Zeitoun's hat-trick outguns Fenton,
gets West Chicago off the schneid
Wildcats build four-goal lead before win 4-2 in U8 play
By Gary Larsen
BENSENVILLE -- West Chicago’s 4-2 win over Fenton on Wednesday featured a hat-trick, a beauty of a header goal and a senior Wildcat in Melissa Pani who was beyond happy to see her young team get its first win of the season.
“It was an amazing moment to share that feeling with the rest of my teammates, just because we haven’t experienced it this year,” Pani said. “Our younger players coming into a season where we haven’t been getting results, that’s been hard for them.
“I really liked seeing everybody’s happy faces and seeing that result come in. We were finally able to be relaxed, to be on the good side of the score. It was great.”
After scoring three goals through its first 11 games, West Chicago (1-8-3, 1-4-2) got three goals in one game from junior striker Jenna Zeitoun in the Upstate Eight Conference contest. Zeitoun struck twice in the first half and once in the second, before sophomore Natalie Fernandez made it 4-0 with West Chicago’s final goal.
Fenton (0-9-1, 0-6-1) kept fighting with two second half goals from Mariel Lara, but Zeitoun and company had made the mountain too high for the Bison to climb.
“Our passing has gotten better, our ability to make plays has improved, and so has our ability to read each other,” Zeitoun said. “We’ve never played together as this individual team, so it’s just going to take time. Our communication can still get better. But we’ve kept our heads up, and we’re getting better. Our passes, our plays together moving off of the ball worked really well tonight.”
Zeitoun made it 1-0 just five minutes in on a feed from Lizbeth Orosco, cutting to her right and taking a touch across the box before firing from 16 yards.
Fenton kept the ball on West Chicago’s half for the next five minutes but a defense led by sophomore center back Leslie Garnica kept things clean.
Zeitoun battled into the final third and earned an Elina Velasco corner kick at 12 minutes, before Fenton mounted pressure again to no avail to the 20-minute mark.
Velasco forced a diving keeper save at 22 minutes and three minutes later Pani fired a one-hopper into the keeper’s arms from deep on the left side.
Fenton’s Juliana Ramos thwarted Zeitoun inside the box at 29 minutes and Zeitoun fired wide at 33 minutes.
The Wildcats junior scored her second goal to make it 2-0 at 36 minutes. Zeitoun crashed the net to bury a rebound after a serve from the right side off the foot of freshman Arizbeth Zuniga.
Zeitoun made it 3-0 just 27 seconds into the second half, again cutting across the box from the left side and sending her shot inside the near post. And as quickly as that, Zeitoun earned herself Chicagoland Soccer MVP of the Match honors.
“Jenna is very confident in herself. She’s coachable, and she has speed,” West Chicago coach Cesar Gomez said. “We’re giving her different tools to go at defenses, so she doesn’t rely so much on her speed. But her speed favored her today.”
Pani also appreciates what Zeitoun brings to the table.
“The second Jenna steps on the field, it’s a whole different game for us. She brings so much to the team,” Pani said. “She brings a lot of that confidence, and if she wasn’t on the field for us it would be a much different team, for sure. She’s really fast; she has a strong kick; and she’s really strong. She has it all.”
Fernandez’s header came off a serve from Zuniga to make it 4-0 at 47 minutes.
“She just came in with such a great header. It looked professional,” Pani said. “I guess she had it in her, but she had never done that before. I was really proud of her.”
Fenton cut its deficit to 4-1 when Lara ran down a free kick serve up the right side and got behind the defense at 49 minutes. Lara was tripped at 61 minutes and bent in the ensuing free kick from 20 yards to end the day’s scoring.
Zuniga spent much of the game’s final 20 minutes streaking up the right side and reaching the end line to provide a few more dangerous scoring threats for West Chicago.
“She’s a good little player, a freshman naive of her speed,” said Gomez, “When she figures out what to do with the ball and how she can beat people, she can be something special a couple years from now.”
Fenton coach Victor Ruiz applauded the play of center back Maja Gakovic, liked what he got from Lara, and credited another player playing out of position.
“Jocelyn Bello is our main keeper, but she’s not playing in goal due to a shoulder injury,” Ruiz said. “She has played in two games (at midfield) and has sparked the team. (Midfielder) Carla Martinez has been playing well as well.
“It has been a rough season due to injuries and with a lot of new players and first-time players. But the girls battle hard, and there's no quitting in them”
Fenton backup keeper Alondra Rodriguez Herrera played well down the stretch to keep West Chicago at four goals.
This year’s Wildcats only have three seniors on their varsity roster. Tri-captains Pani, Isabella Lopez and Daisy Garcia have fought to keep the team’s spirits up. Some upperclassmen might check out and simply go through the motions during such a rough season, that’s not the case at West Chicago.
“I like to tell the younger players that they still have the rest of their high school careers to achieve their goals and get more wins,” Pani said. “Out of the four years I’ve been here, this team really likes to bring each other up. It’s the most bonding we’ve had, where we push each other, and we don’t let each other slack.”
West Chicago’s veteran coach is battling a numbers game this season, with only 32 girls in the Wildcats’ entire program. The low numbers may be traceable to the impact of the COVID.
“I hate to use the pandemic, but I really think COVID took us several steps back in our program,” Gomez said. “But I think a year from now we can see a different team and for now we’re not dwelling too much on our scores.”
Low numbers or not, Gomez won’t change the way he wants his girls to play.
“Not winning has been the hardest part but the good thing about this generation is they have a short-term memory,” Gomez said. “We’re just trying to head the right way and possess the ball. If we can possess, we can keep the ball from the other team and frustrate them. But when we can’t, and we match up against teams with four aggressive defenders, they can beat us up and come back at us fast.”
Where defense is concerned, West Chicago’s backline of Garnica, Lopez, Orosco, and Nicole Murphy shut Fenton down in the first half in front of starting keeper Heidi Pereckas.
With no goalkeeper currently on the roster, field players Pereckas and Sydney Ostapa have split time in net. Ostapa took over between the pipes for Wednesday’s second half.
Sophomore center back Garnica played a lock-down role in back against Fenton.
“She’s a general back there,” Gomez said. “She’s not going to let you get by her, and you’re going to know she’s there the whole game. She’s the most consistent player we have.
“I also thought Natalie (Fernandez) and Melissa (Pani) really controlled the midfield very well. We were missing Daisy Garcia at center mid today and Natalie played very well in her place.
“Elina Velasco is another freshman and she did well today. Lizbeth played well, and Brianna Carrasco is a little girl, but she’s very technical, Now we’re asking her to put her body in there.
“We’re really happy when we complete seven passes. That’s what we’re aiming for.”
Pani likes the evolution she has watched from this year’s team, particularly in one specific area.
“Confidence,” Pani said. “We started the season with really low confidence but girls have gotten a lot of game time. Now we’re confident that we have the players, we have the subs so even if we get tired we can keep going. Having that and knowing that has helped our confidence. And now we’re doing what we know how to do and apply those skills on the field.”
West Chicago fell 3-0 at Willowbrook in the second of back-to-back games Wednesday. The Wildcats will get a chance to get back on the winning side of the ledger when they host Lake Park on Monday
Starting lineups
West Chicago
GK Heidi Pereckas
D Leslie Garnica
D Nicole Murphy
D Lizbeth Orosco
D Isabella Lopez
M Brianna Carrasco
M Melissa Pani
M Natalie Fernandez
M Elina Velasco
F Jenna Zeitoun
F Sydney Ostapa
Fenton
GK Alondra Rodriguez Herrera
D Stephanie Ramirez
D Angelina Bottalico
D Sophia Sosa
D Maja Gakovic
M Carla Martinez
M Yanel Perez
M Roxana Patino
M Jocelyn Bello
M Deyrizith Sandoval
F Mariel Lara
Chicagoland Soccer MVP of the Match:
Jenna Zeitoun, jr., F, West Chicago
Scoring summary
First half
West Chicago — Zeitoun (Orosco) 5th minute
West Chicago — Zeiton (Zuniga) 36th minute
Second half
West Chicago — Zeitoun (UA) 41st minute
West Chicago — Fernandez (Zuniga), 47th minute
Fenton — Lara (UA) 49th minute
Fenton — Lara (FK) 61st minute
gets West Chicago off the schneid
Wildcats build four-goal lead before win 4-2 in U8 play
By Gary Larsen
BENSENVILLE -- West Chicago’s 4-2 win over Fenton on Wednesday featured a hat-trick, a beauty of a header goal and a senior Wildcat in Melissa Pani who was beyond happy to see her young team get its first win of the season.
“It was an amazing moment to share that feeling with the rest of my teammates, just because we haven’t experienced it this year,” Pani said. “Our younger players coming into a season where we haven’t been getting results, that’s been hard for them.
“I really liked seeing everybody’s happy faces and seeing that result come in. We were finally able to be relaxed, to be on the good side of the score. It was great.”
After scoring three goals through its first 11 games, West Chicago (1-8-3, 1-4-2) got three goals in one game from junior striker Jenna Zeitoun in the Upstate Eight Conference contest. Zeitoun struck twice in the first half and once in the second, before sophomore Natalie Fernandez made it 4-0 with West Chicago’s final goal.
Fenton (0-9-1, 0-6-1) kept fighting with two second half goals from Mariel Lara, but Zeitoun and company had made the mountain too high for the Bison to climb.
“Our passing has gotten better, our ability to make plays has improved, and so has our ability to read each other,” Zeitoun said. “We’ve never played together as this individual team, so it’s just going to take time. Our communication can still get better. But we’ve kept our heads up, and we’re getting better. Our passes, our plays together moving off of the ball worked really well tonight.”
Zeitoun made it 1-0 just five minutes in on a feed from Lizbeth Orosco, cutting to her right and taking a touch across the box before firing from 16 yards.
Fenton kept the ball on West Chicago’s half for the next five minutes but a defense led by sophomore center back Leslie Garnica kept things clean.
Zeitoun battled into the final third and earned an Elina Velasco corner kick at 12 minutes, before Fenton mounted pressure again to no avail to the 20-minute mark.
Velasco forced a diving keeper save at 22 minutes and three minutes later Pani fired a one-hopper into the keeper’s arms from deep on the left side.
Fenton’s Juliana Ramos thwarted Zeitoun inside the box at 29 minutes and Zeitoun fired wide at 33 minutes.
The Wildcats junior scored her second goal to make it 2-0 at 36 minutes. Zeitoun crashed the net to bury a rebound after a serve from the right side off the foot of freshman Arizbeth Zuniga.
Zeitoun made it 3-0 just 27 seconds into the second half, again cutting across the box from the left side and sending her shot inside the near post. And as quickly as that, Zeitoun earned herself Chicagoland Soccer MVP of the Match honors.
“Jenna is very confident in herself. She’s coachable, and she has speed,” West Chicago coach Cesar Gomez said. “We’re giving her different tools to go at defenses, so she doesn’t rely so much on her speed. But her speed favored her today.”
Pani also appreciates what Zeitoun brings to the table.
“The second Jenna steps on the field, it’s a whole different game for us. She brings so much to the team,” Pani said. “She brings a lot of that confidence, and if she wasn’t on the field for us it would be a much different team, for sure. She’s really fast; she has a strong kick; and she’s really strong. She has it all.”
Fernandez’s header came off a serve from Zuniga to make it 4-0 at 47 minutes.
“She just came in with such a great header. It looked professional,” Pani said. “I guess she had it in her, but she had never done that before. I was really proud of her.”
Fenton cut its deficit to 4-1 when Lara ran down a free kick serve up the right side and got behind the defense at 49 minutes. Lara was tripped at 61 minutes and bent in the ensuing free kick from 20 yards to end the day’s scoring.
Zuniga spent much of the game’s final 20 minutes streaking up the right side and reaching the end line to provide a few more dangerous scoring threats for West Chicago.
“She’s a good little player, a freshman naive of her speed,” said Gomez, “When she figures out what to do with the ball and how she can beat people, she can be something special a couple years from now.”
Fenton coach Victor Ruiz applauded the play of center back Maja Gakovic, liked what he got from Lara, and credited another player playing out of position.
“Jocelyn Bello is our main keeper, but she’s not playing in goal due to a shoulder injury,” Ruiz said. “She has played in two games (at midfield) and has sparked the team. (Midfielder) Carla Martinez has been playing well as well.
“It has been a rough season due to injuries and with a lot of new players and first-time players. But the girls battle hard, and there's no quitting in them”
Fenton backup keeper Alondra Rodriguez Herrera played well down the stretch to keep West Chicago at four goals.
This year’s Wildcats only have three seniors on their varsity roster. Tri-captains Pani, Isabella Lopez and Daisy Garcia have fought to keep the team’s spirits up. Some upperclassmen might check out and simply go through the motions during such a rough season, that’s not the case at West Chicago.
“I like to tell the younger players that they still have the rest of their high school careers to achieve their goals and get more wins,” Pani said. “Out of the four years I’ve been here, this team really likes to bring each other up. It’s the most bonding we’ve had, where we push each other, and we don’t let each other slack.”
West Chicago’s veteran coach is battling a numbers game this season, with only 32 girls in the Wildcats’ entire program. The low numbers may be traceable to the impact of the COVID.
“I hate to use the pandemic, but I really think COVID took us several steps back in our program,” Gomez said. “But I think a year from now we can see a different team and for now we’re not dwelling too much on our scores.”
Low numbers or not, Gomez won’t change the way he wants his girls to play.
“Not winning has been the hardest part but the good thing about this generation is they have a short-term memory,” Gomez said. “We’re just trying to head the right way and possess the ball. If we can possess, we can keep the ball from the other team and frustrate them. But when we can’t, and we match up against teams with four aggressive defenders, they can beat us up and come back at us fast.”
Where defense is concerned, West Chicago’s backline of Garnica, Lopez, Orosco, and Nicole Murphy shut Fenton down in the first half in front of starting keeper Heidi Pereckas.
With no goalkeeper currently on the roster, field players Pereckas and Sydney Ostapa have split time in net. Ostapa took over between the pipes for Wednesday’s second half.
Sophomore center back Garnica played a lock-down role in back against Fenton.
“She’s a general back there,” Gomez said. “She’s not going to let you get by her, and you’re going to know she’s there the whole game. She’s the most consistent player we have.
“I also thought Natalie (Fernandez) and Melissa (Pani) really controlled the midfield very well. We were missing Daisy Garcia at center mid today and Natalie played very well in her place.
“Elina Velasco is another freshman and she did well today. Lizbeth played well, and Brianna Carrasco is a little girl, but she’s very technical, Now we’re asking her to put her body in there.
“We’re really happy when we complete seven passes. That’s what we’re aiming for.”
Pani likes the evolution she has watched from this year’s team, particularly in one specific area.
“Confidence,” Pani said. “We started the season with really low confidence but girls have gotten a lot of game time. Now we’re confident that we have the players, we have the subs so even if we get tired we can keep going. Having that and knowing that has helped our confidence. And now we’re doing what we know how to do and apply those skills on the field.”
West Chicago fell 3-0 at Willowbrook in the second of back-to-back games Wednesday. The Wildcats will get a chance to get back on the winning side of the ledger when they host Lake Park on Monday
Starting lineups
West Chicago
GK Heidi Pereckas
D Leslie Garnica
D Nicole Murphy
D Lizbeth Orosco
D Isabella Lopez
M Brianna Carrasco
M Melissa Pani
M Natalie Fernandez
M Elina Velasco
F Jenna Zeitoun
F Sydney Ostapa
Fenton
GK Alondra Rodriguez Herrera
D Stephanie Ramirez
D Angelina Bottalico
D Sophia Sosa
D Maja Gakovic
M Carla Martinez
M Yanel Perez
M Roxana Patino
M Jocelyn Bello
M Deyrizith Sandoval
F Mariel Lara
Chicagoland Soccer MVP of the Match:
Jenna Zeitoun, jr., F, West Chicago
Scoring summary
First half
West Chicago — Zeitoun (Orosco) 5th minute
West Chicago — Zeiton (Zuniga) 36th minute
Second half
West Chicago — Zeitoun (UA) 41st minute
West Chicago — Fernandez (Zuniga), 47th minute
Fenton — Lara (UA) 49th minute
Fenton — Lara (FK) 61st minute