggressively today.”
Did they ever. The Mustangs scored twice in a 28-second span early in the first half and overcame a great effort by Willowbrook goalkeeper Maddie Aderholt, who finished with eight saves, to post an impressive 5-0 West Suburban Conference Gold Division victory.
The game also counted in the Group 1 standings of the Plainfield Cup.
Sophomore forward Carisma Rosales led the way for the Mustangs (8-3-0, 1-0-x) with three goals and an assist. Senior midfielder Esmerelda Bautista added a goal and two assists. Aaliyah Leanos also scored for Morton.
The lopsided score came as a shock to many, including Willowbrook coach Juan DelReal.
“It was unfortunate,” DelReal said. “I thought it was going to be a lot closer than that.
“We made a couple of mistakes that they capitalized on, and it ended up costing us the game. They took advantage of everything we gave them. They definitely played better than we did.”
Defensive lapses near midfield by the Warriors (6-3-0, 1-1-x) left Aderholt hung out to dry on too many occasions to count. The junior played fearlessly and came up with some big stops, none more spectacular than her first one, which came on a point-blank one-timer off the foot of Leanos in the seventh minute.
It was the kind of play DelReal has come to expect – and appreciate - from the junior.
“She’s a great young girl, and she’s just as good at being a keeper,” DelReal said. “One of the things you can expect from her game-in and game-out is she’s going to give you 100 percent every time.
“She doesn’t know how to go in at any level other than 100 percent. That’s a great thing to have as a coach, as a team, as a program, to have somebody who goes out and plays the way she does.”
Yet as good as Aderholt was, she found herself way too busy against the Mustangs, who repeatedly pressured Willowbrook’s defense with precision passes and great teamwork.
Within a minute of Aderholt’s denial of Leanos, Morton was up 2-0.
Leonas broke through first on a breakaway off a long lead pass from Andrea Aguirre and tucked a curving shot into the left side netting with 33:26 left in the first half.
Bautista then scored on a similar play 28 seconds later. Rosales got the assist.
That was the start of a pattern that saw Bautista and Rosales combine for four goals and three assists. Rosales set up Bautista’s only goal, while Bautista returned the favor by springing Rosales for her final two goals.
Rosales got the first leg of her third career hat-trick when she got the ball about 40 yards from Willowbrook’s goal and sprinted up the middle of the field, fending off strong challenges from a pair of defenders before moving into the box and beating Aderholt inside the right post at the 17:59 mark.
“I think the girls came out in the first 15 minutes and played really well, went on a little lull for the next 15 minutes and then we told them, ‘Hey, teams are going to say they got up early but then they didn’t do anything the rest of the game,’” Bageanis said. “The girls responded in the second half. We’re happy to get out of here with a win, because this is always a rivalry type game. We wanted to take advantage of getting up early and finish the game off.”
Rosales helped them do that, teaming up with Bautista for a pair of great second half goals.
The first one was the result of a give-and-go up the left wing. Rosales passed the ball ahead to Bautista, who cut back into the box and fed it to Rosales, whose high, hard shot deflected off the hands of Aderholt and in for a 4-0 lead with 33:31 left.
Six minutes later, the pair did it again. Bautista passed out of the left corner to Rosales, who ripped a 25-yard shot off the underside of the crossbar and in.
Why was Rosales, who barely missed scoring a fourth goal when her breakaway shot hit the underside of the crossbar and came down in front of the line, so effective?
“I’ve got good teammates, so working with them is good,” Rosales said. “And just working as a team.
“I think once we work all together, and we don’t give up on the game, we’re good as a team on and off the field.”
Rosales and Bautista make a great team when they’re clicking on all cylinders. Theirs is a connection that defies description. Just ask Aderholt.
“Those two had some connection I’ve never seen,” Aderholt said. “Those players just worked like magic.”
Bageanis is getting used to that, though he said they aren’t always as efficient or deadly as they were against the Warriors. And they’re not the only offensive threats Morton possesses.
“Some games they do, some games they don’t,” Bageanis said. “Tonight, they did.
“Today they were on and that was very good.
“Andrea Aguirre also was big in that second half. She played some nice balls.”
Bageanis has been pleased with how unselfish the Mustangs have been lately.
“We kind of stress with them to share the ball,” Bageanis said. “We tell them, especially early in the season, to trust your teammates and whoever is there, if they’re in the right spot and they’re open, pass it to them.
“Obviously, we’d like to have our better strikers hitting the ball, but right now we’re trying to do the right things to put us in the right position. Everyone has been contributing and the effort has been there, so we’re very happy.”
Bautista was happy with the win over the Warriors, who split a pair of matches with the Mustangs last year.
“We had more chances tonight,” Bautista said. “We really just hope that we win all these games and go far this year.”
Willowbrook has the same hopes but must become more consistent. This was their second 5-0 loss in their last three games, an anomaly in an otherwise solid start that had seen them outscore their other seven opponents by a 23-4 margin.
“We can definitely (get to another level),” DelReal said. “The challenge to them is to take care of the simple things and get better at them. The passing, the defending, the challenging, things that everybody should know at the varsity level.
“They do know but for some reason we forget to do them sometimes, and that’s what ends up costing us.”
Aderholt said fixing those mistakes will be crucial.
“I’m hoping that we find our range. because we’ve had some good wins so far and we have two 5-0 losses,” she said. “We’ve got to find what’s going wrong in these games and try to make them a 1-0 loss or a 1-0 win. I think we’re better, and we have a lot more potential than that.”
Starting lineups
Morton
GK Fernanda Sanchez Duran
D Mya Hernandez
D Stephanie Queved
D Leslie Jiminez
D Brianna Avalos
M Mate Gongora
M Esmerelda Bautista
M Stephanie Salmeron
F Carisma Rosales
F Aaliyah Leanos
F Andrea Aguirre
Willowbrook
GK Maddie Aderholt
D Ali Vittorio
D Izzy Manning
D Allie Knudsen
D Mia Kuban
M Rachael Klamecki
M Brooke Vandergrift
M Mackenzie Parente
M Emma Anderlik
M Emily Barth
F Erin Fitzgibbon
Chicagoland Soccer MVP of the Match: Carisma Rosales, so., F, Morton
Scoring summary
First half
Morton – Aaliyah Leanos (Andrea Aguirre) 33:26 remaining
Morton – Esmerelda Bautista (Carisma Rosales) 32:58 remaining
Morton – Rosales 17:59 remaining
Second half
Morton – Rosales (Bautista) 33:31 remaining
Morton – Rosales (Bautista) 27:29 remaining
takes down Willowbrook
Rosales, Bautista combine for 4 goals, 3 assists in 5-0 victory
By Matt Le Cren
VILLA PARK – Morton coach Jim Bageanis had one message for his team going into Thursday night’s game with host Willowbrook.
The Mustangs heard it loud and clear.
“With it being the first conference game of the year, we wanted to come out and make a statement and just set the tone for the rest of the season in conference,” Bageanis said. “We came out more aggressively today.”
Did they ever. The Mustangs scored twice in a 28-second span early in the first half and overcame a great effort by Willowbrook goalkeeper Maddie Aderholt, who finished with eight saves, to post an impressive 5-0 West Suburban Conference Gold Division victory.
The game also counted in the Group 1 standings of the Plainfield Cup.
Sophomore forward Carisma Rosales led the way for the Mustangs (8-3-0, 1-0-x) with three goals and an assist. Senior midfielder Esmerelda Bautista added a goal and two assists. Aaliyah Leanos also scored for Morton.
The lopsided score came as a shock to many, including Willowbrook coach Juan DelReal.
“It was unfortunate,” DelReal said. “I thought it was going to be a lot closer than that.
“We made a couple of mistakes that they capitalized on, and it ended up costing us the game. They took advantage of everything we gave them. They definitely played better than we did.”
Defensive lapses near midfield by the Warriors (6-3-0, 1-1-x) left Aderholt hung out to dry on too many occasions to count. The junior played fearlessly and came up with some big stops, none more spectacular than her first one, which came on a point-blank one-timer off the foot of Leanos in the seventh minute.
It was the kind of play DelReal has come to expect – and appreciate - from the junior.
“She’s a great young girl, and she’s just as good at being a keeper,” DelReal said. “One of the things you can expect from her game-in and game-out is she’s going to give you 100 percent every time.
“She doesn’t know how to go in at any level other than 100 percent. That’s a great thing to have as a coach, as a team, as a program, to have somebody who goes out and plays the way she does.”
Yet as good as Aderholt was, she found herself way too busy against the Mustangs, who repeatedly pressured Willowbrook’s defense with precision passes and great teamwork.
Within a minute of Aderholt’s denial of Leanos, Morton was up 2-0.
Leonas broke through first on a breakaway off a long lead pass from Andrea Aguirre and tucked a curving shot into the left side netting with 33:26 left in the first half.
Bautista then scored on a similar play 28 seconds later. Rosales got the assist.
That was the start of a pattern that saw Bautista and Rosales combine for four goals and three assists. Rosales set up Bautista’s only goal, while Bautista returned the favor by springing Rosales for her final two goals.
Rosales got the first leg of her third career hat-trick when she got the ball about 40 yards from Willowbrook’s goal and sprinted up the middle of the field, fending off strong challenges from a pair of defenders before moving into the box and beating Aderholt inside the right post at the 17:59 mark.
“I think the girls came out in the first 15 minutes and played really well, went on a little lull for the next 15 minutes and then we told them, ‘Hey, teams are going to say they got up early but then they didn’t do anything the rest of the game,’” Bageanis said. “The girls responded in the second half. We’re happy to get out of here with a win, because this is always a rivalry type game. We wanted to take advantage of getting up early and finish the game off.”
Rosales helped them do that, teaming up with Bautista for a pair of great second half goals.
The first one was the result of a give-and-go up the left wing. Rosales passed the ball ahead to Bautista, who cut back into the box and fed it to Rosales, whose high, hard shot deflected off the hands of Aderholt and in for a 4-0 lead with 33:31 left.
Six minutes later, the pair did it again. Bautista passed out of the left corner to Rosales, who ripped a 25-yard shot off the underside of the crossbar and in.
Why was Rosales, who barely missed scoring a fourth goal when her breakaway shot hit the underside of the crossbar and came down in front of the line, so effective?
“I’ve got good teammates, so working with them is good,” Rosales said. “And just working as a team.
“I think once we work all together, and we don’t give up on the game, we’re good as a team on and off the field.”
Rosales and Bautista make a great team when they’re clicking on all cylinders. Theirs is a connection that defies description. Just ask Aderholt.
“Those two had some connection I’ve never seen,” Aderholt said. “Those players just worked like magic.”
Bageanis is getting used to that, though he said they aren’t always as efficient or deadly as they were against the Warriors. And they’re not the only offensive threats Morton possesses.
“Some games they do, some games they don’t,” Bageanis said. “Tonight, they did.
“Today they were on and that was very good.
“Andrea Aguirre also was big in that second half. She played some nice balls.”
Bageanis has been pleased with how unselfish the Mustangs have been lately.
“We kind of stress with them to share the ball,” Bageanis said. “We tell them, especially early in the season, to trust your teammates and whoever is there, if they’re in the right spot and they’re open, pass it to them.
“Obviously, we’d like to have our better strikers hitting the ball, but right now we’re trying to do the right things to put us in the right position. Everyone has been contributing and the effort has been there, so we’re very happy.”
Bautista was happy with the win over the Warriors, who split a pair of matches with the Mustangs last year.
“We had more chances tonight,” Bautista said. “We really just hope that we win all these games and go far this year.”
Willowbrook has the same hopes but must become more consistent. This was their second 5-0 loss in their last three games, an anomaly in an otherwise solid start that had seen them outscore their other seven opponents by a 23-4 margin.
“We can definitely (get to another level),” DelReal said. “The challenge to them is to take care of the simple things and get better at them. The passing, the defending, the challenging, things that everybody should know at the varsity level.
“They do know but for some reason we forget to do them sometimes, and that’s what ends up costing us.”
Aderholt said fixing those mistakes will be crucial.
“I’m hoping that we find our range. because we’ve had some good wins so far and we have two 5-0 losses,” she said. “We’ve got to find what’s going wrong in these games and try to make them a 1-0 loss or a 1-0 win. I think we’re better, and we have a lot more potential than that.”
Starting lineups
Morton
GK Fernanda Sanchez Duran
D Mya Hernandez
D Stephanie Queved
D Leslie Jiminez
D Brianna Avalos
M Mate Gongora
M Esmerelda Bautista
M Stephanie Salmeron
F Carisma Rosales
F Aaliyah Leanos
F Andrea Aguirre
Willowbrook
GK Maddie Aderholt
D Ali Vittorio
D Izzy Manning
D Allie Knudsen
D Mia Kuban
M Rachael Klamecki
M Brooke Vandergrift
M Mackenzie Parente
M Emma Anderlik
M Emily Barth
F Erin Fitzgibbon
Chicagoland Soccer MVP of the Match: Carisma Rosales, so., F, Morton
Scoring summary
First half
Morton – Aaliyah Leanos (Andrea Aguirre) 33:26 remaining
Morton – Esmerelda Bautista (Carisma Rosales) 32:58 remaining
Morton – Rosales 17:59 remaining
Second half
Morton – Rosales (Bautista) 33:31 remaining
Morton – Rosales (Bautista) 27:29 remaining