Team preview: Batavia
By Patrick Z. McGavin
On a gray and windswept field in Schaumburg last May, Batavia midfielder Abby Zipse surveyed what had just unfolded.
In a Class 3A sectional semifinal, St. Charles North scored three first half goals en route to 3-1 victory over the Bulldogs.
The loss was disappointing though resolutely failed to put Zipse or her teammates into any kind of true funk.
The season had too much to celebrate, including a shared championship with St. Charles East in the first year of the stacked DuKane Conference.
Earlier in the campaign, Batavia (17-5-2) ended St. Charles North’s long, regular season unbeaten streak. Then came a regional title.
Batavia finished ranked 23 in Chicagoland Soccer’s exclusive Final 50 poll of the top programs in the state.
Now the Bulldogs are again riding high, buoyed by an enthusiasm about what the team is capable of.
“I think we have a really high level of confidence going into this season, especially after seeing all the good outcomes of last year,” Zipse said.
A senior midfielder, Zipse is part of a deep and versatile team that returns 14 players who either started or saw significant action last year.
The team graduated two Chicagoland Soccer All-State players in forward Anna Holcombe (Indiana State) and defensive standout Jenna Nichols (Wisconsin-LaCrosse).
Zipse and senior forward Grace Salyers are now the foundation of a skilled and dangerous lineup that is ranked no. 32 in the First 50, Chicagoland Soccer’s preseason poll.
Batavia features three college recruits in Zipse (Northern Illinois), midfielder Bella Zink (Wisconsin-Parkside) and keeper Hailey Flannagan (Illinois Institute of Technology).
Salyers, a blindingly fast and skilled forward who scored 10 goals last year, is more than capable of playing at the college level.
She has decided to pursue an engineering degree at Purdue University.
Zipse, Salyers and then-sophomore keeper Aubrey Hahn all earned recognition in Chicagoland Soccer’s Watch List of the top prospects by class.
Flannagan and Hahn combined for 13 shutouts. Flannagan had a 0.799 goals-against average.
Before the quarantine order and the closing of classes and all sports programs, Zipse said the team caught a glimpse of how the new season was likely to unfold.
“We started practicing all together and getting to know each other,” she said. “Right before the quarantine began, we started doing formation stuff and scrimmaging each other.
“It really all started coming together before the [suspension of the season], which is kind of devastating, because we just started putting everything to the real test.”
Zipse is the heart of the team, a high energy and unselfish player whose ability to create and build the attack makes the Bulldogs hum offensively.
“She is a lot like Jenna [Nichols],” Batavia coach Mark Gianfrancesco said. “It is hard to quantify her impact on the success of our team, because she does not have the stats.
“She is always moving side to side, front to back, blocking shots, clearing balls off the line and moving up to support the attack. This happens in the first minute of the match from Abby and is still happening the last 30 seconds.”
She has a great natural rapport with Salyers.
“I like to distribute,” Zipse said. “I like to move the ball a lot. I see my job as somebody who feeds the forwards. I see the field very well.
“I like to connect with Grace’s runs. I feel like we know each other pretty well by now. I can read where she is going, and she can read where I am going to play it.”
Salyers is quick and fluid and has a tremendous presence for the game. Last year she played off Holcombe, who led the team with 12 goals and 10 assists.
She proved an exemplary release valve, especially on set pieces. She demonstrated a remarkable knack for scoring on dead ball plays, either the result of throw-ins, free kicks or corners.
Even she was slightly taken aback by it.
“I have never actually considered myself very good at heading or anything like that,” Salyers said. “Sometimes in those pressure situations, when your teammates set it up perfectly, you just want to capitalize on it and do anything you can.”
With the graduation of Holcombe and Nichols, she is also ready to take an expanded leadership role in conjunction with Zipse and Zink.
“Seeing Jenna and Anna and the other seniors last year doing it, this is a much different role for me to be in,” Salyers said. “This is something I have never experienced, but you are doing something you love, and they are doing something they love.
“That brings it up a couple of notches.”
The emotional stakes are different for her as well in her final year of team competition (she is holding onto the possibility of playing club or intramurals at Purdue).
This year marks the end of something crucial in her life.
“Obviously this is my last year, and it is something I want to capitalize on,” she said. “I have this new role. We have a leader group of seniors, and we all just work together with one another, helping to make sure that every is comfortable building that chemistry.”
In addition to her 10 goals last year, Salyers contributed four assists. Her versatility just expands the offensive capabilities. In his 10th year directing the girls’ program, Gianfrancesco has always excelled at tapping into his player’s natural abilities.
Salyers is an excellent case in point.
“I came into high school as a defensive center midfielder,” she said. “My main role during club soccer was to move the ball. At Batavia, I switched to more of a forward.
“Now my role is making those runs and looking to move the forward forward and finding where my midfielders are and getting open so they can find me, and I can either distribute the ball on a cross or by scoring.”
Zipse, Zink, Salyers and Flannagan are the starting points. The roster runs deeps. Senior defender Kate Schoenfelder is another rangy and dynamic talent who shores up the backline.
Also watch for senior forward Hailey Skupa.
Mark Gianfrancesco said the team is also fortified by a very deep and talented sophomore class. His daughter Ryan Gianfrancesco adds another attacking piece.
Other sophomores to watch are forward Jaden Collins, midfielder Bella Lins and Johanna Schubert. Mark Gianfrancesco also spotlighted sophomore defender Mia Anzalone and freshman Riley DiBiase.
“On paper the arrow is pointing up for sure,” Mark Gianfrancesco said. “We still need to play the games. Obviously having a large amount of returning players with a ton of experience should be a strength.
“We will need to incorporate our new players to varsity seamlessly to continue being successful.”
Now the only question is when the season is likely to commence.
Following the extension of Governor J.B. Pritzker’s order to the end of the month, the IHSA is looking at the possibility of starting the season May 1.
Seniors like Zipse are waiting to get that call for the beautiful game to begin anew.
“I’d say both emotionally and physically, this has been very difficult,” Zipse said. “I think emotionally it is devastating for the seniors. We have a lot of returning seniors. I think the uncertainty of what is happening right now is very hard.
“Physically a lot of us are very motivated to keep our fitness because we are counting on going back.”
Click her to see the Bulldogs' team page!
By Patrick Z. McGavin
On a gray and windswept field in Schaumburg last May, Batavia midfielder Abby Zipse surveyed what had just unfolded.
In a Class 3A sectional semifinal, St. Charles North scored three first half goals en route to 3-1 victory over the Bulldogs.
The loss was disappointing though resolutely failed to put Zipse or her teammates into any kind of true funk.
The season had too much to celebrate, including a shared championship with St. Charles East in the first year of the stacked DuKane Conference.
Earlier in the campaign, Batavia (17-5-2) ended St. Charles North’s long, regular season unbeaten streak. Then came a regional title.
Batavia finished ranked 23 in Chicagoland Soccer’s exclusive Final 50 poll of the top programs in the state.
Now the Bulldogs are again riding high, buoyed by an enthusiasm about what the team is capable of.
“I think we have a really high level of confidence going into this season, especially after seeing all the good outcomes of last year,” Zipse said.
A senior midfielder, Zipse is part of a deep and versatile team that returns 14 players who either started or saw significant action last year.
The team graduated two Chicagoland Soccer All-State players in forward Anna Holcombe (Indiana State) and defensive standout Jenna Nichols (Wisconsin-LaCrosse).
Zipse and senior forward Grace Salyers are now the foundation of a skilled and dangerous lineup that is ranked no. 32 in the First 50, Chicagoland Soccer’s preseason poll.
Batavia features three college recruits in Zipse (Northern Illinois), midfielder Bella Zink (Wisconsin-Parkside) and keeper Hailey Flannagan (Illinois Institute of Technology).
Salyers, a blindingly fast and skilled forward who scored 10 goals last year, is more than capable of playing at the college level.
She has decided to pursue an engineering degree at Purdue University.
Zipse, Salyers and then-sophomore keeper Aubrey Hahn all earned recognition in Chicagoland Soccer’s Watch List of the top prospects by class.
Flannagan and Hahn combined for 13 shutouts. Flannagan had a 0.799 goals-against average.
Before the quarantine order and the closing of classes and all sports programs, Zipse said the team caught a glimpse of how the new season was likely to unfold.
“We started practicing all together and getting to know each other,” she said. “Right before the quarantine began, we started doing formation stuff and scrimmaging each other.
“It really all started coming together before the [suspension of the season], which is kind of devastating, because we just started putting everything to the real test.”
Zipse is the heart of the team, a high energy and unselfish player whose ability to create and build the attack makes the Bulldogs hum offensively.
“She is a lot like Jenna [Nichols],” Batavia coach Mark Gianfrancesco said. “It is hard to quantify her impact on the success of our team, because she does not have the stats.
“She is always moving side to side, front to back, blocking shots, clearing balls off the line and moving up to support the attack. This happens in the first minute of the match from Abby and is still happening the last 30 seconds.”
She has a great natural rapport with Salyers.
“I like to distribute,” Zipse said. “I like to move the ball a lot. I see my job as somebody who feeds the forwards. I see the field very well.
“I like to connect with Grace’s runs. I feel like we know each other pretty well by now. I can read where she is going, and she can read where I am going to play it.”
Salyers is quick and fluid and has a tremendous presence for the game. Last year she played off Holcombe, who led the team with 12 goals and 10 assists.
She proved an exemplary release valve, especially on set pieces. She demonstrated a remarkable knack for scoring on dead ball plays, either the result of throw-ins, free kicks or corners.
Even she was slightly taken aback by it.
“I have never actually considered myself very good at heading or anything like that,” Salyers said. “Sometimes in those pressure situations, when your teammates set it up perfectly, you just want to capitalize on it and do anything you can.”
With the graduation of Holcombe and Nichols, she is also ready to take an expanded leadership role in conjunction with Zipse and Zink.
“Seeing Jenna and Anna and the other seniors last year doing it, this is a much different role for me to be in,” Salyers said. “This is something I have never experienced, but you are doing something you love, and they are doing something they love.
“That brings it up a couple of notches.”
The emotional stakes are different for her as well in her final year of team competition (she is holding onto the possibility of playing club or intramurals at Purdue).
This year marks the end of something crucial in her life.
“Obviously this is my last year, and it is something I want to capitalize on,” she said. “I have this new role. We have a leader group of seniors, and we all just work together with one another, helping to make sure that every is comfortable building that chemistry.”
In addition to her 10 goals last year, Salyers contributed four assists. Her versatility just expands the offensive capabilities. In his 10th year directing the girls’ program, Gianfrancesco has always excelled at tapping into his player’s natural abilities.
Salyers is an excellent case in point.
“I came into high school as a defensive center midfielder,” she said. “My main role during club soccer was to move the ball. At Batavia, I switched to more of a forward.
“Now my role is making those runs and looking to move the forward forward and finding where my midfielders are and getting open so they can find me, and I can either distribute the ball on a cross or by scoring.”
Zipse, Zink, Salyers and Flannagan are the starting points. The roster runs deeps. Senior defender Kate Schoenfelder is another rangy and dynamic talent who shores up the backline.
Also watch for senior forward Hailey Skupa.
Mark Gianfrancesco said the team is also fortified by a very deep and talented sophomore class. His daughter Ryan Gianfrancesco adds another attacking piece.
Other sophomores to watch are forward Jaden Collins, midfielder Bella Lins and Johanna Schubert. Mark Gianfrancesco also spotlighted sophomore defender Mia Anzalone and freshman Riley DiBiase.
“On paper the arrow is pointing up for sure,” Mark Gianfrancesco said. “We still need to play the games. Obviously having a large amount of returning players with a ton of experience should be a strength.
“We will need to incorporate our new players to varsity seamlessly to continue being successful.”
Now the only question is when the season is likely to commence.
Following the extension of Governor J.B. Pritzker’s order to the end of the month, the IHSA is looking at the possibility of starting the season May 1.
Seniors like Zipse are waiting to get that call for the beautiful game to begin anew.
“I’d say both emotionally and physically, this has been very difficult,” Zipse said. “I think emotionally it is devastating for the seniors. We have a lot of returning seniors. I think the uncertainty of what is happening right now is very hard.
“Physically a lot of us are very motivated to keep our fitness because we are counting on going back.”
Click her to see the Bulldogs' team page!