Bartlett, West Chicago battle
to keep league title hopes alive
By Gary Larsen
It's late in the season but there's still no peace in the Upstate Eight Conference Valley Division.
With the postseason looming, four Valley teams are still fighting it out for the divisional crown. Bartlett, Glenbard East, and West Aurora are unbeaten in divisional play and West Chicago has only lost a single game.
The tilt between Bartlett and West Chicago at 4:30 p.m. Tuesday at Millennium Park in Streamwood should thus go a long way toward narrowing the field of title contenders. Bartlett tied for the league’s top spot with Glenbard East last season. The Hawks are playing well and hungry for more.
“We’re working together nicely, and if we keep playing our best soccer, I think we can get good results,” Bartlett keeper Teagan Noesen said. “In conference, we want to win it back-to-back.”
Bartlett (8-5-2) heads into Tuesday’s game with a 1-0-2 Valley record, while West Chicago (11-8-2) is 2-1-0.
The game will also provide a preview for a showdown on May 15, when the two teams will square off in a Class 3A regional opener. Bartlett is the 8th seed of the Geneva Sectional and West Chicago is seeded 9th.
Bartlett returned its entire backline of center backs Miranda Hedeen and Paige Bednarke, and outside backs McKenna Hughes and Alyssa Modugno from last year’s title team
The Hawks are 3-0-1 in their last four games, posting a 13-3 scoring edge over Larkin, Streamwood, Hoffman Estates, and South Elgin. The offense has been rolling and on-field rapport has been key.
“Our backline has been working together for multiple years now so we’ve just had to work on connecting the ball to the team,” Noesen said. “But with our center mids, Jenna Dombrowski and Maddie Donnelly, we all have good chemistry, and those girls are really talented. They can play the ball to our forwards.”
West Chicago heads into Tuesday’s game on the heels of a 2-1 conference win over East Aurora, which snapped a four-game losing streak.
“We lost our stopper Odalis Martinez to a knee injury, and that hit us hard,” West Chicago coach Cesar Gomez said. “We’re trying to regain our strength on the backline. We continue to play well, possessing the ball and still finishing but there is that hole that we are trying to fill.
“Bartlett is a good team and is siting higher than us in the regional bracket, but this conference game should be a good one. Everyone has a shot at the conference title, and we know that we have to play the game. We can’t just mail in the result. We’ll be ready.”
When the offense is rolling, the West Chicago midfield of Vivis Martinez, Genesis Garcia, Kayla Schwarz and Emily Ayala spearhead the Wildcats’ attack, and Barbie Castellanos and Giselle Navejas can finish.
Bartlett knows what to expect from West Chicago on Tuesday.
“West Chicago always has a physical, skilled team that comes ready to play,” Noesen said. “It’s not a team to look past so we definitely need to come out strong and be ready to win because conference is on the line.”
to keep league title hopes alive
By Gary Larsen
It's late in the season but there's still no peace in the Upstate Eight Conference Valley Division.
With the postseason looming, four Valley teams are still fighting it out for the divisional crown. Bartlett, Glenbard East, and West Aurora are unbeaten in divisional play and West Chicago has only lost a single game.
The tilt between Bartlett and West Chicago at 4:30 p.m. Tuesday at Millennium Park in Streamwood should thus go a long way toward narrowing the field of title contenders. Bartlett tied for the league’s top spot with Glenbard East last season. The Hawks are playing well and hungry for more.
“We’re working together nicely, and if we keep playing our best soccer, I think we can get good results,” Bartlett keeper Teagan Noesen said. “In conference, we want to win it back-to-back.”
Bartlett (8-5-2) heads into Tuesday’s game with a 1-0-2 Valley record, while West Chicago (11-8-2) is 2-1-0.
The game will also provide a preview for a showdown on May 15, when the two teams will square off in a Class 3A regional opener. Bartlett is the 8th seed of the Geneva Sectional and West Chicago is seeded 9th.
Bartlett returned its entire backline of center backs Miranda Hedeen and Paige Bednarke, and outside backs McKenna Hughes and Alyssa Modugno from last year’s title team
The Hawks are 3-0-1 in their last four games, posting a 13-3 scoring edge over Larkin, Streamwood, Hoffman Estates, and South Elgin. The offense has been rolling and on-field rapport has been key.
“Our backline has been working together for multiple years now so we’ve just had to work on connecting the ball to the team,” Noesen said. “But with our center mids, Jenna Dombrowski and Maddie Donnelly, we all have good chemistry, and those girls are really talented. They can play the ball to our forwards.”
West Chicago heads into Tuesday’s game on the heels of a 2-1 conference win over East Aurora, which snapped a four-game losing streak.
“We lost our stopper Odalis Martinez to a knee injury, and that hit us hard,” West Chicago coach Cesar Gomez said. “We’re trying to regain our strength on the backline. We continue to play well, possessing the ball and still finishing but there is that hole that we are trying to fill.
“Bartlett is a good team and is siting higher than us in the regional bracket, but this conference game should be a good one. Everyone has a shot at the conference title, and we know that we have to play the game. We can’t just mail in the result. We’ll be ready.”
When the offense is rolling, the West Chicago midfield of Vivis Martinez, Genesis Garcia, Kayla Schwarz and Emily Ayala spearhead the Wildcats’ attack, and Barbie Castellanos and Giselle Navejas can finish.
Bartlett knows what to expect from West Chicago on Tuesday.
“West Chicago always has a physical, skilled team that comes ready to play,” Noesen said. “It’s not a team to look past so we definitely need to come out strong and be ready to win because conference is on the line.”