Second half surge takes Jones past Payton
Eagles 3-0 win stretches unbeaten streak to 7 games
By Michael Wojtychiw
CHICAGO -- Jones may have started a week-and-a-half later than most teams, but the Eagles sure have been making up for lost time against the top teams in the Chicago Public League Premier Division.
After starting its season with a 2-1 loss to Young, the Eagles tied Lane last Friday, setting up an all-important matchup with a squad that's had a hot start to the season -- Payton.
The Grizzlies came into Wednesday's afternoon tilt after dropping their first conference matchup Monday, a 2-1 decision to Young. Unfortunately for them, their losing skid hit two after Jones (6-1-1, 3-1-1) took the visitors down 3-0 in Chicago's Chinatown neighborhood.
"For the past few years, it's been close between us, Lane, Young and Payton and seeing that we could play those teams and even dominate some of the game, it gave us an idea on what we can do and allow us to live up to our potential," Jones' senior forward Carmen Marshall said.
"It was a frustrating first half, and we didn't feel like we played like we can," Jones manager Derek Bylsma said. "Payton is very organized, a tough team to play against. They don't make mistakes, very well-coached, organized in the back and tough to score goals against.
"So I think in the first half, we got kind of sucked in to playing long balls and not keeping possession. The thing I liked the most is they came out in the second half and put the game away, one we felt like we could win."
Payton (8-3-0, 4-2-0) entered the pivotal week before the conference tournament, in first place in the Premier Division, but had to play the three toughest teams (Young, Jones and Lane) in a matter of five days.
Payton brought back only six players from its 2019 squad, so this season has been one where the players have been learning to play together and that was especially nice for Payton manager Paul Escobar to see. The Grizzlies roared to an 8-1-0 start to the year. Neighborhood rivals Latin, Lincoln Park and Parker were among their victims.
"The teams we've lost to are probably the three toughest teams we've played," Escobar said. "That shows us what we have to do and what we have to work on. We're beating the teams we're supposed to beat, I guess you could say.
"But we're competing with the teams that are supposed to be with us, but we have to start winning these games instead of just competing. I'd rather get these losing moments out of the way now and use it as a learning experience and maybe get a little hungrier and see what we can do."
The first half made it look as if the game was set for a defensive battle. Neither team could capitalize on any long runs or set plays and both goalies came up with clutch play numerous times.
Coming off of a tough game on Monday, Escobar wasn't disappointed with how his squad played in the first half but saw a change.
"I think we just got tired," Escobar said. "We had a tough game Monday, and it seemed like we just ran out of gas and got outworked."
The tide of the scoreless game changed early in the second half.
Jones earned three corners in the first six minutes of the half. The final one resulted in the icebreaker. Senior midfielder Giselle McPhilliamy knocked in a bouncing ball past Payton freshman keeper Chloe Guzik in the 46th minute.
"I think we were really frustrated we hadn't put it away early," Marshall said. "We were talking about that before the game how we have to dominate in the first 10 minutes, push on them, and we saw we weren't getting the results.
"We knew we had to pick up the energy, make good passes, and I think as a team we realized that we had to step up because we could definitely play with them."
Five minutes later, Marshall took a pass from McPhilliamy and put the Eagles up 2-0.
"I'm always looking for the cross from our wide mids because we look to play in that space a lot," she said. "I think we need to work on getting in the box some more and attacking more. I think over and over again we need to get in there, because we'll be open.
"I was just thinking about how I need to get in front of the goalie or these other players."
Down 2-0, Payton could have easily bowed its head and become discouraged, but that's when two of the Grizzlies' freshmen starters came to life.
Soon after Jones' second goal, Payton freshman Felicity Cole, who leads the team with 10 goals, missed wide on a shot. That was followed by a free kick from fellow freshman Cate Cupps, which also went wide. Later a corner from Cupps found Isabella Chitarro, who headed her shot into the arms of Jones keeper Nicole Leon.
The Eagles finished up the game's scoring in the 63rd minute, when senior Laura Rios drilled home a free kick from inside the 20-yard-line. Jones secured three points in the standings and a big conference win.
"These girls really believe in themselves," Bylsma said. "I think at the beginning of the year, they didn't know how good they were going to be and how the lineup was going to shake out. But they've realized we can play a possession style game and keep the ball and be dangerous.
"As long as we make teams come to us with the way we want to play, then usually we can do pretty well."
Even though the week hasn't gone exactly as the Payton had planned, the Grizzlies know that they've got one more big game before the city playoffs start next week -- a matchup with Lane.
"We've learned that if we don't come ready to play, we're going to lose games," Escobar said. "That's what happens.
"We're going to tell the girls there's still plenty of season. There's still the playoffs, so we'll learn from this experience. It's a relatively new group together, so going through losses as a team together is never fun. But as long as we can build on that and find the positives and work on the things we need to work on, we'll be alright for the playoffs.
"If we don't play well throughout the whole game and limit mistakes, we're going to lose. The games we've let up goals; it's been because of losing the ball in our third, not connecting passes or not playing quick enough, things like that. I always tell them every game is like a championship, but we've got a tough game Friday, so you have to have a short memory and get ready for that one."
While Payton faces Lane on Friday, Jones will take on Hancock in its regular season finale Saturday. After those conference games, the Public League starts its city playoffs next week, with both Payton and Jones expected to be among the top four seeds with Lane and Young.
"We all realize we need to play the entire game. We can't be mentally shut down during any of it, otherwise we can slip up," Marshall said. "We need to focus the rest of this week, next week and how many ever games we play after. We need to keep our heads in the game for the entire time."
Starting lineups
Payton
GK: Chloe Guzik
D: Elaina Tandy
D: Cate Cupps
D: Lola Feuer
D: Allie Miller
MF: Bridget Wyman
MF: Olivia Moore
MF: Isabella Chitarro
MF: Claire Schlensker
F: Nadine Denahan
F: Felicity Cole
Jones
GK: Nicole Leon
D: Shayna Ellis
D: Parker Ellis
D: Patricia Felder
D: Morgan Scott
MF: Olivia Rodriguez
MF: Carolina Rondelli
MF: Laura Rios
MF: Caroline Patterson
MF: Giselle McPhilliamy
F: Carmen Marshall
Chicagoland Soccer MVP of the Match: Giselle McPhilliamy, sr., MF, Jones
Scoring summary
First half
No scoring
Second half
Jones - McPhilliamy, 46th minute
Jones - Marshall (McPhilliamy), 51st minute
Jones - Rios, 63rd minute
Eagles 3-0 win stretches unbeaten streak to 7 games
By Michael Wojtychiw
CHICAGO -- Jones may have started a week-and-a-half later than most teams, but the Eagles sure have been making up for lost time against the top teams in the Chicago Public League Premier Division.
After starting its season with a 2-1 loss to Young, the Eagles tied Lane last Friday, setting up an all-important matchup with a squad that's had a hot start to the season -- Payton.
The Grizzlies came into Wednesday's afternoon tilt after dropping their first conference matchup Monday, a 2-1 decision to Young. Unfortunately for them, their losing skid hit two after Jones (6-1-1, 3-1-1) took the visitors down 3-0 in Chicago's Chinatown neighborhood.
"For the past few years, it's been close between us, Lane, Young and Payton and seeing that we could play those teams and even dominate some of the game, it gave us an idea on what we can do and allow us to live up to our potential," Jones' senior forward Carmen Marshall said.
"It was a frustrating first half, and we didn't feel like we played like we can," Jones manager Derek Bylsma said. "Payton is very organized, a tough team to play against. They don't make mistakes, very well-coached, organized in the back and tough to score goals against.
"So I think in the first half, we got kind of sucked in to playing long balls and not keeping possession. The thing I liked the most is they came out in the second half and put the game away, one we felt like we could win."
Payton (8-3-0, 4-2-0) entered the pivotal week before the conference tournament, in first place in the Premier Division, but had to play the three toughest teams (Young, Jones and Lane) in a matter of five days.
Payton brought back only six players from its 2019 squad, so this season has been one where the players have been learning to play together and that was especially nice for Payton manager Paul Escobar to see. The Grizzlies roared to an 8-1-0 start to the year. Neighborhood rivals Latin, Lincoln Park and Parker were among their victims.
"The teams we've lost to are probably the three toughest teams we've played," Escobar said. "That shows us what we have to do and what we have to work on. We're beating the teams we're supposed to beat, I guess you could say.
"But we're competing with the teams that are supposed to be with us, but we have to start winning these games instead of just competing. I'd rather get these losing moments out of the way now and use it as a learning experience and maybe get a little hungrier and see what we can do."
The first half made it look as if the game was set for a defensive battle. Neither team could capitalize on any long runs or set plays and both goalies came up with clutch play numerous times.
Coming off of a tough game on Monday, Escobar wasn't disappointed with how his squad played in the first half but saw a change.
"I think we just got tired," Escobar said. "We had a tough game Monday, and it seemed like we just ran out of gas and got outworked."
The tide of the scoreless game changed early in the second half.
Jones earned three corners in the first six minutes of the half. The final one resulted in the icebreaker. Senior midfielder Giselle McPhilliamy knocked in a bouncing ball past Payton freshman keeper Chloe Guzik in the 46th minute.
"I think we were really frustrated we hadn't put it away early," Marshall said. "We were talking about that before the game how we have to dominate in the first 10 minutes, push on them, and we saw we weren't getting the results.
"We knew we had to pick up the energy, make good passes, and I think as a team we realized that we had to step up because we could definitely play with them."
Five minutes later, Marshall took a pass from McPhilliamy and put the Eagles up 2-0.
"I'm always looking for the cross from our wide mids because we look to play in that space a lot," she said. "I think we need to work on getting in the box some more and attacking more. I think over and over again we need to get in there, because we'll be open.
"I was just thinking about how I need to get in front of the goalie or these other players."
Down 2-0, Payton could have easily bowed its head and become discouraged, but that's when two of the Grizzlies' freshmen starters came to life.
Soon after Jones' second goal, Payton freshman Felicity Cole, who leads the team with 10 goals, missed wide on a shot. That was followed by a free kick from fellow freshman Cate Cupps, which also went wide. Later a corner from Cupps found Isabella Chitarro, who headed her shot into the arms of Jones keeper Nicole Leon.
The Eagles finished up the game's scoring in the 63rd minute, when senior Laura Rios drilled home a free kick from inside the 20-yard-line. Jones secured three points in the standings and a big conference win.
"These girls really believe in themselves," Bylsma said. "I think at the beginning of the year, they didn't know how good they were going to be and how the lineup was going to shake out. But they've realized we can play a possession style game and keep the ball and be dangerous.
"As long as we make teams come to us with the way we want to play, then usually we can do pretty well."
Even though the week hasn't gone exactly as the Payton had planned, the Grizzlies know that they've got one more big game before the city playoffs start next week -- a matchup with Lane.
"We've learned that if we don't come ready to play, we're going to lose games," Escobar said. "That's what happens.
"We're going to tell the girls there's still plenty of season. There's still the playoffs, so we'll learn from this experience. It's a relatively new group together, so going through losses as a team together is never fun. But as long as we can build on that and find the positives and work on the things we need to work on, we'll be alright for the playoffs.
"If we don't play well throughout the whole game and limit mistakes, we're going to lose. The games we've let up goals; it's been because of losing the ball in our third, not connecting passes or not playing quick enough, things like that. I always tell them every game is like a championship, but we've got a tough game Friday, so you have to have a short memory and get ready for that one."
While Payton faces Lane on Friday, Jones will take on Hancock in its regular season finale Saturday. After those conference games, the Public League starts its city playoffs next week, with both Payton and Jones expected to be among the top four seeds with Lane and Young.
"We all realize we need to play the entire game. We can't be mentally shut down during any of it, otherwise we can slip up," Marshall said. "We need to focus the rest of this week, next week and how many ever games we play after. We need to keep our heads in the game for the entire time."
Starting lineups
Payton
GK: Chloe Guzik
D: Elaina Tandy
D: Cate Cupps
D: Lola Feuer
D: Allie Miller
MF: Bridget Wyman
MF: Olivia Moore
MF: Isabella Chitarro
MF: Claire Schlensker
F: Nadine Denahan
F: Felicity Cole
Jones
GK: Nicole Leon
D: Shayna Ellis
D: Parker Ellis
D: Patricia Felder
D: Morgan Scott
MF: Olivia Rodriguez
MF: Carolina Rondelli
MF: Laura Rios
MF: Caroline Patterson
MF: Giselle McPhilliamy
F: Carmen Marshall
Chicagoland Soccer MVP of the Match: Giselle McPhilliamy, sr., MF, Jones
Scoring summary
First half
No scoring
Second half
Jones - McPhilliamy, 46th minute
Jones - Marshall (McPhilliamy), 51st minute
Jones - Rios, 63rd minute