Focused Deerfield takes down
Rolling Meadows in opener
1st half goals add up to 2-0 victory in season-opener
By Bobby Narang
DEERFIELD -- Rolling Meadows and Deerfield opened up the 2022 season in a similar though unusually uninformed fashion.
First off, the Warriors’ state-of-the-art digital scoreboard system stayed dark on Monday night at Adams Field.
The new set-up was put into place last season but has been inoperable this spring, even though a repair crew attempted to fix the issue twice in the last few weeks.
The lack of a scoreboard prompted the use of small basketball clock to track the timing and scoring of the game. It was placed in between the two benches, far away from the main grandstand which was filled with a smattering of fans on the cold evening.
Then, after the teams lined up for the introductions, the public address announcer skipped over visiting Rolling Meadows. A marked Mustangs roster had not been delivered to the press box. That prompted the announcer to bark out “I’ve never done this before.”
After the host Warriors were announced, the Mustangs’ roster and starting lineup were properly announced once the information was hastily brought up to the press box.
Though it was not a seamless home debut for the Warriors, the hosts began to break new ground with a large group of returnees and an influx of talented newcomers.
In the end, Deerfield did what it needed to do. The Warriors scored two goals in the first half and cruised to a 2-0 victory over Rolling Meadows in nonconference play.
The Warriors, who were ranked no. 41 in the Chicagoland Soccer Final 50 poll at the end of the shortened 2021 season and hold the same spot in the 2022 First 50 preseason poll for 2022, have a plethora of talented scorers.
Deerfield coach Rich Grady said he was pleased with the shutout victory in the opener. The Warriors returned 10 starters in the field from last season.
The shutout from goalie Lauren Gottlieb, in her first start in the net, was an added bonus. The sophomore finished with three saves.
“We scored a lot of goals last year, and we had a lot of chances tonight, but the reality is you have to win a playoff game 1-0,” Grady said.
“To do that, we have to lock things down better defensively than we did last year. Tonight, it was a good step in that direction. We have a new goalkeeper and have to get used to her. Lauren plays pretty high off the line and is aggressive and cuts things off.
“I thought we were very strong on the outside. Holly (Deutsch) created a lot of dangerous chances, and Ally Linn and Simone Criz on the left side did something similar.
“Our young forwards Aubrey Galvan and Ryane Emory in their first varsity games, they were able to get in there and do stuff. That was good to see. It was a good start.”
Rolling Meadows coach Michael Drenth said he was pleased with the strong finish for his team which brings back seven starters from a three-win club.
“We had a lot of new girls, so trying to figure out shape and where we were,” he said. “But Deerfield is a good team.
“We gave up that rebound goal on the second one. We have to get a feel for things. We’re trying to find those seams to get shots, but we will get there.
“My centerback Cassidy Pardini played great and is super tough. We’ll learn from this and move on and hopefully get better in our next game.”
The Warriors, who opened with back-to-back games after hosting hosted Wheeling on Tuesday, missed three quality opportunities in the early minutes. They cashed in on their first goal of the season at the 25:55 mark. Senior Riley Schimanski opened the campaign with a hot foot, scoring off an assist from Holly Deutsch. Schimanski is the top returning goal-scorer for the Warriors; she notched 20 last season compared to 17 each for Deutsch and sophomore Emily Fox.
“Someone played the ball out to Holly, and she crossed it in. We always like to find Holly, because she has really good speed and her crosses are really good,” Schimanski said of her goal. “I just one-timed it on the ground, and it went in. I had missed a few earlier, just wide and over. Going one-up was really good to get the momentum for the team. It feels good to win the first game.”
Schimanski said she’s motivated to end her career on a high note, especially since she’s unsure about her future college choice.
“I’m excited for this season, and know it’s going to be a great one,” she said. “I know it’s going to be the best one.”
Deutsch, a senior, said it was a quality victory over the Mustangs, even if she wasn’t prepared for the sudden plunge in temperature which turned a warm spring day into a chilly evening.
“I definitely wasn’t expecting it to drop this much,” Deutsch said while shivering after an extended postgame period.
She noted the Warriors have ample motivation and talent to make it past the Class AA sectional championship, where they suffered a 2-0 loss to eventual third place finisher Saint Viator last season.
“I think we were working together as a team, and we all have a big goal this year to make it very far. We want to make it further than last year and not get knocked out by Saint Viator.
“That loss haunts us, because we felt we deserved to win that game and fought really hard. The outcome just didn’t go our way.”
Deerfield concluded the scoring in its opener with 11:33 left until halftime. Junior defender Katie Denison added the insurance with her first varsity goal after an assist from.
Denison executed the play to perfection, scoring off a corner kick by knocking in a shot from six yards directly in front of the net.
“We set up our play off the corner kick,” Denison said. “The plan is basically the person at the end flicks it in, and the back runner can just tap it in. I think we played really well together. … It felt good to score my first goal on varsity.”
Denison said she’s aiming to have a breakout season after gaining confidence from her experience on the varsity as a sophomore.
“It feels good to have a year of playing varsity on my back, so I know almost all of the team at this point. I’m very excited to get to know the new people,” she said.
Rolling Meadows struggled to penetrate Deerfield’s backline, which was led by senior standout Katie Morgan.
The Mustangs, who were winless in the Mid-Suburban League last spring, held the Warriors scoreless over the final 51-plus minutes thanks to a stellar job by goalie Caroline Ciccone. The junior collected 13 saves, including several athletic dives and leaps to keep her team in the match.
“The first two goals were just a lack of communication,” Ciccone said. “Our defense kind of fell apart, but we had a good halftime talk. It didn’t go our way today, but we will learn from this. Our whole defensive line did a great job, especially Cassidy.”
Starting lineups
Rolling Meadows
GK Caroline Ciccone
D Reagan Cherwin
D Cassidy Pardini
D Payton Kohlberg
D Irmina Mroz
MF Michaela Jackman
MF Taylor Stubitsch
MF Chiara Divito
MF Vanessa Campos
F Vanessa Adan
F Julia Ingemunson
Deerfield
GK Lauren Gottlieb
D Avery Kingsepp
D Katie Morgan
D Maddie Stevens
M Jessie Fisher
M Emma Gassman
M Holly Deutsch
M Emily Fox
M Ally Linn
F Aubrey Galvan
F Riley Schimanski
Chicagoland Soccer MVP of the Match -- Riley Schimanski, sr., F, Deerfield
Scoring summary
First half
Deerfield: Riley Schimanski (Morgan Deutsch), 25:55
Deerfield: Katie Denison (Emily Fox), 11:33
Second half
No scoring
Rolling Meadows in opener
1st half goals add up to 2-0 victory in season-opener
By Bobby Narang
DEERFIELD -- Rolling Meadows and Deerfield opened up the 2022 season in a similar though unusually uninformed fashion.
First off, the Warriors’ state-of-the-art digital scoreboard system stayed dark on Monday night at Adams Field.
The new set-up was put into place last season but has been inoperable this spring, even though a repair crew attempted to fix the issue twice in the last few weeks.
The lack of a scoreboard prompted the use of small basketball clock to track the timing and scoring of the game. It was placed in between the two benches, far away from the main grandstand which was filled with a smattering of fans on the cold evening.
Then, after the teams lined up for the introductions, the public address announcer skipped over visiting Rolling Meadows. A marked Mustangs roster had not been delivered to the press box. That prompted the announcer to bark out “I’ve never done this before.”
After the host Warriors were announced, the Mustangs’ roster and starting lineup were properly announced once the information was hastily brought up to the press box.
Though it was not a seamless home debut for the Warriors, the hosts began to break new ground with a large group of returnees and an influx of talented newcomers.
In the end, Deerfield did what it needed to do. The Warriors scored two goals in the first half and cruised to a 2-0 victory over Rolling Meadows in nonconference play.
The Warriors, who were ranked no. 41 in the Chicagoland Soccer Final 50 poll at the end of the shortened 2021 season and hold the same spot in the 2022 First 50 preseason poll for 2022, have a plethora of talented scorers.
Deerfield coach Rich Grady said he was pleased with the shutout victory in the opener. The Warriors returned 10 starters in the field from last season.
The shutout from goalie Lauren Gottlieb, in her first start in the net, was an added bonus. The sophomore finished with three saves.
“We scored a lot of goals last year, and we had a lot of chances tonight, but the reality is you have to win a playoff game 1-0,” Grady said.
“To do that, we have to lock things down better defensively than we did last year. Tonight, it was a good step in that direction. We have a new goalkeeper and have to get used to her. Lauren plays pretty high off the line and is aggressive and cuts things off.
“I thought we were very strong on the outside. Holly (Deutsch) created a lot of dangerous chances, and Ally Linn and Simone Criz on the left side did something similar.
“Our young forwards Aubrey Galvan and Ryane Emory in their first varsity games, they were able to get in there and do stuff. That was good to see. It was a good start.”
Rolling Meadows coach Michael Drenth said he was pleased with the strong finish for his team which brings back seven starters from a three-win club.
“We had a lot of new girls, so trying to figure out shape and where we were,” he said. “But Deerfield is a good team.
“We gave up that rebound goal on the second one. We have to get a feel for things. We’re trying to find those seams to get shots, but we will get there.
“My centerback Cassidy Pardini played great and is super tough. We’ll learn from this and move on and hopefully get better in our next game.”
The Warriors, who opened with back-to-back games after hosting hosted Wheeling on Tuesday, missed three quality opportunities in the early minutes. They cashed in on their first goal of the season at the 25:55 mark. Senior Riley Schimanski opened the campaign with a hot foot, scoring off an assist from Holly Deutsch. Schimanski is the top returning goal-scorer for the Warriors; she notched 20 last season compared to 17 each for Deutsch and sophomore Emily Fox.
“Someone played the ball out to Holly, and she crossed it in. We always like to find Holly, because she has really good speed and her crosses are really good,” Schimanski said of her goal. “I just one-timed it on the ground, and it went in. I had missed a few earlier, just wide and over. Going one-up was really good to get the momentum for the team. It feels good to win the first game.”
Schimanski said she’s motivated to end her career on a high note, especially since she’s unsure about her future college choice.
“I’m excited for this season, and know it’s going to be a great one,” she said. “I know it’s going to be the best one.”
Deutsch, a senior, said it was a quality victory over the Mustangs, even if she wasn’t prepared for the sudden plunge in temperature which turned a warm spring day into a chilly evening.
“I definitely wasn’t expecting it to drop this much,” Deutsch said while shivering after an extended postgame period.
She noted the Warriors have ample motivation and talent to make it past the Class AA sectional championship, where they suffered a 2-0 loss to eventual third place finisher Saint Viator last season.
“I think we were working together as a team, and we all have a big goal this year to make it very far. We want to make it further than last year and not get knocked out by Saint Viator.
“That loss haunts us, because we felt we deserved to win that game and fought really hard. The outcome just didn’t go our way.”
Deerfield concluded the scoring in its opener with 11:33 left until halftime. Junior defender Katie Denison added the insurance with her first varsity goal after an assist from.
Denison executed the play to perfection, scoring off a corner kick by knocking in a shot from six yards directly in front of the net.
“We set up our play off the corner kick,” Denison said. “The plan is basically the person at the end flicks it in, and the back runner can just tap it in. I think we played really well together. … It felt good to score my first goal on varsity.”
Denison said she’s aiming to have a breakout season after gaining confidence from her experience on the varsity as a sophomore.
“It feels good to have a year of playing varsity on my back, so I know almost all of the team at this point. I’m very excited to get to know the new people,” she said.
Rolling Meadows struggled to penetrate Deerfield’s backline, which was led by senior standout Katie Morgan.
The Mustangs, who were winless in the Mid-Suburban League last spring, held the Warriors scoreless over the final 51-plus minutes thanks to a stellar job by goalie Caroline Ciccone. The junior collected 13 saves, including several athletic dives and leaps to keep her team in the match.
“The first two goals were just a lack of communication,” Ciccone said. “Our defense kind of fell apart, but we had a good halftime talk. It didn’t go our way today, but we will learn from this. Our whole defensive line did a great job, especially Cassidy.”
Starting lineups
Rolling Meadows
GK Caroline Ciccone
D Reagan Cherwin
D Cassidy Pardini
D Payton Kohlberg
D Irmina Mroz
MF Michaela Jackman
MF Taylor Stubitsch
MF Chiara Divito
MF Vanessa Campos
F Vanessa Adan
F Julia Ingemunson
Deerfield
GK Lauren Gottlieb
D Avery Kingsepp
D Katie Morgan
D Maddie Stevens
M Jessie Fisher
M Emma Gassman
M Holly Deutsch
M Emily Fox
M Ally Linn
F Aubrey Galvan
F Riley Schimanski
Chicagoland Soccer MVP of the Match -- Riley Schimanski, sr., F, Deerfield
Scoring summary
First half
Deerfield: Riley Schimanski (Morgan Deutsch), 25:55
Deerfield: Katie Denison (Emily Fox), 11:33
Second half
No scoring