Batavia hopes to awaken vs. Streamwood
By Chris Walker
Streamwood coach Matt Polovin knows the Batavia soccer program quite well.
Not only has Polovin coached a lot of Bulldogs players on the club circuit, but he’s also coached Batavia head coach Mark Gianfrancesco’s youngest daughter.
Those relationships are certain to provide for an entertaining game on Tuesday night in Batavia and one in which the Sabres are riding into with momentum while the Bulldogs are reeling and in need of a victory.
“Having coached a lot of those guys in club soccer, I’m familiar with them and the whole Batavia family, and they’ve got good players on that team,” Polovin said. “For whatever reason they’re not clicking right now, but we know we’re going to have a tough game. It’s going to be a good fight, and it’s always a good game whenever we play games against them. The last couple years have been one-goal wins or ties.”
The Sabres (4-2-0) feel they could just as easily be undefeated heading into Tuesday’s Upstate Eight Conference River Division opener for each team.
“In reality we feel like we are 6-0 because our two losses we felt we could’ve won but had some mishaps,” Polovin said. “We finished 3-1 at the Barrington tournament and our only loss was 2-1 against Barrington. We thought we were the better team, but we didn’t put in our chances, and you’ve got to do that against good teams.”
Batavia (1-3-1) has dropped three-straight games, beginning with a 5-1 loss to Wheaton Warrenville South and a pair of 3-2 setbacks against Wheaton Academy and Plainfield Central.
One thing is for certain, the Bulldogs have to clean up things quickly -- they have allowed 11 goals during their three-game slide.
Before playing their first game this fall, Batavia coach Mark Gianfrancesco said that his team looked good on paper, but paper isn’t the same as the pitch. Still, it’s early, and Tuesday would be a perfect time for the Bulldogs to get back to their winning ways.
While conference season is now in full swing, many teams are still trying to figure things out personnel-wise. The Sabres are one of those teams and it’s likely the Bulldogs are as well with their tough start.
“You always hope it’ll come together and sometimes you end up moving some guys around until you’re comfortable,” Polovin said. “That’s kind of where we’re still at. We have 11 seniors, and I like to remind people that five of them were freshmen on the team that went to state a few years ago, and those guys have that hunger.”
Ensuring that they don’t satisfy that hunger into a conference victory will be a big task for the Bulldogs, but it’s a challenge they’ll need to meet if they want to return to their winning ways and avoid digging themselves into a bigger hole.
By Chris Walker
Streamwood coach Matt Polovin knows the Batavia soccer program quite well.
Not only has Polovin coached a lot of Bulldogs players on the club circuit, but he’s also coached Batavia head coach Mark Gianfrancesco’s youngest daughter.
Those relationships are certain to provide for an entertaining game on Tuesday night in Batavia and one in which the Sabres are riding into with momentum while the Bulldogs are reeling and in need of a victory.
“Having coached a lot of those guys in club soccer, I’m familiar with them and the whole Batavia family, and they’ve got good players on that team,” Polovin said. “For whatever reason they’re not clicking right now, but we know we’re going to have a tough game. It’s going to be a good fight, and it’s always a good game whenever we play games against them. The last couple years have been one-goal wins or ties.”
The Sabres (4-2-0) feel they could just as easily be undefeated heading into Tuesday’s Upstate Eight Conference River Division opener for each team.
“In reality we feel like we are 6-0 because our two losses we felt we could’ve won but had some mishaps,” Polovin said. “We finished 3-1 at the Barrington tournament and our only loss was 2-1 against Barrington. We thought we were the better team, but we didn’t put in our chances, and you’ve got to do that against good teams.”
Batavia (1-3-1) has dropped three-straight games, beginning with a 5-1 loss to Wheaton Warrenville South and a pair of 3-2 setbacks against Wheaton Academy and Plainfield Central.
One thing is for certain, the Bulldogs have to clean up things quickly -- they have allowed 11 goals during their three-game slide.
Before playing their first game this fall, Batavia coach Mark Gianfrancesco said that his team looked good on paper, but paper isn’t the same as the pitch. Still, it’s early, and Tuesday would be a perfect time for the Bulldogs to get back to their winning ways.
While conference season is now in full swing, many teams are still trying to figure things out personnel-wise. The Sabres are one of those teams and it’s likely the Bulldogs are as well with their tough start.
“You always hope it’ll come together and sometimes you end up moving some guys around until you’re comfortable,” Polovin said. “That’s kind of where we’re still at. We have 11 seniors, and I like to remind people that five of them were freshmen on the team that went to state a few years ago, and those guys have that hunger.”
Ensuring that they don’t satisfy that hunger into a conference victory will be a big task for the Bulldogs, but it’s a challenge they’ll need to meet if they want to return to their winning ways and avoid digging themselves into a bigger hole.