Rochelle Zell's momentum builds
with win against Our Lady of Tepeyac
Tigers roll 10-2 ahead of showdown with league leader Hope
By A.J. Schmitz
DEERFIELD -- It’s hard to imagine a team that racks up goals in dfdouble digits finding much to criticize themselves about. Even though Rochelle Zell pulled off a commanding 10-2 victory over Our Lady of Tepeyac on Thursday, the Tigers chose to focus on areas of their game that needed improvement.
“During halftime we talked about how it should feel better that we were up 7-2, and everyone talked about why it didn’t feel better,” said forward Noa Saxton. “I think that it’s more enjoyable when it’s a team win rather than individual players just scoring [by themselves]. We need to work on that and play more together and use each other’s talents to succeed.”
“Cohesiveness,” summarized forward Zoey Weiss.
A winning attitude from a winning team.
Zell (5-1-0, 3-1-0) came out strong in the first half, scoring in only the first minute. Midfielder Becca Berkeley dribbled through congested defenders in the box and took a crisp shot to the left past Our Lady of Tepeyac goalkeeper Diana Ortega.
Berkeley would go on to score half of Zell’s 10 goals.
Her second goal came late in the half during the 34th minute. Displaying her offensive wisdom, Berkeley followed up on a shot that slipped out of Ortega’s hands. In the split second that the ball lay unpossessed in front of goal, Berkeley was there to poke it in.
She scored a nearly identical goal in the second half during the 48th minute. Defender Naomi Sendlin sent in a cross that was initially batted down by Ortega, but Berkeley’s placement in the box allowed her to nudge it in.
In the 37th minute, Berkeley’s soccer IQ showed once again when she read a hole in Tepeyac’s defense and made an overlapping run behind Zell midfielder Arielle Penn. Penn laid it off to Berkeley who was home free, and she snuck the ball under the crossbar for her third goal.
Berkeley’s final goal came in the 62nd minute off a through-ball from Saxton that left her alone on net.
Saxton, the only active senior on Zell’s roster, has traditionally been Zell’s go-to finisher, but the forward was frustrated to sit on the sidelines with an arm injury during the initial stages of her final season as a Tiger.
“It was really hard for me in the beginning when I couldn’t play, just coming to the games and watching everyone,” she said. “It was a set-back, but I’m trying to build on it and enjoy the rest of my time as a soccer player.”
Saxton knocked in two goals for Zell. Her first came in the 15th minute when she received a pass from Berkeley inside the box and quickly found the far post. In the 27th minute, Saxton received a long-ball from midfielder Janie Levitan and dribbled to the far corner of the box before, again, locating the far post.
Levitan enjoyed a goal herself in the 5th minute after a throw-in from Sendlin.
Zell head coach David Martinez explained that having Saxton back in the starting 11 is a game-changer for his side.
“It means we can drop our freshman Becca [Berkeley] into the midfield. She’s a wonderful player, a playmaker…” he said. “Having Sax [Saxton] back, one of our leading goal-scorers from previous seasons, with her speed up-top, it makes it easier for us to play a team game rather than just playing through one person.”
Weiss agreed.
“She’s a really strong player and someone to look up to. I always appreciate that.”
Weiss contributed to the tallies as well, scoring her first varsity goal with the Tigers ... and then scoring her second.
In the 30th minute, Saxton crossed the ball into the box, finding Weiss with no one to contest her. With a simple redirection, Weiss’ first goal was in the books.
In the 64th minute, Weiss scored again when she slid on to a pass from midfielder Ellie Footlik and tipped the ball past Ortega.
“Last year, my freshman year, our season was taken away from us, so this is technically my first season,” Weiss said, emphasizing the long wait for her moment of glory. “It feels really great especially when you work hard, continue to work hard, and pick yourself up when you mess up. [...] Hard work really does pay off. As cheesy as it sounds, it really does.”
Though Zell enjoyed a safe victory, it was not without pitfalls. Tepeyac (0-3-0, 0-3-0) managed to find the back of the net on two occasions in the first half.
In the 31st minute, Tepeyac forward Valeria Acosta was left unmarked and scored from the top of the box off a square pass from forward Bexaida Sanchez.
The 36th minute saw a handball called against Zell just outside their box. Tepeyac midfielder Angela Cabrera stepped up to take the free kick and slotted it out of goalkeeper Talia Scholder’s reach.
“We’re taking risks more and trusting each other,” said Acosta, citing her team’s elevated confidence in their ability to finish.
“We can compete,” said Tepeyac head coach Samantha Rill. “We just make silly mistakes that are costly mistakes. We kept a really good attitude. We got some injuries, but we are pushing through
“It’s always fun to come up north against teams that we know play club or have more experience.”
Despite the fact that the Tigers have scored 24 goals in their last three games, Martinez does not want his team to get comfortable.
“We need to approach games with the mentality that every opponent wants to win the game more than us, and we need to match that and exceed that competitively. We can settle for mediocrity. It’s something we’ve been battling for years.
“We might score goals here and there, but if the style of play is not good enough, then how are we going to be there at the end of the season when we are playing games for conference championships and tournaments?”
This will be imperative for Zell in their next matchup against the current Chicago Prep Conference leader Hope (4-0-0, 2-0-0) at 5 p.m. May 11.
Next up for Our Lady of Tepeyac is a trip to take on nonconference opponent UIC Prep (0-3-0, 0-1-0) at 5 p.m. May 10 before hosting Cristo Rey at 5 p.m. May 11.
Starting lineups
Our Lady of Tepeyac
GK: Diana Ortega
D: Carla Cazares
D: Anais Soria
D: Jacqueline Morales
D: Amelia Cazares
M: Angela Cabrera
M: Nancy Vega
M: Bianca Aguirre
M: Ashley Cervantes
F: Maritza Salas
F: Valeria Acosta
Rochelle Zell
GK: Talia Scholder
D: Naomi Sendlin
D: Haley Rudnick
D: Meira Lieberman
D: Aya Moller
M: Abigail Singer
M: Arielle Penn
M: Becca Berkeley
M: Janie Levitan
F: Zoey Weiss
F: Noa Saxton
Chicagoland Soccer MVP of the match: Becca Berkeley fr., F, Rochelle Zell
Scoring Summary
First half
Zell: Berkeley (UA) 1st minute
Zell: Levitan (UA) 5th minute
Zell: Saxton (Berkeley) 15th minute
Zell: Saxton (Levitan) 27th minute
Zell: Weiss (Saxton) 30th minute
Tepeyac: Acosta (Sanchez) 31st minute
Zell: Berkeley (UA) 34th minute
Tepeyac: Cabrera (UA) 36th minute
Zell: Berkeley (Penn) 37th minute
Second half
Zell: Berkeley (Sendlin) 48th minute
Zell: Berkeley (Saxton) 62nd minute
Zell: Weiss (Footlik) 64th minute
with win against Our Lady of Tepeyac
Tigers roll 10-2 ahead of showdown with league leader Hope
By A.J. Schmitz
DEERFIELD -- It’s hard to imagine a team that racks up goals in dfdouble digits finding much to criticize themselves about. Even though Rochelle Zell pulled off a commanding 10-2 victory over Our Lady of Tepeyac on Thursday, the Tigers chose to focus on areas of their game that needed improvement.
“During halftime we talked about how it should feel better that we were up 7-2, and everyone talked about why it didn’t feel better,” said forward Noa Saxton. “I think that it’s more enjoyable when it’s a team win rather than individual players just scoring [by themselves]. We need to work on that and play more together and use each other’s talents to succeed.”
“Cohesiveness,” summarized forward Zoey Weiss.
A winning attitude from a winning team.
Zell (5-1-0, 3-1-0) came out strong in the first half, scoring in only the first minute. Midfielder Becca Berkeley dribbled through congested defenders in the box and took a crisp shot to the left past Our Lady of Tepeyac goalkeeper Diana Ortega.
Berkeley would go on to score half of Zell’s 10 goals.
Her second goal came late in the half during the 34th minute. Displaying her offensive wisdom, Berkeley followed up on a shot that slipped out of Ortega’s hands. In the split second that the ball lay unpossessed in front of goal, Berkeley was there to poke it in.
She scored a nearly identical goal in the second half during the 48th minute. Defender Naomi Sendlin sent in a cross that was initially batted down by Ortega, but Berkeley’s placement in the box allowed her to nudge it in.
In the 37th minute, Berkeley’s soccer IQ showed once again when she read a hole in Tepeyac’s defense and made an overlapping run behind Zell midfielder Arielle Penn. Penn laid it off to Berkeley who was home free, and she snuck the ball under the crossbar for her third goal.
Berkeley’s final goal came in the 62nd minute off a through-ball from Saxton that left her alone on net.
Saxton, the only active senior on Zell’s roster, has traditionally been Zell’s go-to finisher, but the forward was frustrated to sit on the sidelines with an arm injury during the initial stages of her final season as a Tiger.
“It was really hard for me in the beginning when I couldn’t play, just coming to the games and watching everyone,” she said. “It was a set-back, but I’m trying to build on it and enjoy the rest of my time as a soccer player.”
Saxton knocked in two goals for Zell. Her first came in the 15th minute when she received a pass from Berkeley inside the box and quickly found the far post. In the 27th minute, Saxton received a long-ball from midfielder Janie Levitan and dribbled to the far corner of the box before, again, locating the far post.
Levitan enjoyed a goal herself in the 5th minute after a throw-in from Sendlin.
Zell head coach David Martinez explained that having Saxton back in the starting 11 is a game-changer for his side.
“It means we can drop our freshman Becca [Berkeley] into the midfield. She’s a wonderful player, a playmaker…” he said. “Having Sax [Saxton] back, one of our leading goal-scorers from previous seasons, with her speed up-top, it makes it easier for us to play a team game rather than just playing through one person.”
Weiss agreed.
“She’s a really strong player and someone to look up to. I always appreciate that.”
Weiss contributed to the tallies as well, scoring her first varsity goal with the Tigers ... and then scoring her second.
In the 30th minute, Saxton crossed the ball into the box, finding Weiss with no one to contest her. With a simple redirection, Weiss’ first goal was in the books.
In the 64th minute, Weiss scored again when she slid on to a pass from midfielder Ellie Footlik and tipped the ball past Ortega.
“Last year, my freshman year, our season was taken away from us, so this is technically my first season,” Weiss said, emphasizing the long wait for her moment of glory. “It feels really great especially when you work hard, continue to work hard, and pick yourself up when you mess up. [...] Hard work really does pay off. As cheesy as it sounds, it really does.”
Though Zell enjoyed a safe victory, it was not without pitfalls. Tepeyac (0-3-0, 0-3-0) managed to find the back of the net on two occasions in the first half.
In the 31st minute, Tepeyac forward Valeria Acosta was left unmarked and scored from the top of the box off a square pass from forward Bexaida Sanchez.
The 36th minute saw a handball called against Zell just outside their box. Tepeyac midfielder Angela Cabrera stepped up to take the free kick and slotted it out of goalkeeper Talia Scholder’s reach.
“We’re taking risks more and trusting each other,” said Acosta, citing her team’s elevated confidence in their ability to finish.
“We can compete,” said Tepeyac head coach Samantha Rill. “We just make silly mistakes that are costly mistakes. We kept a really good attitude. We got some injuries, but we are pushing through
“It’s always fun to come up north against teams that we know play club or have more experience.”
Despite the fact that the Tigers have scored 24 goals in their last three games, Martinez does not want his team to get comfortable.
“We need to approach games with the mentality that every opponent wants to win the game more than us, and we need to match that and exceed that competitively. We can settle for mediocrity. It’s something we’ve been battling for years.
“We might score goals here and there, but if the style of play is not good enough, then how are we going to be there at the end of the season when we are playing games for conference championships and tournaments?”
This will be imperative for Zell in their next matchup against the current Chicago Prep Conference leader Hope (4-0-0, 2-0-0) at 5 p.m. May 11.
Next up for Our Lady of Tepeyac is a trip to take on nonconference opponent UIC Prep (0-3-0, 0-1-0) at 5 p.m. May 10 before hosting Cristo Rey at 5 p.m. May 11.
Starting lineups
Our Lady of Tepeyac
GK: Diana Ortega
D: Carla Cazares
D: Anais Soria
D: Jacqueline Morales
D: Amelia Cazares
M: Angela Cabrera
M: Nancy Vega
M: Bianca Aguirre
M: Ashley Cervantes
F: Maritza Salas
F: Valeria Acosta
Rochelle Zell
GK: Talia Scholder
D: Naomi Sendlin
D: Haley Rudnick
D: Meira Lieberman
D: Aya Moller
M: Abigail Singer
M: Arielle Penn
M: Becca Berkeley
M: Janie Levitan
F: Zoey Weiss
F: Noa Saxton
Chicagoland Soccer MVP of the match: Becca Berkeley fr., F, Rochelle Zell
Scoring Summary
First half
Zell: Berkeley (UA) 1st minute
Zell: Levitan (UA) 5th minute
Zell: Saxton (Berkeley) 15th minute
Zell: Saxton (Levitan) 27th minute
Zell: Weiss (Saxton) 30th minute
Tepeyac: Acosta (Sanchez) 31st minute
Zell: Berkeley (UA) 34th minute
Tepeyac: Cabrera (UA) 36th minute
Zell: Berkeley (Penn) 37th minute
Second half
Zell: Berkeley (Sendlin) 48th minute
Zell: Berkeley (Saxton) 62nd minute
Zell: Weiss (Footlik) 64th minute