Notebook: Jones, Payton
By Patrick Z. McGavin
CHICAGO -- Jones and Payton are naturally bound together, mirror objects which look out and see a self-portrait.
They are academically prestigious magnet schools in the Chicago Public League that draw interest from the same soccer talent pool. Those players also follow a particular trajectory, gravitating toward the same top Chicago club programs.
Those connections matter, as do the friendships. Soccer is the line of demarcation.
“I am very ready,” Jones senior Avery Kaplan, a senior, said. “In club, year-round, you are playing against all of your friends and then it gets to the [high school] season, and the games just matter more.
“It is really exciting.”
On April 23, Jones defeated the Grizzlies 2-0 in Premier Division play on goals from junior midfielder Martina Bianchi and sophomore forward Carmen Marshall. Kaplan set up the Marshall goal with a beautiful assist.
The best city teams naturally flow to the best competition, inside and outside of the league. For these two teams, that meant playing for the second-consecutive year in the Chicago Cup.
Jones (13-5-0, 5-2-0) has experienced a breakthrough season, the one coach Derek Bylsma envisioned when he took over the program eight years ago. The Eagles beat Young 2-0 this season for the first win against the Dolphins in program history.
The day before the win over Payton, Bianchi nailed a ball from the top of the box for the 1-0 victory over Latin -- also marking the first time Jones had ever beaten the Romans.
Earlier exposure to high-level play and year-round action accounts for the rise of both Jones and Payton in the firmament of girls soccer. Bylsma said in his first year, he had two players in the program who had a background in club. Now, he said, that number is more than 30.
Jones went 2-1-0 in group play of the Chicago Cup and nearly qualified for the semifinals as the wild card entrant. They lost out to St. Ignatius on goal differential.
The start of Chicago Cup games also overlapped with spring break. The late Chicago Public League schedule always creates havoc with the players. Jones beat Mother McAuley in the PepsiCo Showdown only to lose 3-0 in the rematch in Cup play, with the team missing some key personnel.
The stop-and-start rhythm always take some getting used to.
“I think, by now, we are pretty used to that, the spring break slump,” Kaplan said. “You have a running start and then towards the end of the break, we were fortunate to have those [Cup] games and those allowed us to get mentally in it.
“At the same time, it was good to get away, relax and get energized.”
Bylsma has called this team the most talented he has ever coached, and the players are living up to his standards. The Eagles secured their highest seed ever in the Class 3A tournament in earning a no. 3 spot in the Glenbard East sectional.
Good teams always reflect the temperament and manner of their best players. Kaplan, savvy and industrious, a fierce competitor, sets the emotional tone for the Eagles. She was knocked out of the Payton game a couple of times, walking gingerly off the field. She returned moments later each time, more locked in and determined than ever before.
Bianchi, a powerful, skilled presence in the middle, is especially dangerous on set pieces, evidenced by her header off a corner kick from Laura Rios for the first goal in the Payton game. She also forms a shrewd combination with Natalie Loos. Those two are so similar in physical appearance and positions, their accomplishments tend to blur together.
“Teams don’t like to defend that long throw-in or the corner kicks, and those plays are really dangerous for us with Martina and Natalie,” Bylsma said.
Jones has come of age, balancing the veteran experience of Kaplan, Bianchi and Loos with the youthful underclass roster featuring the explosive Marshall, the skilled Rios and defender Catherine Lorden, a free kick specialist.
With the start of pool play in the Public League tournament unfolding on Monday, Jones and Payton are again linked. The second seed, Jones heads the field in Group B. The Eagles host Curie in the opening game on Monday night.
As the fourth seed, Payton is the team to beat in Group D.
The four group plays winners will advance to the semifinals May 7 at Lane.
Payton beat Jones 1-0 in the city’s third place place game last season on a 78th-minute goal by Fiona O’Brien. The shutout loss against the Eagles continued a five-game scoring drought.
Sophomore Lindsey Holzman had a shot in the 16th minute she pulled slightly left and watched it hit off the crossbar. Freshman Nadine Denahan also hit the crossbar in the second half.
After going more than 400 minutes without a goal, the Grizzlies found their touch in a 4-0 victory over Ridgewood the day after the Jones game. The team is facing challenges. The most significant is a bump up in state classification. The Grizzlies are playing in the Class 3A field for the first time ever. They are the no. 9 seed of the sectional at New Trier.
Seasons have natural fluctuations and moments of duress. The mental complications of those scoring failures clearly started to weigh on the players.
“It shows on the field because I think sometimes we are focusing on the scoring instead of the soccer we should be playing,” Holzman said. “Now we have to prove to ourselves we are able to play calm, cool and collected soccer, and I think that is something that is going to help us.”
Payton has been sidetracked by injuries, the most recent a painful ankle injury suffered by junior star Hayley Owens. She is the fulcrum of the Grizzlies’ attack, a skilled and creative facilitator who is brilliant on corner kicks and also in directing the attack to forwards like Holzman and Olivia Moore.
Moore and Sophie Salem also missed valuable time.
“We are going to see the soccer that we are going to play when we have everybody,” Holzman said.
Payton remains a young team, with only a handful of seniors. Juniors are the centerpiece of the attack, supported by gifted young freshmen like Denahan and midfielder Isabelle Chitarro.
Coach Paul Escobar likes that combination of the proven and raw.
“Our potential is very nice to see,” he said.
Payton (9-5-2, 4-3-0), which finished fourth in the Premier Division, opens group play in the city tournament against Little Village on Monday at Marine Leadership.
“We are really excited to play all the teams again, and step up and show what we are capable of doing,” Moore said.
By Patrick Z. McGavin
CHICAGO -- Jones and Payton are naturally bound together, mirror objects which look out and see a self-portrait.
They are academically prestigious magnet schools in the Chicago Public League that draw interest from the same soccer talent pool. Those players also follow a particular trajectory, gravitating toward the same top Chicago club programs.
Those connections matter, as do the friendships. Soccer is the line of demarcation.
“I am very ready,” Jones senior Avery Kaplan, a senior, said. “In club, year-round, you are playing against all of your friends and then it gets to the [high school] season, and the games just matter more.
“It is really exciting.”
On April 23, Jones defeated the Grizzlies 2-0 in Premier Division play on goals from junior midfielder Martina Bianchi and sophomore forward Carmen Marshall. Kaplan set up the Marshall goal with a beautiful assist.
The best city teams naturally flow to the best competition, inside and outside of the league. For these two teams, that meant playing for the second-consecutive year in the Chicago Cup.
Jones (13-5-0, 5-2-0) has experienced a breakthrough season, the one coach Derek Bylsma envisioned when he took over the program eight years ago. The Eagles beat Young 2-0 this season for the first win against the Dolphins in program history.
The day before the win over Payton, Bianchi nailed a ball from the top of the box for the 1-0 victory over Latin -- also marking the first time Jones had ever beaten the Romans.
Earlier exposure to high-level play and year-round action accounts for the rise of both Jones and Payton in the firmament of girls soccer. Bylsma said in his first year, he had two players in the program who had a background in club. Now, he said, that number is more than 30.
Jones went 2-1-0 in group play of the Chicago Cup and nearly qualified for the semifinals as the wild card entrant. They lost out to St. Ignatius on goal differential.
The start of Chicago Cup games also overlapped with spring break. The late Chicago Public League schedule always creates havoc with the players. Jones beat Mother McAuley in the PepsiCo Showdown only to lose 3-0 in the rematch in Cup play, with the team missing some key personnel.
The stop-and-start rhythm always take some getting used to.
“I think, by now, we are pretty used to that, the spring break slump,” Kaplan said. “You have a running start and then towards the end of the break, we were fortunate to have those [Cup] games and those allowed us to get mentally in it.
“At the same time, it was good to get away, relax and get energized.”
Bylsma has called this team the most talented he has ever coached, and the players are living up to his standards. The Eagles secured their highest seed ever in the Class 3A tournament in earning a no. 3 spot in the Glenbard East sectional.
Good teams always reflect the temperament and manner of their best players. Kaplan, savvy and industrious, a fierce competitor, sets the emotional tone for the Eagles. She was knocked out of the Payton game a couple of times, walking gingerly off the field. She returned moments later each time, more locked in and determined than ever before.
Bianchi, a powerful, skilled presence in the middle, is especially dangerous on set pieces, evidenced by her header off a corner kick from Laura Rios for the first goal in the Payton game. She also forms a shrewd combination with Natalie Loos. Those two are so similar in physical appearance and positions, their accomplishments tend to blur together.
“Teams don’t like to defend that long throw-in or the corner kicks, and those plays are really dangerous for us with Martina and Natalie,” Bylsma said.
Jones has come of age, balancing the veteran experience of Kaplan, Bianchi and Loos with the youthful underclass roster featuring the explosive Marshall, the skilled Rios and defender Catherine Lorden, a free kick specialist.
With the start of pool play in the Public League tournament unfolding on Monday, Jones and Payton are again linked. The second seed, Jones heads the field in Group B. The Eagles host Curie in the opening game on Monday night.
As the fourth seed, Payton is the team to beat in Group D.
The four group plays winners will advance to the semifinals May 7 at Lane.
Payton beat Jones 1-0 in the city’s third place place game last season on a 78th-minute goal by Fiona O’Brien. The shutout loss against the Eagles continued a five-game scoring drought.
Sophomore Lindsey Holzman had a shot in the 16th minute she pulled slightly left and watched it hit off the crossbar. Freshman Nadine Denahan also hit the crossbar in the second half.
After going more than 400 minutes without a goal, the Grizzlies found their touch in a 4-0 victory over Ridgewood the day after the Jones game. The team is facing challenges. The most significant is a bump up in state classification. The Grizzlies are playing in the Class 3A field for the first time ever. They are the no. 9 seed of the sectional at New Trier.
Seasons have natural fluctuations and moments of duress. The mental complications of those scoring failures clearly started to weigh on the players.
“It shows on the field because I think sometimes we are focusing on the scoring instead of the soccer we should be playing,” Holzman said. “Now we have to prove to ourselves we are able to play calm, cool and collected soccer, and I think that is something that is going to help us.”
Payton has been sidetracked by injuries, the most recent a painful ankle injury suffered by junior star Hayley Owens. She is the fulcrum of the Grizzlies’ attack, a skilled and creative facilitator who is brilliant on corner kicks and also in directing the attack to forwards like Holzman and Olivia Moore.
Moore and Sophie Salem also missed valuable time.
“We are going to see the soccer that we are going to play when we have everybody,” Holzman said.
Payton remains a young team, with only a handful of seniors. Juniors are the centerpiece of the attack, supported by gifted young freshmen like Denahan and midfielder Isabelle Chitarro.
Coach Paul Escobar likes that combination of the proven and raw.
“Our potential is very nice to see,” he said.
Payton (9-5-2, 4-3-0), which finished fourth in the Premier Division, opens group play in the city tournament against Little Village on Monday at Marine Leadership.
“We are really excited to play all the teams again, and step up and show what we are capable of doing,” Moore said.