Shebar, Wheaton North run by Lake Park
Senior nets 2nd hat-trick of season in 4-0 DuKane win
By Bill McLean
ROSELLE — Take a bow, Phil Groark.
Lake Park’s PA announcer selected a couple of ideal songs to blare at halftime of Tuesday night’s Wheaton North-Lake Park girls soccer match.
The pair? U2’s “Beautiful Day” and Bill Withers’ “Lovely Day,” both upbeat tunes were fitting because the sun-drenched Tuesday reached a high of 86 degrees.
But Wheaton North senior forward and Purdue Fort Wayne-bound Kayla Shebar, blessed with track-star speed and eye-popping talent, topped the August-like conditions with her gorgeous stat line of three goals and one assist in the Falcons’ 4-0 defeat of the host Lancers.
The performance in the DuKane Conference clash upped Shebar’s hat-trick total to two in 2021 — a .400 batting average in Wheaton North’s five contest.
“You can’t coach speed like Kayla’s,” Falcons coach Tim McEvilly marveled after his 21st varsity edition — ranked no. 17 in the Chicagoland Soccer Top 25 — improved to 4-0-1 overall and 2-0-1 in DuKane action. “She’s also a creative goal-scorer and an unselfish teammate. I hear coaches all the time yell, ‘Contain! Contain! Contain!’ when Kayla has the ball.
“Every time I hear that I think, ‘Good luck.’ ”
Shebar’s brilliant skills were on display Tuesday night. Often. Her first two tallies were of the unassisted variety, and her lengthy, hooking assist to Louisville-bound midfielder Julia Simon in the second half resembled a golfer’s elegant approach on a par 4.
An unsuccessful Lake Park corner kick led directly to Shebar’s final goal. Falcons junior forward Olivia Moreno fed a smart, right-on delivery to a sprinting Shebar, who then poked a shot past Lancers senior goalkeeper and 2019 All-DuKane Conference defender Emma Thorne (nine saves) in the 65th minute.
“Kayla,” McEvilly added, “was snakebit in her sophomore season (2019, when girls prep soccer games were last played), scoring only a few goals, but she ended up with 15 assists for us.”
Shebar, who plans to major in education at Horizon League member Purdue Fort Wayne, first met Simon when they were sixth-graders at a soccer tryout. They’ve essentially been besties ever since.
They were also basketball teammates at Wheaton North.
“I used to be a bad soccer player,” a smiling Shebar claimed. “Julia has always been very good at soccer.”
Both praised the team after its second shutout of the season.
“All of us play hard for each other, at all times,” said Simon, who will study nursing and play soccer at Louisville. “We pass and connect well, and we’re always looking to involve as many teammates as possible.”
Chimed Shebar, “Even when we’re winning, we never think or say, ‘We’ve got this.’ We keep pushing, keep attacking.
“What I like most about our team is our vision on the field.”
Lake Park (0-3-1, 0-3-0) saw only a 1-0 halftime deficit on the scoreboard against a formidable foe in its home opener Tuesday; the visitors had entered the game with a collective goal differential of 19-6 after five games, including a 7-0 defeat of West Chicago in its first game on April 18.
Lancers junior attacking midfielder Anna Odisho, normally a forward, fought hard and valiantly for 80 minutes. She might be her club’s most indispensible booter.
“Anna does so much for us, physically, and she works tremendously hard,” said Lake Park pitch boss Sean Crosby, whose side played in the second game of a busy stretch (three games in four days). “Up and back she’s there for us, everywhere for us. We need her in the center now, need her also to make the clears like she did from the defensive box tonight.
“She impresses me,” continued Crosby, who lost key defender Gianna Kubica to an ankle injury for the last 3:38 of the first half and the entirety of the second half. “Anna never quits, is very competitive, and she wants to win … loves to win.”
Odisho, a future engineering major, admitted Wheaton North’s speed along the wings was too electric, too relentless.
“But I thought our defense saved us a lot tonight,” she said, adding she has embraced Crosby’s decision to shift her to a middle spot. “We need to move more quickly than we did. Wheaton North’s players—they’re so quick down the sidelines, so fast.”
Crosby pegged Wheaton North as one of the conferences top-two units, right up there with St. Charles East (no. 2 in the Chicagoland Soccer Top 25).
“Wheaton North reminds me of a very good attacking basketball team, because they have a number of players who play well at interchangeable positions and their lineup is filled with unselfish players,” said Crosby, a 2005 Lake Park graduate.
“That’s a team that plays to its strengths, 100 percent. There’s talent all over the field. That, alone, makes it tough to defend. But what makes it even tougher is how well Wheaton North plays off the ball.”
Winning goalkeeper Zoey Bohmer is one of three freshman keepers, along with Hannah Lang and Olivia Iberle, on McEvilly’s varsity roster.
“Like most teams, with last spring canceled because of the pandemic, 80 percent of our players are first-year varsity members,” McEvilly said before the match. “It’s nice to be back and playing again, after such a long break. I like what I’ve seen so far.
“It looks like we’ll end up with multiple double-digit goal scorers.”
Both squads play again on Thursday at 6 p.m. Wheaton North hosts Glenbard North, while Lake Park visits St. Charles North.
Footnotes:
Wheaton North junior midfielder Claudia Kim played magnificently against host Lake Park Tuesday night. Don’t let her 0-goal, 0-assist game in the Falcons’ 4-0 victory fool you. She controlled the ball deftly and delivered more than a few crosses that deserved to result in at least two goals. … Wheaton North scored three second half goals with the wind at its back. “We did a better job of putting things together in the second half,” McEvilly noted. Added Simon, “Second half we settled down and did a better job of taking charge. Lake Park, though, never gave up.” … LP coach Crosby, on the DuKane Conference. “Games are never easy in our conference. Never.” … Crosby, on having to battle WN for a little more than a half without the services of injured Kubica: “That hurt us, no question. She does so much for us from the backline, including her passes. Her passes start attacks.” … Nearly six minutes after the start of Tuesday night’s game, the center referee halted play to recruit a ball boy or two from the stands at LP. “You’d have the best seat in the house,” the ref barked from the pitch.
Starting lineups
Wheaton North
GK Zoey Bohmer
D Anna Roe
D Ella Kocher
D Addison Henninger
D Sara Chojnacki
M Julia Simon
M Claudia Kim
M Addison Falco
F Kayla Shebar
F Olivia Moreno
F Macy Hutchinson
Lake Park
GK Emma Thorne
D Melyssa Hernandez
D Peyton Sarubbi
D Gianna Kubica
D Lauren Malone
M Cecilia Defino
M AnnMarie Ahrens
M Anna Odisho
M Patty Lachowiez
M Francesca Cali
F Nola White
Chicagoland Soccer MVP of the Match: Kayla Shebar, sr., F, Wheaton North
Scoring summary
First half
Wheaton North — Shebar (UA), 26’
Second half
Wheaton North — Simon (Shebar), 51’
Wheaton North — Shebar (UA), 54’
Wheaton North — Shebar (Moreno), 65’
Senior nets 2nd hat-trick of season in 4-0 DuKane win
By Bill McLean
ROSELLE — Take a bow, Phil Groark.
Lake Park’s PA announcer selected a couple of ideal songs to blare at halftime of Tuesday night’s Wheaton North-Lake Park girls soccer match.
The pair? U2’s “Beautiful Day” and Bill Withers’ “Lovely Day,” both upbeat tunes were fitting because the sun-drenched Tuesday reached a high of 86 degrees.
But Wheaton North senior forward and Purdue Fort Wayne-bound Kayla Shebar, blessed with track-star speed and eye-popping talent, topped the August-like conditions with her gorgeous stat line of three goals and one assist in the Falcons’ 4-0 defeat of the host Lancers.
The performance in the DuKane Conference clash upped Shebar’s hat-trick total to two in 2021 — a .400 batting average in Wheaton North’s five contest.
“You can’t coach speed like Kayla’s,” Falcons coach Tim McEvilly marveled after his 21st varsity edition — ranked no. 17 in the Chicagoland Soccer Top 25 — improved to 4-0-1 overall and 2-0-1 in DuKane action. “She’s also a creative goal-scorer and an unselfish teammate. I hear coaches all the time yell, ‘Contain! Contain! Contain!’ when Kayla has the ball.
“Every time I hear that I think, ‘Good luck.’ ”
Shebar’s brilliant skills were on display Tuesday night. Often. Her first two tallies were of the unassisted variety, and her lengthy, hooking assist to Louisville-bound midfielder Julia Simon in the second half resembled a golfer’s elegant approach on a par 4.
An unsuccessful Lake Park corner kick led directly to Shebar’s final goal. Falcons junior forward Olivia Moreno fed a smart, right-on delivery to a sprinting Shebar, who then poked a shot past Lancers senior goalkeeper and 2019 All-DuKane Conference defender Emma Thorne (nine saves) in the 65th minute.
“Kayla,” McEvilly added, “was snakebit in her sophomore season (2019, when girls prep soccer games were last played), scoring only a few goals, but she ended up with 15 assists for us.”
Shebar, who plans to major in education at Horizon League member Purdue Fort Wayne, first met Simon when they were sixth-graders at a soccer tryout. They’ve essentially been besties ever since.
They were also basketball teammates at Wheaton North.
“I used to be a bad soccer player,” a smiling Shebar claimed. “Julia has always been very good at soccer.”
Both praised the team after its second shutout of the season.
“All of us play hard for each other, at all times,” said Simon, who will study nursing and play soccer at Louisville. “We pass and connect well, and we’re always looking to involve as many teammates as possible.”
Chimed Shebar, “Even when we’re winning, we never think or say, ‘We’ve got this.’ We keep pushing, keep attacking.
“What I like most about our team is our vision on the field.”
Lake Park (0-3-1, 0-3-0) saw only a 1-0 halftime deficit on the scoreboard against a formidable foe in its home opener Tuesday; the visitors had entered the game with a collective goal differential of 19-6 after five games, including a 7-0 defeat of West Chicago in its first game on April 18.
Lancers junior attacking midfielder Anna Odisho, normally a forward, fought hard and valiantly for 80 minutes. She might be her club’s most indispensible booter.
“Anna does so much for us, physically, and she works tremendously hard,” said Lake Park pitch boss Sean Crosby, whose side played in the second game of a busy stretch (three games in four days). “Up and back she’s there for us, everywhere for us. We need her in the center now, need her also to make the clears like she did from the defensive box tonight.
“She impresses me,” continued Crosby, who lost key defender Gianna Kubica to an ankle injury for the last 3:38 of the first half and the entirety of the second half. “Anna never quits, is very competitive, and she wants to win … loves to win.”
Odisho, a future engineering major, admitted Wheaton North’s speed along the wings was too electric, too relentless.
“But I thought our defense saved us a lot tonight,” she said, adding she has embraced Crosby’s decision to shift her to a middle spot. “We need to move more quickly than we did. Wheaton North’s players—they’re so quick down the sidelines, so fast.”
Crosby pegged Wheaton North as one of the conferences top-two units, right up there with St. Charles East (no. 2 in the Chicagoland Soccer Top 25).
“Wheaton North reminds me of a very good attacking basketball team, because they have a number of players who play well at interchangeable positions and their lineup is filled with unselfish players,” said Crosby, a 2005 Lake Park graduate.
“That’s a team that plays to its strengths, 100 percent. There’s talent all over the field. That, alone, makes it tough to defend. But what makes it even tougher is how well Wheaton North plays off the ball.”
Winning goalkeeper Zoey Bohmer is one of three freshman keepers, along with Hannah Lang and Olivia Iberle, on McEvilly’s varsity roster.
“Like most teams, with last spring canceled because of the pandemic, 80 percent of our players are first-year varsity members,” McEvilly said before the match. “It’s nice to be back and playing again, after such a long break. I like what I’ve seen so far.
“It looks like we’ll end up with multiple double-digit goal scorers.”
Both squads play again on Thursday at 6 p.m. Wheaton North hosts Glenbard North, while Lake Park visits St. Charles North.
Footnotes:
Wheaton North junior midfielder Claudia Kim played magnificently against host Lake Park Tuesday night. Don’t let her 0-goal, 0-assist game in the Falcons’ 4-0 victory fool you. She controlled the ball deftly and delivered more than a few crosses that deserved to result in at least two goals. … Wheaton North scored three second half goals with the wind at its back. “We did a better job of putting things together in the second half,” McEvilly noted. Added Simon, “Second half we settled down and did a better job of taking charge. Lake Park, though, never gave up.” … LP coach Crosby, on the DuKane Conference. “Games are never easy in our conference. Never.” … Crosby, on having to battle WN for a little more than a half without the services of injured Kubica: “That hurt us, no question. She does so much for us from the backline, including her passes. Her passes start attacks.” … Nearly six minutes after the start of Tuesday night’s game, the center referee halted play to recruit a ball boy or two from the stands at LP. “You’d have the best seat in the house,” the ref barked from the pitch.
Starting lineups
Wheaton North
GK Zoey Bohmer
D Anna Roe
D Ella Kocher
D Addison Henninger
D Sara Chojnacki
M Julia Simon
M Claudia Kim
M Addison Falco
F Kayla Shebar
F Olivia Moreno
F Macy Hutchinson
Lake Park
GK Emma Thorne
D Melyssa Hernandez
D Peyton Sarubbi
D Gianna Kubica
D Lauren Malone
M Cecilia Defino
M AnnMarie Ahrens
M Anna Odisho
M Patty Lachowiez
M Francesca Cali
F Nola White
Chicagoland Soccer MVP of the Match: Kayla Shebar, sr., F, Wheaton North
Scoring summary
First half
Wheaton North — Shebar (UA), 26’
Second half
Wheaton North — Simon (Shebar), 51’
Wheaton North — Shebar (UA), 54’
Wheaton North — Shebar (Moreno), 65’