NV tips Naperville C. on McCarthy’s tap
Senior’s 3rd-minute goal the difference in Wildcats’ 1-0 win
By Matt Le Cren
NAPERVILLE -- Neuqua Valley coach Joe Moreau has hit on an interesting strategy for boosting his offense.
He’s turning his best defenders into forwards.
First, he converted Shannon Tagler into a winger before the start of the season. Now, he’s moved another senior, Lipscomb recruit Erin McCarthy, up-top to be his target forward.
The plan is paying dividends. Tagler has been a force on the outside with her speed and powerful shot -- she had two goals and three assists in an 8-0 thrashing of Downers Grove North -- and McCarthy has scored in both of her starts at her new position.
McCarthy’s latest tally came just 2:29 into Tuesday’s DuPage Valley Conference match with host Naperville Central. It turned out to be all the Wildcats needed in a 1-0 win at Memorial Stadium.
“We just wanted to try to create some more scoring opportunities, and I think it helps with having a little bit of a rotation up-top because you have Allie (Dovalovsky) that can come in and Julia (Rushing) and Shannon and Piper (Biziorek)," said Moreau.
“It’s more of a rotation, which is a nice thing because you get some fresh legs. (McCarthy) is more of a true 9 in terms of her body shape. She can post up and hold the ball.”
The 6-foot-1 McCarthy indeed gives the Wildcats (4-2-3, 1-0-0) a big target up-front, and that’s especially effective against smaller teams, like Naperville Central, which has noone of a comparable build.
“She’s a great target,” Naperville Central coach Ed Watson said. “She’s got decent wheels for being a big kid.”
Those wheels, not her height, factored into McCarthy’s decisive goal. Biziorek raced unmarked to the right endline before centering in front, where McCarthy got to the ball before any defenders did and tapped it past goalkeeper Amber Hunter.
McCarthy wasn’t completely satisfied with her performance.
“There should have been more (goals),” McCarthy said. “There were many more opportunities.
“It was good that we put it away right from the start. We really should have had more opportunities out there, but it is what it is.”
McCarthy was referring to Neuqua’s 16-5 shot advantage, which included a wide-open four-yarder that she roofed with 28:18 to go in the second half. Tagler had placed a 27-yard free kick in the perfect spot in front, but McCarthy just missed.
But that was irrelevant thanks to the early goal, which pleased the Wildcats and rubbed Watson, whose team has faced early deficits in eight of its 11 games, the wrong way.
“That’s characteristic for this team,” Watson said. “We have given up first half goals all season.
“This team, I don’t have a problem with their effort, but that was a breakdown in the midfield that started it, a center back had to stop the ball. I guarantee you, when we look at the video there’s going to be someone standing right in front of the goal, and we have girls not marking.
“We talked about it. We said if the ball gets served, we are going to do our job and stay on marks. We didn’t do it.
“Now, the rest of the game, I thought we played very well.”
It just wasn’t enough to overcome the early goal, which Neuqua Valley's Biziorek termd as “lucky.”
“I just saw the space and took it,” Biziorek said. “The girl just kind of hesitated and luckily Erin was there to get the ball, and it was just everything we practiced in practice.
“We practice that a lot, where we take it down and cross it. So it was just lucky that happened.”
Yet there is nothing lucky about what McCarthy is bringing to Neuqua’s attack.
“Definitely, Erin is really strong up-top,” Biziorek said. “She brings a level of strength, and definitely balls in the air is something that she’s really good at.
“Working with her is awesome, because she can work really well with her feet and pass it around.”
And to think, McCarthy hasn’t settled in to her new position yet.
“It wasn’t my best game,” McCarthy said. “I think there should have been multiple more opportunities, and we kind of struggled working together in the middle.
“But I feel like as time goes by, I’ll get more comfortable and more confident up there.”
Ironically, a defender was also the best attacker for the host Redhawks (7-4-1, 1-2-0), who have been shut out in each of their last two matches and lost back-to-back games for the first time this season.
Freshman fullback Sophia Skoubis accounted for three of her team’s five shots, including a 37-yard free kick which nearly resulted in the tying goal just 36 seconds after McCarthy’s score.
Skoubis put the ball right where she intended -- the upper right 90 -- but Neuqua goalkeeper Tara Tesmond made a leaping effort to tip the ball into the crossbar before catching it. A lot of witnesses thought the ball was going to go in.
“So did I,” Skoubis said. “I was aiming for the net, top shelf, trying to get it in. I did (put it there). Hopefully I will (get more chances).
Skoubis had Central’s last scoring opportunity when she teed up a 33-yard free kick with 30 seconds left. But her shot sailed high and wide to the right. Tesmond also turned away a 34-yard free kick from Skoubis earlier in the second half.
The Redhawks’ only other decent chance came with 30:30 remaining when a ball over the top of the defense found senior Caroline Reedy in space just outside the top of the box, but Reedy chipped the ball over the crossbar from 22 yards.
“That would have been nice if somehow (Skoubis’ first shot) would have fallen in the goal,” Watson said. “We had an opportunity, and we didn’t capitalize on it.
“Our girls just don’t understand the importance of shooting the ball. They just don’t.”
Neuqua Valley has no such problem. They peppered Hunter, especially in the second half, but could get nothing more past the senior, who made eight saves to keep the Redhawks in contention.
That included a wonderful effort to deflect Tagler’s rocket from 25 yards on the right wing with 19:30 to go.
For all of Moreau’s lineup machinations, the Wildcats’ defense has remained solid. The back four of Paige Munar, Brooke Miller, Alex Lichtman and Megan Olah has posted two-straight shutouts and allowed only one goal in the last four matches.
Watson delineated the difference between the two teams.
“What they do, they do very well,” Watson said. “They find a way to get on you. They post, and they gain possession.
“One of our girls came off the field and said, ‘Well, I’m trying to hold position, but the ball isn’t getting played in a place where I can hold my position.'
“So there are two parts to it. You have to be able to be strong enough to hold your position and your teammates have got to be able to put the ball in a place where you have an advantage. And they did that more often than we did tonight.”
Starting lineups
Neuqua Valley
GK Tara Tesmond
D Paige Munar
D Megan Olah
D Brooke Miller
D Alex Lichtman
M Leah Senese
M Katelyn Nardulli
M Danielle Hopkins
F Shannon Tagler
F Alison Dovalovsky
F Erin McCarthy
Naperville Central
GK Amber Hunter
D Grace Anderson
D Sophia Skoubis
D Abbey Hillman
D Liz Barker
D Malia Velker
M Sullivan Schubel
M Morgan McCracken
M Maddie Mills
F Caroline Reedy
F Sarah Scoles
Chicagoland Soccer MVP of the Match – Erin McCarthy, sr., F, Neuqua Valley
Scoring summary
First half
Neuqua Valley – Erin McCarthy (Piper Biziorek) 37:29
Second half
No scoring
Senior’s 3rd-minute goal the difference in Wildcats’ 1-0 win
By Matt Le Cren
NAPERVILLE -- Neuqua Valley coach Joe Moreau has hit on an interesting strategy for boosting his offense.
He’s turning his best defenders into forwards.
First, he converted Shannon Tagler into a winger before the start of the season. Now, he’s moved another senior, Lipscomb recruit Erin McCarthy, up-top to be his target forward.
The plan is paying dividends. Tagler has been a force on the outside with her speed and powerful shot -- she had two goals and three assists in an 8-0 thrashing of Downers Grove North -- and McCarthy has scored in both of her starts at her new position.
McCarthy’s latest tally came just 2:29 into Tuesday’s DuPage Valley Conference match with host Naperville Central. It turned out to be all the Wildcats needed in a 1-0 win at Memorial Stadium.
“We just wanted to try to create some more scoring opportunities, and I think it helps with having a little bit of a rotation up-top because you have Allie (Dovalovsky) that can come in and Julia (Rushing) and Shannon and Piper (Biziorek)," said Moreau.
“It’s more of a rotation, which is a nice thing because you get some fresh legs. (McCarthy) is more of a true 9 in terms of her body shape. She can post up and hold the ball.”
The 6-foot-1 McCarthy indeed gives the Wildcats (4-2-3, 1-0-0) a big target up-front, and that’s especially effective against smaller teams, like Naperville Central, which has noone of a comparable build.
“She’s a great target,” Naperville Central coach Ed Watson said. “She’s got decent wheels for being a big kid.”
Those wheels, not her height, factored into McCarthy’s decisive goal. Biziorek raced unmarked to the right endline before centering in front, where McCarthy got to the ball before any defenders did and tapped it past goalkeeper Amber Hunter.
McCarthy wasn’t completely satisfied with her performance.
“There should have been more (goals),” McCarthy said. “There were many more opportunities.
“It was good that we put it away right from the start. We really should have had more opportunities out there, but it is what it is.”
McCarthy was referring to Neuqua’s 16-5 shot advantage, which included a wide-open four-yarder that she roofed with 28:18 to go in the second half. Tagler had placed a 27-yard free kick in the perfect spot in front, but McCarthy just missed.
But that was irrelevant thanks to the early goal, which pleased the Wildcats and rubbed Watson, whose team has faced early deficits in eight of its 11 games, the wrong way.
“That’s characteristic for this team,” Watson said. “We have given up first half goals all season.
“This team, I don’t have a problem with their effort, but that was a breakdown in the midfield that started it, a center back had to stop the ball. I guarantee you, when we look at the video there’s going to be someone standing right in front of the goal, and we have girls not marking.
“We talked about it. We said if the ball gets served, we are going to do our job and stay on marks. We didn’t do it.
“Now, the rest of the game, I thought we played very well.”
It just wasn’t enough to overcome the early goal, which Neuqua Valley's Biziorek termd as “lucky.”
“I just saw the space and took it,” Biziorek said. “The girl just kind of hesitated and luckily Erin was there to get the ball, and it was just everything we practiced in practice.
“We practice that a lot, where we take it down and cross it. So it was just lucky that happened.”
Yet there is nothing lucky about what McCarthy is bringing to Neuqua’s attack.
“Definitely, Erin is really strong up-top,” Biziorek said. “She brings a level of strength, and definitely balls in the air is something that she’s really good at.
“Working with her is awesome, because she can work really well with her feet and pass it around.”
And to think, McCarthy hasn’t settled in to her new position yet.
“It wasn’t my best game,” McCarthy said. “I think there should have been multiple more opportunities, and we kind of struggled working together in the middle.
“But I feel like as time goes by, I’ll get more comfortable and more confident up there.”
Ironically, a defender was also the best attacker for the host Redhawks (7-4-1, 1-2-0), who have been shut out in each of their last two matches and lost back-to-back games for the first time this season.
Freshman fullback Sophia Skoubis accounted for three of her team’s five shots, including a 37-yard free kick which nearly resulted in the tying goal just 36 seconds after McCarthy’s score.
Skoubis put the ball right where she intended -- the upper right 90 -- but Neuqua goalkeeper Tara Tesmond made a leaping effort to tip the ball into the crossbar before catching it. A lot of witnesses thought the ball was going to go in.
“So did I,” Skoubis said. “I was aiming for the net, top shelf, trying to get it in. I did (put it there). Hopefully I will (get more chances).
Skoubis had Central’s last scoring opportunity when she teed up a 33-yard free kick with 30 seconds left. But her shot sailed high and wide to the right. Tesmond also turned away a 34-yard free kick from Skoubis earlier in the second half.
The Redhawks’ only other decent chance came with 30:30 remaining when a ball over the top of the defense found senior Caroline Reedy in space just outside the top of the box, but Reedy chipped the ball over the crossbar from 22 yards.
“That would have been nice if somehow (Skoubis’ first shot) would have fallen in the goal,” Watson said. “We had an opportunity, and we didn’t capitalize on it.
“Our girls just don’t understand the importance of shooting the ball. They just don’t.”
Neuqua Valley has no such problem. They peppered Hunter, especially in the second half, but could get nothing more past the senior, who made eight saves to keep the Redhawks in contention.
That included a wonderful effort to deflect Tagler’s rocket from 25 yards on the right wing with 19:30 to go.
For all of Moreau’s lineup machinations, the Wildcats’ defense has remained solid. The back four of Paige Munar, Brooke Miller, Alex Lichtman and Megan Olah has posted two-straight shutouts and allowed only one goal in the last four matches.
Watson delineated the difference between the two teams.
“What they do, they do very well,” Watson said. “They find a way to get on you. They post, and they gain possession.
“One of our girls came off the field and said, ‘Well, I’m trying to hold position, but the ball isn’t getting played in a place where I can hold my position.'
“So there are two parts to it. You have to be able to be strong enough to hold your position and your teammates have got to be able to put the ball in a place where you have an advantage. And they did that more often than we did tonight.”
Starting lineups
Neuqua Valley
GK Tara Tesmond
D Paige Munar
D Megan Olah
D Brooke Miller
D Alex Lichtman
M Leah Senese
M Katelyn Nardulli
M Danielle Hopkins
F Shannon Tagler
F Alison Dovalovsky
F Erin McCarthy
Naperville Central
GK Amber Hunter
D Grace Anderson
D Sophia Skoubis
D Abbey Hillman
D Liz Barker
D Malia Velker
M Sullivan Schubel
M Morgan McCracken
M Maddie Mills
F Caroline Reedy
F Sarah Scoles
Chicagoland Soccer MVP of the Match – Erin McCarthy, sr., F, Neuqua Valley
Scoring summary
First half
Neuqua Valley – Erin McCarthy (Piper Biziorek) 37:29
Second half
No scoring