Coaches predict entertaining
Prospect-Hoffman Estates battle
By Bill McLean
You don’t have to be a nighthawk in order to enjoy Friday’s Knights-Hawks girls soccer game.
The Prospect-Hoffman Estates Mid-Suburban League match was originally scheduled to start after dinnertime. Now it will commence at 5:30 p.m.
No matter.
More daylight shouldn’t impact the expected tenor of the meeting.
“Traditionally this has been a very competitive matchup for us,” said Hawks coach Jeff Bird, whose club is 3-1-0 overall and 3-1-0 in the MSL. “[Prospect coach] Tom Froats always has talented girls who play well together. It’s a fundamentally and tactically sound squad. Prospect’s girls pressure the ball well and can be very potent, offensively, if they are given space.
“This will be a game, if both teams are ready to play, that could be a close one, settled late or even in OT,” he added. “I don’t think it will be a game where either team will be able to rest if they earn a lead. It will be competitive to the end.”
Prospect enters the game with an overall record of 1-2-2 (1-1-1 in MSL action).
“It has taken us a while, maybe longer than we would have liked, to begin to jell,” said Froats, whose roster features Chicagoland Soccer Players to Watch Claire Beattie (senior, defender), Madison Culli (senior, forward), Lauren Harrell (sophomore, forward/midfielder), Abby Knott (sophomore, midfielder), Hannah Mekky (junior, midfielder/forward) and Jillian Sawadski (sophomore midfielder/forward).
“I think day by day, practice by practice and game by game, we’re growing individually and collectively as a team. All of our players are performing admirably.”
Senior tri-captain and midfielder/forward Avery Panek and junior forward Charlotte Hethcoat pace Hoffman with three goals apiece through four games. Hawks senior tri-captain Christian Salerno stands out as a defender and as a leader, and Bird’s other tri-captain, senior midfielder Mia Eberman, is a futbol handful all over the pitch.
“Mia,” Bird said, “has had an exceptional year with her fluid playmaking ability and her play on the offensive and defensive sides of the ball. [But] it’s the overall balance of the team that is most impactful for us.”
And it’s a team loaded with youth — more than half of Bird’s Hawks played their first prep game this spring. But the youngsters aren’t exactly green booters.
“It’s a group with a lot of experience at the club level,” Bird said.
Eberman and freshman midfielder/defender Natasha Navarro have each provided a team-best two assists.
Hawks junior goalkeeper Paige Schneider (4.5 saves per game) has recorded a shutout.
Knights senior keeper Annie Ninness didn’t allow a first half goal against formidable Fremd (no. 19 in Chicagoland Soccer’s Top 25) in a 2-0 loss April 28.
“The MSL is one of the toughest conferences in the state,” Froats said. “We will need to come ready to play. Jeff’s team is going to be a well-coached, hardworking side. They are always dangerous in their attack and well-organized on defense. It’ll be a battle, like all MSL games are.”
Footnotes
Hoffman Estates went up 2-0 on Hersey on Monday, saw the Huskies equalize it, and then netted the clincher in the final five minutes of its 3-2 MSL victory. … Froats, on the 2021 season: “Watching the girls play together and have the opportunity to share this special season together is really exciting and rewarding as a coach. I have been so impressed by the hard work, commitment and dedication of these young ladies. It’s an incredible group of young ladies, showing strength and resilience that we often don’t know is within us until called upon.”
Prospect-Hoffman Estates battle
By Bill McLean
You don’t have to be a nighthawk in order to enjoy Friday’s Knights-Hawks girls soccer game.
The Prospect-Hoffman Estates Mid-Suburban League match was originally scheduled to start after dinnertime. Now it will commence at 5:30 p.m.
No matter.
More daylight shouldn’t impact the expected tenor of the meeting.
“Traditionally this has been a very competitive matchup for us,” said Hawks coach Jeff Bird, whose club is 3-1-0 overall and 3-1-0 in the MSL. “[Prospect coach] Tom Froats always has talented girls who play well together. It’s a fundamentally and tactically sound squad. Prospect’s girls pressure the ball well and can be very potent, offensively, if they are given space.
“This will be a game, if both teams are ready to play, that could be a close one, settled late or even in OT,” he added. “I don’t think it will be a game where either team will be able to rest if they earn a lead. It will be competitive to the end.”
Prospect enters the game with an overall record of 1-2-2 (1-1-1 in MSL action).
“It has taken us a while, maybe longer than we would have liked, to begin to jell,” said Froats, whose roster features Chicagoland Soccer Players to Watch Claire Beattie (senior, defender), Madison Culli (senior, forward), Lauren Harrell (sophomore, forward/midfielder), Abby Knott (sophomore, midfielder), Hannah Mekky (junior, midfielder/forward) and Jillian Sawadski (sophomore midfielder/forward).
“I think day by day, practice by practice and game by game, we’re growing individually and collectively as a team. All of our players are performing admirably.”
Senior tri-captain and midfielder/forward Avery Panek and junior forward Charlotte Hethcoat pace Hoffman with three goals apiece through four games. Hawks senior tri-captain Christian Salerno stands out as a defender and as a leader, and Bird’s other tri-captain, senior midfielder Mia Eberman, is a futbol handful all over the pitch.
“Mia,” Bird said, “has had an exceptional year with her fluid playmaking ability and her play on the offensive and defensive sides of the ball. [But] it’s the overall balance of the team that is most impactful for us.”
And it’s a team loaded with youth — more than half of Bird’s Hawks played their first prep game this spring. But the youngsters aren’t exactly green booters.
“It’s a group with a lot of experience at the club level,” Bird said.
Eberman and freshman midfielder/defender Natasha Navarro have each provided a team-best two assists.
Hawks junior goalkeeper Paige Schneider (4.5 saves per game) has recorded a shutout.
Knights senior keeper Annie Ninness didn’t allow a first half goal against formidable Fremd (no. 19 in Chicagoland Soccer’s Top 25) in a 2-0 loss April 28.
“The MSL is one of the toughest conferences in the state,” Froats said. “We will need to come ready to play. Jeff’s team is going to be a well-coached, hardworking side. They are always dangerous in their attack and well-organized on defense. It’ll be a battle, like all MSL games are.”
Footnotes
Hoffman Estates went up 2-0 on Hersey on Monday, saw the Huskies equalize it, and then netted the clincher in the final five minutes of its 3-2 MSL victory. … Froats, on the 2021 season: “Watching the girls play together and have the opportunity to share this special season together is really exciting and rewarding as a coach. I have been so impressed by the hard work, commitment and dedication of these young ladies. It’s an incredible group of young ladies, showing strength and resilience that we often don’t know is within us until called upon.”