Bartlett shuts down Jacobs

Bartlett girls soccer coach Ben Beary has been preaching to his team to run to the furthest post in practice over and over and over again this season.

Thursday night's 2-0 nonconference win over Jacobs may have finally bolstered what Beary's invested into this spring.

When the Jacobs defense lacked discretion on the backside and Kendra Videckis in possession up the right sideline 9 minutes into the game, freshman Sarah Jurek practiced what her coach has been preaching and made the Golden Eagles pay.

Videckis raced down the line and set up Jurek beautifully with a cross from right to left to in front of the far left post. Jurek was there for the tap and her first varsity goal at a crisp and misty Millennium Field in Streamwood.

The Hawks' (4-2-1) second goal came in the 13th minute on another cross from Haley Coor that Molly O'Malley easily booted inside the box.

But Bartlett took advantage of the long ball and it was the heads-up play by Jurek, including chances she made in the final minute that had Beary pleased.

"We've been talking about making the extra run, working for the goals," Beary said. "They're not going to come because of your skill, they're going to come through your effort and your work and (Jurek) makes that far post run and she gets rewarded for it. Really excellent game for Sarah.

"For a freshman to step up like this, this was a huge step forward for her. It was kind of a catalyst for the whole team."

Jurek and Videckis accounted for 8 of the Hawks' 14 shots, including a flurry of shots in the first 10 minutes. Jurek missed on an opportunity in a 1-0 loss to rival South Elgin on Tuesday, and when Videckis made the cross on the first goal, she knew had to come through at the post.

"I missed a goal on Tuesday so I knew I had to finish this one," said a very proud Jurek. "We really wanted to win this one after Tuesday."

Much of the possession was owned by Bartlett, which outshot Jacobs 14-3 and noticeably worked the ball around. The Hawks created chances for themselves throughout and diagonal balls worked to a degree, which gave Jacobs (0-4) a rough time getting attempts at the Bartlett cage all night.

The Golden Eagles finally conjured up their first shot 5 minutes in the second half and two chances came in the final 5 minutes.

"It was just a matter of getting shots off; we weren't able to do that but I think in the second half we had a little bit better possession than the first," Jacobs coach Stephanie Schuck said. "Their speed and ability were pretty top-notch, you can't take that away from them. We weren't ready for that backside run and we were chasing instead of anticipating and being ready for it."